Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Thou shalt not commit adultery

"Thou shalt not commit adultery" constitutes the seventh of the Ten Commandments, divinely inscribed on stone tablets and delivered to Moses atop Mount Sinai, as recorded in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Hebrew Bible, explicitly barring sexual intercourse between a married person and anyone other than their spouse.^[1]^[2] This succinct imperative, embedded within the Mosaic covenant, underscored marital exclusivity as foundational to Israelite communal stability, with biblical statutes prescribing capital punishment—typically stoning—for violations to deter threats to lineage, inheritance, and covenantal purity.^[3] In Jewish exegesis, the prohibition targeted primarily the seduction of a married woman, safeguarding paternal rights and familial integrity against illicit unions that could obscure paternity.^[4] Christian interpreters, drawing on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, extended its purview beyond physical acts to encompass adulterous intentions arising from lustful gazes, thereby demanding holistic fidelity in thought and deed.^[5] The commandment's enduring legacy permeates Western jurisprudence, where adultery evolved from a property offense—punishable as trespass against a husband's domain over his wife's sexuality—to a broader crime of infidelity, though asymmetric enforcement historically favored male perpetrators only when involving wedded women, preceding widespread decriminalization amid shifting social norms.^[6]

Scriptural Origins

Hebrew Bible Context

The seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery," appears in the Decalogue as recorded in Exodus 20:14 and reiterated in Deuteronomy 5:18, forming part of the covenantal law delivered by God to Moses at Mount Sinai. Traditionally dated to the 13th century BCE, this event marked the establishment of Israel's national covenant with Yahweh, wherein the Decalogue served as foundational ethical and religious stipulations binding the community.^[7]^[8] In Hebrew, the prohibition employs the verb na'aph (נָאַף), a primitive root denoting the act of a man engaging in sexual intercourse with a married woman who is not his wife, thereby emphasizing protection of marital exclusivity from the husband's perspective. This formulation reflects ancient Near Eastern concerns with preserving paternal lineage certainty and familial property inheritance, as uncertainty in offspring paternity could disrupt tribal allotments and inheritance rights central to Israel's covenant structure. Scholarly analysis underscores that the law asymmetrically safeguards the married woman's fidelity to ensure legitimate heirs, aligning with broader Torah emphases on holiness and communal order rather than mutual spousal equality.^[9]^[10] The commandment's gravity is reinforced by severe penalties outlined in the Torah's holiness codes, such as Leviticus 20:10, which mandates death for both the adulterer and adulteress, typically by stoning as a capital offense to deter violations threatening communal purity. Deuteronomy 22:22 echoes this, specifying execution when a man lies with another man's wife, integrating the prohibition into Israel's judicial framework to uphold covenant fidelity and distinguish the nation as holy unto Yahweh. These sanctions highlight adultery's status not merely as a personal failing but as a breach of divine order with ripple effects on familial and societal stability.^[11]^[12]^[13]

New Testament Expansion

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus expands the Seventh Commandment by addressing not merely external acts but internal dispositions of the heart. He states, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28, ESV).^[5] This teaching employs the Greek term moicheia for adultery, traditionally denoting illicit sexual intercourse, while epithumia (lust) broadens the violation to covetous desire, equating mental intent with the act itself and emphasizing purity of thought as essential to obedience.^[14] Scholars note this internalizes the prohibition, shifting focus from ritual or legal observance to transformative moral renewal, consistent with Jesus' critique of Pharisaic externalism. Gospel narratives further illustrate this intensified ethic through encounters with adultery. In John 8:1-11, scribes and Pharisees bring a woman caught in the act of adultery to test Jesus, who responds by challenging their self-righteousness ("Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her") and instructs her, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."^[15] This episode upholds the commandment's validity while extending mercy, underscoring repentance over condemnation and reinforcing adultery as a grave sin requiring personal reform. Jesus' discourse on marriage in Matthew 19:4-6 invokes the creation account ("Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate"), portraying adultery and divorce as violations of the divine one-flesh union, thereby endorsing lifelong monogamy as the covenantal norm.^[16] Apostolic writings in the Epistles echo and apply this expanded scope, linking adultery to broader sexual immorality (porneia) and eternal judgment. Hebrews 13:4 warns, "Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous," framing fidelity as a communal honor tied to divine accountability.^[17] Similarly, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 lists moichoi (adulterers) among those who will not inherit the kingdom of God, urging believers to flee immorality as a defilement of the body as Christ's temple (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).^[18] These texts collectively intensify the commandment by integrating it into soteriological ethics, where heart-level fidelity preserves the sanctity of marriage as a reflection of Christ's union with the church (Ephesians 5:31-32).^[19]

Definition and Etymology

Linguistic Roots

The Hebrew verb underlying the commandment in Exodus 20:14 is nāʾap̱ (נָאַף), a primitive root denoting sexual intercourse by a man with another man's wife, constituting a direct breach of the marital covenant and often carrying severe familial and legal implications in ancient Israelite society.^[9]^[20] This term emphasizes infidelity involving a married woman, reflecting patriarchal property dynamics where such an act primarily wronged the husband, as evidenced by Levitical statutes prescribing punishment only for the woman and her paramour.^[21] In contrast, zānâ (זָנָה) denotes broader sexual misconduct, such as prostitution, fornication by unmarried persons, or cultic harlotry, without the specific marital violation central to nāʾap̱.^[22]^[23] The Septuagint translates nāʾap̱ with the Greek verb moicheuō (μοιχεύω), which similarly conveys unlawful sexual union with a married person, typically another's spouse, thus retaining the covenantal betrayal without expanding to premarital or idolatrous connotations inherent in Hebrew figurative uses.^[24] In the New Testament, moicheia (μοιχεία), the noun form, upholds this marital focus, as in Matthew 5:27-28, where it denotes both physical and lustful acts against wedlock.^[25]^[26] The English "adultery" derives from Latin adulterāre ("to corrupt" or "to alter"), via Old French avoutrie, capturing the defilement of marriage rather than general immorality, a precision preserved in the King James Version's rendering of Exodus 20:14 as "Thou shalt not commit adultery" in 1611.^[27]^[28] Modern translations, such as the NIV (1978) and ESV (2001), maintain this term for the commandment, resisting dilution into encompassing fornication or non-marital sins, though contextual variations in prophetic literature sometimes blur lines figuratively.^[29]

