New York’s bill could repeal 1907 law criminalizing adultery: perpetrators could face up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine
Cheating on your partner could land you behind bars in New York under a decades-old law that could soon be appealed by a new bill.
The state legislature is currently considering repealing the law because it is outdated and rarely enforced: Since 1972, thirteen people have been charged and only five convicted.
If convicted, offenders are eligible for three months in prison and a fine of up to $500.
On Monday, a near-unanimous vote by the New York State Assembly advanced repeal, sending the bill to the Senate for final consideration. It is not yet on the Senate agenda for a vote and discussion.
Cheating on your husband or wife is still illegal in New York. If found guilty, offenders face up to 90 days in jail
“There are numerous laws that aim to directly protect the community,” said Assemblyman Charles Lavine, the sponsor of the bill that would repeal the law.
“On the other hand, some laws embody nothing more than someone’s idea of moral outrage,” Lavine, a Nassau County Democrat, told the newspaper. Times Union.
This week, he and his fellow members of the state Assembly voted to officially place the adultery law in the latter category and consign it to the dustbin of history.
Seventeen other US states, as well as the US territory of Puerto Rico, consider adultery a criminal offense.
In Oklahoma, Michigan and Wisconsin it is a misdemeanor.
It is a crime in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia and Puerto Rico
Under current New York law, adultery is a Class B misdemeanor.
The law also defines adultery: “A person is guilty of adultery when he has sexual intercourse with another person at a time when he has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse.”
This obscure law was last enacted in 2010, when Suzanne Corona was arrested in Batavia, New Yorkfor sexual acts with a man on a picnic table in a public park.
She appeared in court hand in hand with her husband.
The charges were eventually dropped and she instead pleaded guilty to public lewdness – also a class B misdemeanor.
But the historic vote moved lawmakers one step closer to repealing the law, which advocates have historically called a government overreach and invasion of privacy.
Law enforcement officials have also argued that the law undermines their authority because it is almost universally overlooked.
This law, and other ancient laws like it still on the books, are a relic from another time in history.
When it was first introduced in 1907, divorce was not socially acceptable in the United States.
The first person charged under the law, married to railroad contractor Patrick Henry Hirsch, was arrested 10 days after the law was signed.
Lawmakers are pushing to repeal the adultery law, which they say is outdated and based on “someone’s idea of moral outrage.”
On September 1, 1907, police arrested him and his mistress, a milliner named Ruby Yeargain, in his apartment.
They were both charged with adultery and held on $500 bail.
Lawmakers and legal historians generally agree that the adultery law was introduced to discourage divorce.
Lavine pointed out that since then, most people charged under the law have been women.
“Because most of the accused are women, women are stigmatized and victimized,” he told the newspaper New York Post.
It was proposed for repeal in 1967, but it never made it to the finish line.
Lavine said he suspects that nearly 60 years ago, lawmakers still felt pressure from the public who did not approve of divorce, and did not want to take a public position that could be seen as a stamp of approval for infidelity.
New York may be late in abolishing its adultery law, but it was also the first to enact an “alienation of affection” law.
This civil statute allowed a person to sue his spouse’s lover for breach of the marriage contract – and collect monetary damages.
The Alienation of Affection Statute was signed into law in 1864 and was copied by many US states.
New York State Senator Liz Krueger, seen here in 2017, is the bill’s sponsor in the Senate. Now that it has been voted on in the State Assembly, it is up for discussion and a vote in the State Senate.
Although it was abolished in New York, this statute is still on the books in six states.
And where it persists, it is often used in divorce settlements.
It is mainly used in cases where a spouse is legally protected by a prenuptial agreement, because the defendant in such a lawsuit is not the spouse, but the person with whom he cheated.
In North Carolina, for example, an estimated 200 alienation of affection cases are filed each year. The state government has repeatedly refused to abolish the law.
Likewise, “alienation of affection” laws still exist in Hawaii, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Utah.
As for New York’s adultery law, the next step will be for the Senate to discuss it before voting on it.
If the bill passes, the language of the adultery law will be deleted from New York’s statute books.
Outdated laws like these are often the butt of jokes, Lavine said, but for the lawmakers pushing for their repeal, repealing an arcane and morally oriented law is very serious.
“It’s not funny to the women who have been persecuted,” Lavine said. “While I certainly appreciate that some people may chuckle at the idea, there is nothing funny about this at all.”