Until a few decades ago, adultery was a crime in many countries where the dominant religion is Christianity, especially in Roman Catholic countries (see also the section on Europe). Adultery was decriminalized in Argentina in 1995,[78] and in Brazil in 2005; [79] But in some predominantly Catholic countries, such as the Philippines, this remains illegal. The Book of Mormon also forbids adultery. In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of a German who had conceived twins with a married woman and granted him the right to contact the twins, even though the mother and her husband had forbidden him to see the children. [46] The amputation of the nose – the nastomy – was a punishment for adultery in many civilizations, including ancient India, ancient Egypt, among the Greeks and Romans, and in Byzantium and the Arabs. [130] It is a common misconception that adultery in itself is a reason for divorce. In fact, this is not the case. There is only one reason to divorce, and that is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. However, the court can only conclude that there is an irremediable break if it is satisfied that one in five facts has been proved. The Christianization of Europe meant that, theoretically, and unlike the Romans, there should be a single sexual norm in which adultery was a sin and violated the teachings of the Church, regardless of the gender of those involved. In practice, however, the Church seemed to have accepted the traditional double standard, which punished the adultery of the wife more harshly than that of the husband. [134] Among the Germanic tribes, each tribe had its own laws for adultery, and many of them allowed the husband to “take the law into his own hands” and commit acts of violence against a woman caught in the act of adultery. [134][135] In the Middle Ages, adultery in Vienna was punishable by death by stake.

[136] In 1997, Austria was one of the last Western countries to decriminalize adultery. [137] Courts in jurisdictions that still prohibit adultery have openly questioned whether adultery laws actually serve these purposes. The Florida Supreme Court, for example, has concluded that adultery laws have no rational, let alone convincing, connection to disease prevention. The court said the risk of developing a disease is already more of a deterrent to extramarital sex than criminal punishment. The court also concluded that fear of prosecution prevents infected people from seeking voluntary treatment. Purvis v. State, 377 Sun. 2d 674, 677 (Fla. 1979). Another more complicated part of this divorce reason is timing. If you stayed in the same house as your spouse for six months after the discovery of the adulterous acts, adultery would not be considered grounds for divorce by the court.

Some churches, such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have interpreted “adultery” as encompassing all sexual relations outside of marriage, regardless of the marital status of the participants. [82] Book of Mormon prophets and civil leaders often cite adultery as an illegal activity, along with murder, robbery, and robbery. [83] One argument against the criminal status of adultery is that law enforcement resources are limited and should be used with caution; By investing in the investigation and prosecution of adultery (which is very difficult), the reduction of serious violent crime can suffer. [237] In England and his successor states, it was high treason to commit adultery with the king`s wife, the wife of his eldest son, and his eldest unmarried daughter. Lawyer Sir William Blackstone writes that “the clear intention of this law is to protect the Blood Royal from any suspicion of bastardization, which could make the succession of the crown doubtful.” Adultery was a serious problem when it came to crown succession. Philip IV From France, his three daughters-in-law were imprisoned, two (Margaret of Burgundy and Blanche of Burgundy) for adultery and the third (Joan of Burgundy) because they were aware of their adulterous behavior. The two brothers, accused of being lovers of the king`s daughters-in-law, were executed immediately after their arrest. The wife of Philip IV`s eldest son gave birth to a daughter, the future Joan II of Navarre, whose right to paternity and inheritance was contested throughout her life. [133] The laws aim to prevent adultery by criminalizing such behaviour as a crime and allowing an irreproachable party to obtain a divorce against an adulterous spouse.