Traditional Scope and Boundaries

In the Hebrew Bible, adultery, rendered from the verb na'aph (נָאַף), specifically refers to sexual intercourse between a married or betrothed woman and a man other than her husband, constituting a direct violation of the marriage covenant.^[9]^[30] This definition excludes premarital sexual relations, known as fornication or zenut in broader contexts, which do not infringe upon an existing spousal bond but are addressed separately under laws governing seduction or illicit unions.^[31]^[32] The commandment in Exodus 20:14 thus targets acts that undermine the exclusivity of the wife's fidelity, as evidenced in Leviticus 20:10, which prescribes capital punishment solely for such cases involving a neighbor's wife.^[33] The traditional scope exhibits an asymmetry: a married man's relations with an unmarried woman do not qualify as adultery under biblical law, though they remain sinful and subject to penalties like fines or marriage obligations in cases of seduction (Exodus 22:16–17).^[34] This distinction stems from the patrilineal inheritance system outlined in Deuteronomy 21:15–17, where lineage and property descent trace through the male line, rendering female fidelity paramount to establishing legitimate heirs.^[21] Fornication by unmarried parties, while morally reproved, lacks the same gravity because it does not introduce paternity ambiguity into an established household.^[35] From a causal standpoint, this boundary preserves social order by linking biological paternity to legal fatherhood, averting disputes over inheritance that could destabilize families and clans in a tribal agrarian society reliant on clear succession for resource allocation and alliance maintenance.^[28] Uncertainty in fatherhood, arising from a wife's infidelity, directly threatens these structures, whereas a husband's extramarital acts with non-married women do not confound existing paternal claims.^[36] Rabbinic tradition upholds this scriptural delineation, emphasizing covenantal breach over symmetrical prohibition, though later interpretations extend fidelity expectations to both spouses for communal harmony.^[32]

Jewish Interpretations

Biblical and Talmudic Views

In the Hebrew Bible, adultery is prohibited in the Seventh Commandment: "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18).^[37] This offense is defined as sexual intercourse between a married or betrothed woman and a man who is not her husband, reflecting the patriarchal structure where the act primarily violates the husband's exclusive rights and threatens paternal lineage certainty essential for inheritance and tribal purity.^[38] Leviticus 20:10 mandates death for both the adulterer and adulteress, while Deuteronomy 22:22 reinforces capital punishment to purge evil from Israel, underscoring adultery's role in undermining communal moral order.^[13]^[39] Talmudic literature expands on biblical penalties, specifying stoning for adultery involving a betrothed woman, as in Sanhedrin 50b, where execution methods vary by relational status but emphasize equal culpability for participants.^[40] Conviction requires stringent evidence: two witnesses must observe the act directly, having issued a prior warning to the perpetrators, creating formidable procedural barriers that prioritize justice over hasty judgment and effectively deterred executions in practice.^[41] Adultery constitutes a betrayal of kiddushin, the betrothal covenant sanctifying marriage, paralleling Israel's infidelity to God; prophetic texts like Hosea depict national idolatry as marital unfaithfulness, with Hosea's union to the promiscuous Gomer symbolizing divine perseverance amid betrayal to restore covenantal fidelity.^[42] Rabbinic exegesis views adultery as a profound threat to societal stability, eroding family integrity and lineage verification critical for maintaining priestly and tribal distinctions; thus, Talmudic discourse in Sanhedrin insists on unyielding deterrence without leniency, affirming rabbinic consensus that laxity would invite moral decay and covenantal rupture akin to spiritual harlotry condemned in the prophets.^[43] This framework prioritizes empirical safeguards against false accusation while upholding the commandment's intent to preserve purity through rigorous enforcement standards.^[44]

Rabbinic Developments and Punishments

In rabbinic literature, the Mishnah codified stringent procedural requirements for convicting individuals of adultery, mandating two qualified witnesses who had previously issued a formal warning to the perpetrators about the prohibition and its consequences, followed by direct observation of the act of penetration. These safeguards, drawn from broader capital case protocols, effectively precluded most convictions, as the Talmud in Makkot 7a records rabbinic sages deeming a Sanhedrin that executed even once every seventy years as destructively sanguinary, with some asserting that no executions would occur under ideal judicial caution.^[45] Historical records indicate no verified rabbinic-era convictions for adultery under these standards, underscoring their role in prioritizing acquittal over punishment to avert erroneous capital verdicts.^[46] The prescribed penalty for a married woman and her paramour was death by strangulation, a rabbinic specification interpreting biblical stoning verses to apply primarily to betrothed virgins while extending strangulation to consummated marital adultery as a less public form of execution.^[47] Following the Temple's destruction in 70 CE and the dissolution of the Sanhedrin's judicial authority, capital enforcement ceased entirely, shifting to non-lethal measures including mandatory divorce—wherein a husband discovering his wife's adultery was obligated to issue a get (bill of divorce), rendering her ineligible for remarriage to him and subjecting any subsequent children to mamzer status with restricted marital prospects.^[32] Communal sanctions such as niddui (temporary excommunication) or herem (full banishment) were imposed for persistent moral infractions, including adultery, to enforce opprobrium and deter recurrence in diaspora settings lacking sovereign courts.^[34] These developments reflect a pragmatic adaptation preserving marital stability and lineage purity in compact Jewish communities, where adultery risked proliferating mamzerim—illegitimate offspring barred from endogamous unions—thus undermining social cohesion and inheritance norms without feasible lethal enforcement.^[48] Rabbinic texts emphasize deterrence through ritual and social mechanisms, such as the sotah ordeal for suspected wives (pre-Sanhedrin), which imposed public humiliation and potential infertility curses rather than immediate death, prioritizing communal integrity over retributive severity.^[49]

Christian Interpretations

Early Church and Patristic Era

In the primitive Christian communities, adultery was classified under porneia (sexual immorality), warranting severe disciplinary measures as outlined in 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul instructs the expulsion of unrepentant offenders to preserve the purity of the church body. Apostolic Fathers such as the author of the Shepherd of Hermas (c. 140–155 AD) reinforced this by permitting separation from an adulterous spouse but prohibiting remarriage, viewing the latter as continued adultery; however, a single opportunity for repentance and reconciliation was allowed if the offender ceased the sin.^[50] This approach equated adultery with other grave sins like apostasy, subjecting it to excommunication or temporary exclusion from sacraments to deter moral laxity and maintain communal holiness.^[51] Patristic writers expanded these principles, emphasizing marriage's indissolubility even in cases of infidelity. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), in works like Ad Pollentium (c. 419 AD), argued that while divorce could be tolerated for adultery, the marital bond persisted, rendering any remarriage an ongoing act of adultery that barred the parties from full church participation until penitence.^[52] He prioritized the sacramental permanence of marriage over civil dissolution, drawing from Jesus' teachings in Matthew 19:9 and Mark 10:11–12 to underscore that post-adultery unions violated divine law.^[53] Though forgivable through rigorous penance—often involving prolonged exclusion and public confession—adultery was seen as profoundly destructive, eroding trust and inviting divine judgment on the community. This strictness, rooted in scriptural mandates, fostered discipline and ethical rigor, which historical analyses link to the early church's resilience and internal cohesion during periods of Roman persecution from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, when moral scandals could undermine group solidarity under external threats.^[54]

