A century-old law which could earlier land a person in jail for three months on the grounds of cheating on their partner has now been repealed.

On November 22, New York repealed its 1907 adultery law which was seldom used. According to it, cheating on one’s spouse, if proven true, could land the adulterer in prison for three months. The reason for repealing the law: It was too difficult to enforce and was considered to be outdated for a long time.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill on November 23, thus repealing the law. Commenting on it, she said, “While I’ve been fortunate to share a loving married life with my husband for 40 years— making it somewhat ironic for me to sign a bill decriminalizing adultery— I know that people often have complex relationships. These matters should clearly be handled by these individuals and not our criminal justice system. Let’s take this silly, outdated statute off the books, once and for all.”

‘Adultery bans are actually law in several states (in the US) and were enacted to make it harder to get a divorce at a time when proving a spouse cheated was the only way to get a legal separation. Charges have been rare and convictions even rarer. Some states have also moved to repeal their adultery laws in recent years,’ reads a report by AP.

In New York, adultery was defined as when a person engaged in “sexual intercourse with another person at a time when he has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse.” As per reports, the 1907 law was first used against a married man and a 25-year-old woman just a few weeks after it came into effect, as per the New York Times.

Over the years, while many people were charged under New York’s adultery law, only a handful of them were convicted.

While the law is now finally repealed, the discussion of removing the outdated adultery law has been going on for many years in New York. For instance, in the 1960s lawmakers were close to repealing the adultery law but continued it when a politician said that repealing it would make it appear as if the state was encouraging infidelity in marriages, as per a 1965 New York Times report.

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