New York on Friday repealed a rarely used law more than a century ago that made it a crime to cheat on one’s spouse, a transgression that previously could land adulterers in prison for three months.
From now on, whoever wants to betray, in new Yorkis “at ease”.
Thanks to a repeal of the 1907 law, cheating on your spouse is no longer a crime.
The state governor, Kathy Hochulsigned a bill repealing the law, which dates back to 1907 and has long been considered old-fashioned and difficult to apply.
“Although I have been fortunate to share a married love life with my husband of 40 years – which makes it a little ironic for me to sign a bill that decriminalizes adultery – I know that people often have complex relationships,” emphasized the governor.
“These issues should clearly be addressed by these individuals and not by our criminal justice system,” he added.
The prohibition of adultery is, in fact, law in several states and was promulgated to make divorce more difficultat a time when proving a spouse’s betrayal was the only way to obtain a legal separation.
Indictments have been rare and convictions even rarer. Some states have also moved to repeal their adultery laws in recent years.
New York defined adultery as when a person “has sex with another person at a time when they have a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse.”
The state law was first used a few weeks after it took effect, according to a newspaper article New York Timescited by Lusa, to arrest a married man and a 25-year-old woman.
State Congressman Charles Lavine said about a dozen people have been charged under the law since the 1970s, and only five of those cases have resulted in convictions.
State law appears to have been last used in 2010against a woman who was caught performing sexual acts in a park, but the adultery charge was later dropped as part of a plea deal.
New York came close to repealing the law in the 1960s after a state commission tasked with evaluating the penal code said it was nearly impossible to enforce.
At the time, lawmakers initially agreed to remove the ban, but ultimately decided to keep it after a politician argued that repealing it would make it appear that the state was officially endorsing infidelity, according to an article in New York Times of 1965.