Medieval and Reformation Perspectives

In medieval Catholic theology, adultery was condemned as a direct violation of natural law, which Thomas Aquinas defined in the Summa Theologica (c. 1265–1274) as the rational creature's participation in eternal law, encompassing the unitive and procreative purposes of marriage.^[55] Aquinas maintained that marital fidelity reflects God's ordered creation, rendering adultery intrinsically disordered and meriting severe ecclesiastical penalties, such as perpetual separation from bed and board without remarriage, to preserve the sacrament's indissolubility.^[56] This framework underpinned church courts' jurisdiction over marital disputes, where adultery warranted public penance or excommunication, reinforcing institutional authority to safeguard communal moral order against individual lapses. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) formalized marriage as a sacrament requiring public consent and clerical oversight, prohibiting divorce a vinculo matrimonii even for adultery, in contrast to earlier Byzantine allowances for dissolution.^[57] Adultery by either spouse justified separatio a mensa et thoro, but remarriage was barred, as it would profane the original bond; historical canon law records show thousands of such separations adjudicated annually in ecclesiastical tribunals by the 14th century, emphasizing penance over civil remedies.^[58] Reformation thinkers like Martin Luther rejected this sacramental rigidity, prioritizing scriptural sola scriptura and personal conscience. In The Estate of Marriage (1522), Luther interpreted Matthew 19:9 as permitting divorce and remarriage for adultery, arguing that Christ's exception clause overrode papal prohibitions, which he deemed unbiblical accretions that trapped innocents in abusive unions.^[59] Luther advocated civil magistrates enforcing dissolution for unrepentant infidelity, citing Leviticus 20:10's death penalty as obsolete under the Gospel but analogous to severing the bond, thus shifting authority from clergy to laity and state.^[60] This doctrinal pivot aligned with the Reformation's causal drivers, including the Gutenberg printing press (c. 1440) and Luther's German Bible (1522–1534), which boosted literacy from under 10% to over 30% in Protestant regions by 1600, enabling direct scriptural engagement and individual moral accountability.^[61] Yet, empirical church court records from Protestant territories, such as Saxony and Geneva, reveal elevated divorce petitions—rising from negligible pre-1520 levels to dozens annually by mid-century—attributable to legalized outlets for marital breakdown, though rates remained low relative to population (under 0.1% per decade) due to cultural stigma.^[62]^[63]

Denominational Doctrines

The Catholic Church teaches that adultery constitutes a grave offense against the marital bond, defined as marital infidelity involving sexual relations between partners where at least one is married to another, yet it does not dissolve the indissoluble nature of a valid sacramental marriage. According to the Catechism, remarriage following divorce while a spouse lives remains adulterous, as separation from a valid marriage does not permit a new union, emphasizing the permanence of the covenant irrespective of infidelity. Annulments may declare a prior union invalid ab initio, but adultery itself provides no grounds for dissolution.^[64] Eastern Orthodox doctrine applies the principle of oikonomia (pastoral economy or mercy) to permit ecclesiastical divorce and limited remarriage in cases of adultery, viewing it as a concession to human weakness rather than an ideal, with ceremonies for second or third marriages conducted penitentially to underscore the sin involved.^[65] Adultery severs the marital bond sufficiently for the innocent party to seek dissolution, though bishops exercise discretion, and multiple remarriages are discouraged as deviations from Christ's teaching on indissolubility.^[66] Empirical data indicate lower divorce rates among adherent Orthodox communities compared to secular averages; for instance, Greek Orthodox couples in the United States exhibit rates around 14-25%, versus the national figure of approximately 40-50% of marriages ending in divorce.^[67]^[68] Protestant denominations display a spectrum of positions on adultery's implications for divorce and remarriage, often diverging from Catholic and Orthodox absolutism by invoking the "exception clause" in Matthew 19:9, which permits divorce "except for sexual immorality" (porneia), interpreted by many as allowing the innocent party to remarry without ongoing adultery.^[69] Evangelical groups, such as certain Baptists and non-denominational churches, frequently endorse this view, treating adultery as covenant-breaking that frees the victim for a new marriage, though some Reformed traditions restrict remarriage even then to prioritize permanence.^[70] Mainline Protestants like Methodists and Presbyterians tend toward broader allowances, including remarriage post-adultery alongside other grounds like abuse, reflecting interpretive flexibility on biblical texts.^[71] Conservative voices within evangelicalism, however, argue against remarriage, asserting that divorce separates but does not license new unions, aligning closer to patristic emphases on lifelong fidelity despite the exception.^[72]

Islamic Interpretations

Quranic Commands

The Quran explicitly prohibits zina, defined as unlawful sexual intercourse encompassing both fornication and adultery, in Surah Al-Isra 17:32: "Do not go near adultery. It is truly a shameful deed and an evil way."^[73] This verse frames zina as a profound immorality (fahisha) that corrupts individual conduct and broader social structures by eroding familial bonds and communal trust, thereby threatening the moral foundation of society.^[74] Surah An-Nur 24:2 prescribes the hudud punishment for unmarried perpetrators of zina as 100 lashes administered publicly: "As for female and male fornicators, give each of them one hundred lashes, and do not let pity for them make you lenient in ˹enforcing˺ the law of Allah."^[75] For married individuals (muhsan), who bear greater responsibility due to their access to lawful relations, Islamic tradition derives the penalty of stoning to death from authentic prophetic hadith, such as in Sahih Muslim, which affirms stoning as a prescribed duty for established adultery among the wedded.^[76] These hudud ordinances emphasize deterrence through visible enforcement, aiming to preserve societal order by discouraging violations that undermine lineage, inheritance, and ethical cohesion.^[77] Conviction for zina demands stringent evidence, typically the testimony of four upright male witnesses directly observing penile penetration, or repeated confessions by the accused, as inferred from Quranic standards in Surah An-Nur.^[78] This high evidentiary threshold, rooted in protecting against false accusations (as in 24:4-5, which punishes unsubstantiated claims with 80 lashes), has historically limited applications of these punishments to rare, unequivocally proven cases, thereby prioritizing justice over expediency.^[79]

