Amy

I wonder how many people actually bring it to court and what the punishment is?

And would this include polyamory, swinging and all other forms of open relationships? If this is a moral question then I don’t doubt that the courts would/could see that as cheating.

There are certain moral issues that can be legislated – murder and stealing are two things that are both immoral and illegal. But when you get into a grey area like with cheating which I deem immoral but don’t think should be illegal then it becomes more difficult. Legislating people’s private lives is not conduicive to good government.

xxxx

  hubman

I don’t know what states have those laws, but I suspect that many of those laws date back several decades and are routinely ignored. I wonder if those are listed on dumblaws.com (yes, it’s a real website).

While PC is correct that adultery is illegal in the military, it’s rarely prosecuted unless the involved parties are in the same unit, of different ranks, etc.

The government tries to legislate morality, doesn’t it? Just think about abortion laws and gay marriage rights. The main objections to those are based on moral judgments of right and wrong.

  Professor Fate

Is murder illegal because it violates one of the sixth commandment? You are making the assumption that the basis for anti-adultery laws is morality.

  Joker_SATX

I live in one of those states where adultery is illegal. What it means is that if you get accused of it in a court of law and proven, you can get a lot of things taken away from you….

For example,

Your spouse can take your home
Your spouse can take full custody of your children
Your spouse can sue you for extra monetary damages
It goes on your record as a felony.

Crap like that. How harsh the severity really will differ from court to court, trial to trial.

And yeah, its one of those laws that was made up a long time ago and not really paid attention to at this point…until, of course, someone tries to press the issue.

  MinorityReport

I’m with you on this one.

I thought you might enjoy this:

http://www.weirdsexlaws.com/laws.php?Category_ID=2

  Vixen

Amy, you nailed it with this comment-

“Legislating people’s private lives is not conducive to good government.”

  Vixen

PC, exactly. It’s all about if the spouse is ‘like that’ and chooses to pursue charges. I’m happy to live in a no fault state ;)

  Vixen

Hubman, I think you are right- they are old and outdated. BUT I do think many spouses who are bitter and hurt would press these charges.

Prof Fate… Not really. It was just posed that way bc that is how my brain was thinking at the time about that aspect. :)

  Vixen

Joker, scary stuff. :(

Thanks for the link MR! Some of those are pretty hilarious and made me shake my head.

  tepid

IMNSHO government shouldn’t be involved in relationships WHATSOEVER.

  Ms Scarlett

It also begs the question – Who gets to decide what’s moral and what isn’t?

Very slippery slope, in my opinion. Governments need to stay out of the bedroom.

  Dana

I’m a little late coming to the party, but just wanted to add that our courts rule on “morality” every day!

Do I think adultery should be illegal? No, but I do think the person who was cheated on should be able to recoup losses due to the infidelity of their spouse!