| n. | 1. | The unfaithfulness of a married person to the marriage bed; sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife, or voluntary sexual intercourse by a married woman with another than her husband. |
| 2. | Adulteration; corruption. | |
| 3. | (Script.) Lewdness or unchastity of thought as well as act, as forbidden by the seventh commandment. | |
| 4. | (Old Law) The fine and penalty imposed for the offense of adultery. | |
| 5. | (Eccl.) The intrusion of a person into a bishopric during the life of the bishop. | |
| 6. | Injury; degradation; ruin. |
| Noun | 1. | adultery - extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations; "adultery is often cited as grounds for divorce" Synonyms: criminal conversation, fornication |
ADULTERY, criminal law. From ad and alter, another person; a criminal
conversation, between a man married to another woman, and a woman married to
another man, or a married and unmarried person. The married person is guilty
of adultery, the unmarried of fornication. (q.v.) 1 Yeates, 6; 2 Dall. 124;
but see 2 Blackf. 318.
2. The elements of this crime are, 1st, that there shall be an unlawful
carnal connexion; 2dly, that the guilty party shall at the time be married;
3dly, that he or she shall willingly commit the offence; for a woman who has
been ravished against her will is not guilty of adultery. Domat, Supp. du
Droit Public, liv. 3, t. 10, n. 13.
3. The punishment of adultery, in the United States, generally, is fine
and imprisonment.
4. In England it is left to the feeble hands of the ecclesiastical
courts to punish this offence.
5. Adultery in one of the married persons is good cause for obtaining a
divorce by the innocent partner. See 1 Pick. 136; 8 Pick. 433; 9 Mass. 492:
14 Pick. 518; 7 Greenl. 57; 8 Greenl. 75; 7 Conn. 267 10 Conn. 372; 6 Verm.
311; 2 Fairf. 391 4 S. & R. 449; 5 Rand. 634; 6 Rand. 627; 8 S. & R. 159; 2
Yeates, 278, 466; 4 N. H. Rep. 501; 5 Day, 149; 2 N. & M. 167.
6. As to proof of adultery, see 2 Greenl. Sec. 40, Marriage.