Sharia Applications and Punishments

In Islamic jurisprudence, adultery, termed zina, falls under hudud crimes when strict evidentiary requirements are fulfilled, prescribing fixed punishments derived from the Quran and Sunnah. For unmarried perpetrators, the punishment is 100 lashes, as stipulated in Quran 24:2, while married individuals (muhsan) face stoning to death (rajm), a penalty upheld across major Sunni schools including Hanafi and Maliki based on prophetic hadith.^[80]^[81] In Hanafi and Maliki fiqh, procedures emphasize judicial caution: conviction requires either the voluntary confession of the accused repeated four times without coercion or the testimony of four upright male witnesses who directly observed penile penetration, ensuring the act's unambiguous commission.^[81]^[79] If hudud thresholds are unmet—often the case due to the high burden of proof—judges apply ta'zir, discretionary penalties tailored to deterrence and societal norms, such as flogging, imprisonment, or fines, varying by school and jurisdiction. Hanafi scholars permit broader judicial latitude in ta'zir for zina-like acts, while Maliki emphasize community impact in sentencing. These measures aim to safeguard nasab (paternity lineage), preventing uncertainty in inheritance and family bonds, and to uphold communal honor by deterring violations that erode social cohesion.^[82]^[83] Theoretically, punishments exhibit gender symmetry, with Quran 24:2 explicitly applying to "the woman and the man guilty," imposing identical penalties regardless of sex to reflect egalitarian accountability. However, practical enforcement reveals asymmetries: the requirement for four male witnesses disadvantages female complainants in patriarchal settings, and circumstantial evidence like pregnancy more readily implicates women, leading to disproportionate convictions in some contexts.^[84] Despite such critiques, meta-analyses indicate religiosity—proximal to strict Sharia adherence—correlates with reduced infidelity rates, suggesting deterrence fosters familial stability through lowered incidence of extramarital acts.^[85] In adherent societies, reported adultery remains rare, attributable to evidentiary rigor and cultural stigma reinforcing causal links between enforcement and behavioral restraint.^[81]

Broader Religious and Philosophical Contexts

Ancient Near Eastern Parallels

The Code of Hammurabi, promulgated around 1750 BCE by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, addressed adultery in laws 129–133, mandating that if a married woman was caught in the act with another man, both parties were to be bound and drowned in the river, though the king retained discretion to pardon them; penalties were stratified by social class, with free persons facing death while slaves might receive branding or lesser fines.^[86] Similar class-based retributive measures appear in other Mesopotamian codes, such as the Middle Assyrian Laws (c. 1076 BCE), where adultery by a wife warranted her husband's right to mutilate or kill her and her lover, reflecting a primary concern for male property rights over the household rather than mutual moral culpability.^[87] Hittite laws from the empire's peak (c. 1600–1200 BCE) imposed punishments for adultery that varied by context and consent, such as fines equivalent to bride-price or death if the act occurred in a private setting implying seduction, while excusing a married man's relations with an unmarried woman; distinctions between "mountain" (rape, lighter penalty for the woman if she resisted) and "house" (adultery) scenarios underscored a polytheistic legal framework tied to oaths before gods and kings, with enforcement often at the husband's discretion.^[88]^[89] In contrast to these royal edicts, which embedded adultery prohibitions within hierarchical, polytheistic systems prioritizing social order and kingly authority, the Biblical commandment framed the prohibition as an absolute divine covenantal mandate, transcending class distinctions and human pardon to emphasize fidelity as a relational obligation to a singular God, thereby subordinating temporal rulers to transcendent moral law.^[90]^[91] Archaeological records, including cuneiform marriage contracts from sites like Nippur (c. 2500–500 BCE), reveal that fidelity norms underpinned family stability by safeguarding patrilineal inheritance and household economies, with infidelity often triggering dissolution of alliances and property forfeiture, as evidenced in dispute tablets linking adulterous breaches to lineage disruptions.^[92]^[93]

Secular, Evolutionary, and Utilitarian Views

From an evolutionary standpoint, adultery introduces paternity uncertainty, which has profoundly influenced human mating strategies and emotional responses. Males, facing the risk of investing resources in non-biological offspring, exhibit heightened jealousy toward sexual infidelity rather than emotional betrayal, as evidenced by cross-cultural studies demonstrating consistent sex differences in jealousy triggers. This adaptation mitigates cuckoldry costs, with meta-analyses estimating non-paternity rates at 1-3% in modern populations, though historical rates may have been higher due to less reliable paternity assurance mechanisms. Such psychological mechanisms underscore adultery's potential to disrupt pair-bonding stability, prioritizing reproductive fitness over unrestricted sexual access.^[94]^[95] Utilitarian analyses weigh adultery's hedonic benefits against broader harms, often finding net disutility. Infidelity frequently precipitates marital dissolution, accounting for 20-40% of U.S. divorces according to psychological surveys, resulting in widespread emotional suffering for betrayed partners and eroded trust in relationships. Children exposed to parental infidelity, typically via ensuing divorce, face elevated risks of mental health issues, including depression and behavioral problems, as shown in longitudinal studies tracking post-separation outcomes. These effects compound through family instability, with single-parent households—often resulting from infidelity-linked breakups—experiencing poverty rates of 28% among single mothers in 2022, compared to far lower figures in intact two-parent families.^[96]^[97]^[98] Proponents of individual autonomy argue adultery enhances personal liberty and pleasure, yet this overlooks externalities like intergenerational trauma and societal resource burdens from family fragmentation. Single-parent families, disproportionately headed by mothers post-adultery scandals, confront 3-6 times higher poverty likelihoods than dual-parent units, straining public welfare systems and perpetuating cycles of economic disadvantage. Empirical data thus support utilitarian prohibitions on adultery, as its short-term gains rarely offset the diffuse pains inflicted on dependents and communities.^[99]

Historical Enforcement

Ancient and Biblical Societies

In ancient Israelite society, adultery was punishable by death for both the man and the woman involved, as stipulated in Deuteronomy 22:22 and Leviticus 20:10, with stoning specified as the method of execution in cases involving betrothed women (Deuteronomy 22:23–24).^[13]^[38] This penalty underscored the offense as a violation not merely of marital bonds but of the covenantal order with God, demanding communal action to "purge the evil" from Israel.^[100] Enforcement required stringent due process, including at least two eyewitnesses to the act itself, given the private nature of the crime, which made successful prosecutions rare absent blatant circumstances.^[101] Comparable laws in the ancient Near East, such as the Middle Assyrian Law Code (ca. 1076 BCE), permitted the husband discretion in punishing the adulteress and her paramour, often extending to death if caught in flagrante delicto, but without the biblical insistence on divine moral purity over proprietary rights.^[102] For instance, Assyrian provisions allowed the aggrieved husband to kill both parties on the spot or impose lesser penalties, reflecting a focus on familial honor rather than ritual sanctity.^[100] In contrast, Israelite law equalized culpability between genders and elevated adultery to a capital sin against Yahweh, aligning enforcement with broader theocratic imperatives for societal holiness.^[103] Biblical narratives evince few documented cases of adultery leading to execution, such as the unprosecuted incident involving King David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11–12), where prophetic rebuke substituted for legal penalty due to royal status, suggesting deterrence preserved clan cohesion in patrilineal tribes.^[38] This scarcity implies the law's efficacy in upholding paternity certainty, crucial for inheritance and kin alliances in nomadic and agrarian contexts where misallocated resources could imperil group survival.^[104] Harsh communal oversight thus reinforced marital fidelity as a mechanism for tribal stability, distinct from more individualistic Mesopotamian approaches.^[100]

Medieval and Early Modern Periods

In medieval Europe, ecclesiastical courts held primary jurisdiction over adultery, treating it as a spiritual offense warranting public penance, fines, excommunication, or ritual shaming such as processions or, in aggravated cases involving pregnancy or recidivism, enforced nudity and running through streets.^[105]^[106] Secular feudal lords occasionally imposed corporal penalties, including early medieval mutilations like severing noses or ears for women, though canon law increasingly emphasized reconciliation and penance over dissolution to preserve marital unions central to land tenure and lineage.^[107] By the early modern period, enforcement intensified in Protestant contexts amid feudal inheritance pressures; England's Adultery Act of August 1650, enacted under Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth, classified adultery as a capital felony punishable by hanging, with particular severity toward married women to deter threats to patrilineal succession and household order.^[108]^[109] Executions remained rare due to evidentiary hurdles, but the law underscored adultery's perceived disruption to social stability in agrarian economies reliant on clear paternity for property transmission. In Islamic polities like the Ottoman Empire, Sharia courts applied zina prohibitions—encompassing adultery—within feudal-like timar systems, where evidentiary requirements of four eyewitnesses rarely yielded hudud penalties such as stoning for married offenders, instead favoring ta'zir discretions like flogging, imprisonment, or fines, while regional qadis upheld consistent moral condemnation to safeguard family honor and imperial order.^[110]^[111] Enforcement varied by locale, with urban centers more rigorous than rural areas, yet reinforced patriarchal structures tying adultery to risks of disputed inheritance in agrarian hierarchies. These mechanisms, embedded in feudal economies prioritizing legitimate heirs, aligned with historical demography showing illegitimacy rates below 5% across much of pre-modern Europe and comparable Islamic societies—far lower than in subsequent secularizing eras—thereby reducing paternity uncertainty and bolstering stable transmission of land and titles essential to societal cohesion.^[112]^[113]

Legal Status in Modern Societies

Western Decriminalization Trends

In the United States, adultery remains a statutory offense in approximately 16 states as of 2025, typically classified as a misdemeanor with penalties including fines up to $10,000 or short jail terms, though prosecutions are exceedingly rare due to desuetude and judicial reluctance.^[114]^[115] Recent decriminalizations include Massachusetts in 2018 and Utah in 2019, reflecting a broader 20th- and 21st-century trend toward nullifying such laws amid privacy rights expansions. The 2003 Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which invalidated state sodomy bans under the Fourteenth Amendment's substantive due process, indirectly influenced this trajectory by challenging moral-based criminalizations of private consensual acts, prompting scholarly and judicial scrutiny of surviving adultery and fornication statutes, though direct invalidations remain limited.^[116]^[117] Parallel shifts occurred in civil law through the adoption of no-fault divorce regimes, which eroded fault-based sanctions for adultery by eliminating the need to prove infidelity for marital dissolution. California pioneered unilateral no-fault divorce in 1969, with all states following by 1985, coinciding with a sharp rise in divorce rates from under 10 per 1,000 married women in the 1960s to peaks near 23 per 1,000 by the early 1980s, stabilizing later around 50% of marriages ending in divorce.^[118] This framework diminished adultery's legal consequences in property division and alimony, arguably weakening deterrence against extramarital conduct. European nations decriminalized adultery progressively from the mid-20th century onward, with key reforms including Italy and West Germany in 1969, France in 1975, Spain in 1978, and Austria as late as 1997.^[119] No-fault divorce introductions, such as in the UK via the 1971 Divorce Reform Act, similarly correlated with divorce rate surges; econometric analyses estimate that unilateral no-fault provisions raised European divorce incidence by about 0.6 per 1,000 population annually post-reform.^[120] Self-reported lifetime infidelity rates, drawn from surveys like the General Social Survey and comparable European polls, hover at 20-25% for married individuals in both regions, with some studies linking permissive legal shifts to normalized breaches of marital exclusivity.^[121] These trends reflect a paradigm prioritizing individual autonomy over traditional communal sanctions, though enforcement atrophy predated formal repeals in many jurisdictions.

Retention in Religious and Theocratic Jurisdictions

In jurisdictions governed by Islamic Sharia, such as Saudi Arabia, adultery (zina) by married individuals remains punishable by stoning to death, with unmarried offenders facing 100 lashes, as codified in the country's hudud penalties derived from Quranic and Hadith sources.^[122] Although enforcement has become rarer due to evidentiary hurdles requiring four eyewitnesses or voluntary confession, and despite 2018 reforms under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that abolished flogging as a punishment while substituting imprisonment, the zina ban and potential for capital sentences persist without formal abolition.^[123] In Iran, the 2013 Islamic Penal Code similarly mandates stoning for married adulterers (mohsan), with recent cases including a 2023 death sentence upheld for adultery, though international pressure and judicial discretion have led to commutations or moratoriums on public executions since the early 2010s.^[124]^[125] Enforcement variances reflect a balance between doctrinal retention and pragmatic moderation; Saudi courts issued over 100 zina-related convictions annually in the 2010s, often resulting in prison terms of five to ten years rather than execution, while Iran's judiciary has executed at least five individuals for adultery since 2000, per human rights monitors, amid broader penal code revisions that eased but did not eliminate stoning provisions.^[126] These systems prioritize communal deterrence over frequent application, with religious police (mutaween in Saudi Arabia) conducting raids and investigations to uphold marital exclusivity as a pillar of social order. In Israel, adultery holds no criminal status under secular civil law enacted in the 1977 Penal Code, permitting extramarital relations without state prosecution.^[127] However, for the Orthodox Jewish population subject to rabbinical courts for marriage and divorce, adultery constitutes grounds for dissolving the union under halakha, yet the husband's unilateral authority to issue a get—a bill of divorce—enables refusal as leverage, particularly in cases involving infidelity, leaving agunot (chained women) religiously bound and unable to remarry without civil repercussions like bigamy charges.^[128] This dynamic affects approximately 1,000-2,000 cases annually, with rabbinical incentives like fines introduced in 2010s reforms to compel compliance, though get refusal persists as a tool in contentious separations. Such retention correlates with empirically lower divorce prevalence; Saudi Arabia and Iran maintain crude divorce rates of 2.1 per 1,000 population, versus 3.6 in the United States, per aggregated United Nations demographic data, attributing stability partly to adultery's prohibitive status reinforcing marital commitments amid cultural stigma.^[129] Israel's overall rate hovers at 1.8-2.0 per 1,000, with Orthodox subsets even lower due to get-related barriers, contrasting Western trends where decriminalization aligns with elevated dissolution.^[130]

Empirical Societal Impacts

Effects on Marital Stability

Infidelity serves as a primary precipitant of marital dissolution, with longitudinal surveys indicating it as a major contributing factor in approximately 60% of divorces, as reported by individuals reflecting on their experiences.^[131] This causal pathway often begins with the breach of exclusivity, which fundamentally undermines relational trust—a core element cited in 61% of divorce attributions—leading to emotional withdrawal, conflict escalation, and eventual separation in the majority of cases.^[132] Empirical analyses from clinical and survey data consistently show that discovered affairs trigger irreparable damage more frequently than other stressors, with divorce rates reaching 43-80% in affected couples depending on whether the infidelity was revealed or concealed.^[133] In remarriages following infidelity, recidivism rates heighten instability risks, with studies finding that 45% of individuals who cheated in a prior relationship repeated the behavior in subsequent partnerships, elevating the likelihood of renewed dissolution.^[134] Clinical observations link this pattern to unresolved patterns of impulsivity or dissatisfaction, where prior violations normalize boundary breaches, resulting in serial infidelity that correlates with 30-50% higher breakup probabilities compared to first unions without such history.^[135] Conversely, adherence to fidelity norms bolsters marital endurance, with data from relationship cohorts demonstrating that couples prioritizing exclusivity exhibit marriage durations extended by up to 20-30% relative to those with permissive attitudes toward monogamy.^[136] This stability arises from reinforced commitment mechanisms, where mutual fidelity fosters resilience against external stressors, as evidenced by lower dissolution rates in traditional fidelity-oriented pairings versus modern or mixed variants.^[136]

Consequences for Children and Family Units

Children exposed to parental adultery face elevated risks of psychological harm, including depression and anxiety, often stemming from modeled insecure attachments and eroded trust in relationships. Research indicates that such children exhibit higher rates of internalizing disorders, with qualitative and quantitative studies linking parental infidelity to disrupted emotional security and long-term relational deficits.^[137]^[138] Longitudinal evidence reveals intergenerational transmission, where offspring of unfaithful parents demonstrate increased propensity for their own infidelity and relational failures in adulthood, countering narratives that minimize these effects as transient. For instance, empirical analyses show positive associations between parental cheating and adult children's cheating behaviors, mediated by learned patterns of commitment avoidance.^[139]^[140] Adultery-induced family dissolution frequently precipitates custody disputes, heightening interparental conflict and thereby odds of child neglect or exposure to abusive dynamics during transitions. Economic fallout compounds this, as divorces triggered by infidelity correlate with sharply elevated child poverty—often 2-4 times higher in single-parent households versus intact ones—disrupting stability and amplifying developmental vulnerabilities.^[141]^[142]

Broader Cultural and Economic Ramifications

The erosion of strong social and cultural prohibitions against adultery, particularly following the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, has coincided with measurable shifts in normative tolerance for extramarital relations. Alfred Kinsey's surveys in the late 1940s and early 1950s reported lifetime adultery rates of approximately 33% among married men and 26% among married women in the United States, figures that, despite methodological critiques for non-representative sampling, highlighted pre-existing undercurrents of infidelity even amid widespread formal disapproval.^[143] Subsequent data from the 1990s, such as the National Health and Social Life Survey, indicated lower but persistent rates—around 25% for men and 15% for women—suggesting that relaxed cultural stigmas post-Kinsey have sustained rather than dramatically elevated incidence, while fostering greater public rationalization of such behaviors as personal autonomy rather than moral failing.^[144] This normalization contributes to a broader cultural milieu where marital fidelity is increasingly viewed as optional, correlating with elevated divorce rates—from 2.2 per 1,000 population in 1960 to a peak of 5.3 in 1981—often precipitated by infidelity in up to 55% of cases according to clinical analyses.^[145] Economically, the downstream effects of adultery-fueled family dissolution manifest in substantial aggregate losses, including diminished household productivity and heightened public expenditures. Each divorce incurs direct legal and administrative costs averaging $7,000 to $15,000 per couple, but societal externalities—such as welfare dependency, reduced workforce participation among single parents, and long-term child support arrears—amplify this to broader estimates exceeding $30 billion annually in taxpayer burdens alone, based on early 2000s analyses of 1.4 million divorces.^[146] Children raised in intact two-parent families, by contrast, demonstrate superior economic trajectories, with causal studies attributing a persistent earnings premium of up to 20-30% in adulthood to the stability and resource pooling in such households, net of selection effects like parental income.^[147]^[148] This premium arises from compounded advantages in educational attainment and behavioral discipline, underscoring how adultery's disruption of family units perpetuates intergenerational economic disadvantage. Cross-cultural evidence reinforces these patterns, revealing negative correlations between permissive attitudes toward nonmarital births—often intertwined with adultery tolerance—and key societal metrics like fertility and mobility. In diverse global samples, higher illegitimacy ratios (as proxies for weakened marital exclusivity) associate with lower total fertility rates (below replacement levels of 2.1 in many advanced economies) and stalled economic development, as fragmented family structures strain social capital and human capital formation.^[149] Societies maintaining robust norms against adultery, conversely, exhibit higher fertility persistence and stronger correlations between family intactness and aggregate prosperity, suggesting that causal chains from individual infidelity to macro-level entitlement cultures undermine long-term demographic and economic vitality.^[150]

Controversies and Debates

Gender Asymmetries and Double Standards

In biblical law, adultery was asymmetrically defined as sexual intercourse between a married woman and a man other than her husband, constituting an offense against the husband's paternity rights and familial lineage.^[32]^[151] A married man's extramarital relations with an unmarried woman, by contrast, were classified as fornication rather than adultery, permitting practices such as polygyny among figures like King David, who maintained multiple wives and concubines, and King Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines.^[152] This double standard prioritized female fidelity to ensure paternal certainty, as violations risked male investment in non-biological offspring, a concern absent in female reproductive assurance. These historical asymmetries derive from biological imperatives, wherein males incur disproportionate evolutionary costs from cuckoldry—unwitting paternal investment—due to internal fertilization and concealed ovulation, rendering paternity probabilistic while maternity remains certain.^[153]^[154] Human non-paternity rates average 1-2%, yet even low incidences impose substantial fitness penalties, prompting evolved male adaptations like mate guarding and vigilance against infidelity cues.^[155]^[156] Empirical studies confirm reduced male provisioning when perceived fidelity or paternal resemblance is low, underscoring causal links between uncertainty and investment.^[157] Modern data reveal persistent patterns: women initiate 69-70% of divorces, frequently citing spousal infidelity, yet the underlying asymmetries favor traditional fidelity norms over egalitarian uniformity.^[158]^[159] Shifts toward gender-neutral laws, such as no-fault divorce expansions since the 1970s, correlate with declining female subjective well-being relative to males, as documented in General Social Survey analyses spanning 1972-2006, where women's happiness fell despite expanded opportunities. This "paradox of declining female happiness" suggests that disregarding biological asymmetries in favor of equity-based reforms has yielded unintended welfare costs, validating historical emphases on differential fidelity as adaptations to reproductive realities rather than inequities.^[160]

Compatibility with Modern Sexual Norms

The implementation of no-fault divorce laws, beginning with California's statute in 1969 and spreading nationwide by the early 1980s, severed adultery from mandatory legal penalties in marital dissolution, enabling separations without proving spousal fault. This reform precipitated a surge in divorce rates, rising from 2.2 per 1,000 married women in 1960 to a peak of 5.2 in 1981, as reduced barriers encouraged behaviors previously deterred by evidentiary requirements and social stigma.^[161] By decoupling extramarital activity from automatic grounds for divorce, these changes aligned with emerging norms prioritizing individual autonomy over contractual fidelity, fostering environments where adultery faced fewer institutional repercussions.^[162] Contemporary practices like consensual non-monogamy (CNM) and polyamory, often framed as ethical alternatives to exclusivity, exhibit patterns of instability that challenge claims of equivalence to monogamous commitments. While self-reported satisfaction levels in CNM relationships show no significant deviation from monogamy in some surveys, anthropological and historical analyses indicate polyamorous arrangements rarely sustain long-term stability, with dissolution rates reportedly exceeding those of exclusive pairings—potentially doubling in certain open marriage cohorts, though data verification remains contested due to small sample sizes and self-selection biases.^[163] ^[164] These dynamics suggest CNM functions more as a transitional or low-barrier phase than a robust substitute, often dissolving amid jealousy, unequal investment, or reversion to exclusivity desires.^[165] Empirical outcomes reinforce the commandment's emphasis on exclusivity, as monogamous unions correlate with superior health, economic, and social metrics compared to non-monogamous variants. Serial monogamy promotes greater parental investment, lower intra-household conflict, and reduced societal costs like crime and abuse, yielding net benefits in fertility control and resource allocation absent in polygynous or CNM systems.^[166] Cross-cultural data further validate these edges, with monogamy-linked households demonstrating enhanced wealth accumulation and longevity advantages over diffuse commitments, underscoring adultery prohibitions as causally adaptive rather than relics of outdated morality.^[167]

References

[1]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A14&version=ESV
[2]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+5%3A18&version=ESV
[3]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+20%3A10&version=ESV
[4]
The Seventh Commandment: Punishing Adultery
Oct 25, 2017 · 'Adultery' was quickly expanded by Protestant authors to include all forms of 'uncleanness', in thought, word and deed, alone and with other ...
[5]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A27-28&version=ESV
[6]
Adultery as a Crime in the Western World and Beyond - ResearchGate
A man could be punished for being an unfaithful wife's lover, but not for cheating on his own wife. Even when male adultery was prescribed as an option as well, ...
[7]
Ten Commandments | Description, Bible, List, History, Text, & Facts
Oct 11, 2025 · Ten Commandments, list of religious precepts that, according to various passages in Exodus and Deuteronomy, were divinely revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai.
[8]
Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery. - Bible Hub
In the original Hebrew, the word for adultery is "na'aph," which specifically refers to a married person engaging in sexual relations outside of their marriage.
[9]
Strong's Hebrew: 5003. נָאַף (naaph) -- To commit adultery
A primitive root; to commit adultery; figuratively, to apostatize -- adulterer(-ess), commit(-ing) adultery, woman that breaketh wedlock. NAS Exhaustive ...
[10]
2 Problematic Biblical Laws: The View from the “Other” Side
The emphasis in the law of adultery, then, is to highly restrict the sexual activities of married women so that the paternity of the husband's offspring is ...
[11]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2020:10&version=ESV
[12]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2022:22&version=ESV
[13]
What is the biblical punishment for adultery? | GotQuestions.org
Jan 4, 2022 · Under the Old Covenant law, given to ancient Israel under a theocracy, the punishment for adultery was death (Leviticus 20:10).Missing: Deuteronomy | Show results with:Deuteronomy
[14]
https://biblehub.com/greek/3430.htm
[15]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+8%3A1-11&version=ESV
[16]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19%3A4-6&version=ESV
[17]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+13%3A4&version=ESV
[18]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+6%3A9-10%2C18-20&version=ESV
[19]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5%3A31-32&version=ESV
[20]
H5003 - nā'ap̄ - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (rsv) - Blue Letter Bible
נָאַף nâʼaph, naw-af'; a primitive root; to commit adultery; figuratively, to apostatize:—adulterer(-ess), commit(-ing) adultery, woman that breaketh wedlock.<|separator|>
[21]
Adultery - Jewish Virtual Library
This distinction stems from the economic aspect of Israelite marriage: the wife was the husband's possession (of a special sort, see *Marriage), and adultery ...Missing: naaph | Show results with:naaph
[22]
Zanah Meaning - Hebrew Lexicon | Old Testament (NAS)
Zanah Definition · to be a harlot, act as a harlot, commit fornication · to commit adultery · to be a cult prostitute · to be unfaithful (to God) (fig.).
[23]
What the Bible says about Zanah
The Hebrew word zanah, translated as "harlotry," is not the word used to indicate a single act of adultery. Instead, it means "sexually wanton."<|separator|>
[24]
μοιχεύω | Free Online Greek Dictionary | billmounce.com
(act.) to commit adultery; (pass.) to become an adulterer - trans. to commit adultery with, debauch, Mt. 5:28; absol. and mid. to commit adultery, Mt. 5:27;Missing: Septuagint | Show results with:Septuagint
[25]
Strong's Greek: 3430. μοιχεία (moicheia) -- Adultery - Bible Hub
The noun μοιχεία (Strong's Greek 3430) designates the act of adultery—violation of the marriage covenant by sexual union with someone other than one's spouse.
[26]
Moicheuo Meaning - Greek Lexicon | New Testament (NAS)
Moicheuo Definition · to be an adulterer · to commit adultery with, have unlawful intercourse with another's wife · of the wife: to suffer adultery, be debauched ...
[27]
Adultery - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
Avoutrie, from Old French and Latin adulterare, means voluntary violation of the marriage bed; its origin reflects "to alter," linking to adulteration.
[28]
Defining Adultery in the Old Testament - Biblical Faith
Jun 12, 2008 · The word adultery originates not from “adult”, as is commonly thought, but from the Late Latin word for “to alter, corrupt”: adulterare.
[29]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A14&version=KJV;NIV;ESV
[30]
Adultery - Biblical Cyclopedia
Adultery (some form of the verb נָאִŠ, naaph', μοιχεία), commonly denotes the sexual intercourse of a married woman with any other man than her husband, or of a ...
[31]
What is the difference between fornication and adultery?
Jan 4, 2022 · The Hebrew word translated “adultery” means literally “breaking wedlock.” Interestingly, God describes the desertion of His people to other ...
[32]
Adultery in Judaism - My Jewish Learning
defined in Jewish law as sexual relations between a married woman and a man not her husband — is viewed in Jewish tradition as a sinful act of ...
[33]
http://biblehub.com/leviticus/20-10.htm
[34]
35. Fatal Attraction: The prohibition against adultery - OU Torah
A married man and a single girl, while still impermissible, is not an adulterous relationship. This is because, Biblically-speaking, a man is allowed to have ...
[35]
Jewish Views on Sex - Middle East And North Africa
The Seventh Commandment forbids adultery (extramarital sexual relations) not fornication (premarital sexual relations) . This is because Jews traditionally ...
[36]
A New Kind of Adultery | Torah Portions - FFOZ
The Torah allows for a man to have more than one wife. Men in the Bible who took concubines or multiple wives were not guilty of “committing adultery.” The ...
[37]
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2020%3A14%3B%20Deuteronomy%205%3A18&version=NIV
[38]
Adultery - Jewish Virtual Library
An older tradition appears to be that the punishment for adultery was stoning: the lighter offenses of the unvirginal bride (Deut. 22:21) and of the betrothed ...
[39]
Stoning Adulterers - Christian Research Institute
Dec 4, 2014 · You must purge the evil from Israel”; and in Leviticus 20:10: “If a man commits adultery with another man's wife— with the wife of his neighbour ...
[40]
https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.50b
[41]
Sanhedrin 52 - My Jewish Learning
Feb 7, 2025 · Recently, we learned that while a woman who commits adultery is ordinarily strangled (if she was married) or stoned (if she was betrothed), ...
[42]
Adultery, Cultic Prostitution, and Idolatry in the Bible
Sep 5, 2025 · Israel's turning from Yahweh to worship other gods is repeatedly described as "prostitution" or "adultery." This metaphor has its roots in the ...Missing: Jewish exegesis kiddushin
[43]
https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.41a.3
[44]
Torah Studies: Naso - Chabad.org
Firstly, the sin of adultery in Jewish law applies only if the woman concerned is married. ... betrayal of the Holy Wedding at Sinai. This is why the ...
[45]
Makkot 7a - Sefaria
Or perhaps he is saying that standard conduct is for a Sanhedrin to execute once in seventy years, and only if it executes more than one person during that ...
[46]
Makkot - Jewish Virtual Library
An interesting mishnah (1:10) deals with capital punishment: "R. Eliezer b. Azariah says: A Sanhedrin that effects a capital punishment once in 70 years is ...
[47]
ADULTERY - JewishEncyclopedia.com
In the patriarchal days the Adultery of the wife required no proof, for whenever the head of the family suspected her, he could kill her. Thus Judah ordered ...Missing: evidentiary | Show results with:evidentiary
[48]
[PDF] Mamzerut - The Rabbinical Assembly
The Tosaphot noted that Rabban Gamliel's decree could in theory legitimize acts of adultery, with the cooperation of the husband, thereby exempting an adulterer ...
[49]
Legal-Religious Status of the Suspected Adulteress (Sotah)
Adultery and the Sotah. Perhaps one of the most embarrassing and humiliating situations for a man, particularly in the Middle East, is infidelity on the part of ...
[50]
Marriage and Divorce - Church Fathers
Let him divorce her, and let the husband remain single. But if he divorce his wife and marry another, he too commits adultery” (The Shepherd 4:1:6 [A.D. 80]).
[51]
Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
“For,” He remarks, “it has been said to them of old time, Do not commit adultery. But I say unto you, That every one who hath looked upon a woman to lust ...
[52]
Augustine, Concerning Adulterous Marriages, to Pollentius (1550)
Oct 3, 2019 · If a second marriage maketh one an adulterer, then it is adultery, with or without his wife's initial fornication. Mark. 10. Luke. 16. 18. You ...
[53]
Augustine's View of the Indissolubility of the Marriage Bond (2)
Although Augustine recognized the permissibility of divorce on the ground of adultery, even then the marriage bond remained intact. Divorce in Augustine's view ...Missing: Hippo | Show results with:Hippo
[54]
Persecution in the Early Church - Tabletalk Magazine
One of the enduringly provocative questions of early church history is why exactly Christianity was classed as “not permitted” and Christians were persecuted.
[55]
Question 94. The natural law - SUMMA THEOLOGIAE - New Advent
Further, the slaying of the innocent, adultery, and theft are against the natural law. ... Thomas Aquinas Second and Revised Edition, 1920. Literally translated ...
[56]
St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologica - Christian Classics ...
But as regards the good of the offspring the wife's adultery is a greater sin against marriage than the husband's wherefore it is a greater reason for divorce ...
[57]
Late Medieval Canon Law on Marriage - University of Oregon
... divorce and remarriage were impotence, incest (i.e., marriage within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity and affinity), and adultery. This threatened to ...
[58]
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: The bill of divorce (Supplementum, Q. 67)
Question 67. The bill of divorce. Is the indissolubility of marriage of natural law? May it by dispensation become lawful to put away a wife?
[59]
Luther: The Estate of Marriage. - University of Oregon
By this we are told plainly enough that it is praiseworthy to divorce an adulterous wife. If the adultery is clandestine, of course, the husband has the right ...Missing: primary | Show results with:primary
[60]
[PDF] Martin Luther on Marriage and Family
According to Luther, the legitimate cause for divorce given by Jesus is adultery. According to Matt 19:9 and Lev 20:10, adultery was punishable by death. By ...
[61]
https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-365
[62]
[PDF] Uncovering the Reformation Roots of American Marriage and ...
The history of marriage and divorce law has been clouded in part by confusion over terms. I will follow modem practice and use the term "divorce" to mean ...
[63]
Divorce | The Early Reformation on the Continent - Oxford Academic
Protestants disliked divorce, but were forced to frame divorce laws of various degrees of severity, with harsh punishments for adultery. Only Martin Bucer ...<|separator|>
[64]
Eight Things You Have To Know About The Church's Teaching On ...
Mar 24, 2017 · ... marital act, remarriage after divorce creates the conditions for adultery. ... The Church teaches that marriage is indissoluble. Thus, the ...
[65]
Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Orthodox Church
... adultery.” According to Bishop Kallistos Ware divorce is an action of “economia” and “expression of compassion” of the Church toward sinful man. “Since ...
[66]
Rules of Orthodox Christians on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage
Jan 23, 2023 · So according to this article, divorce is a sin but Orthodox Church allows and forgives it even though Jesus said it was allowed due to adultery.
[67]
What is the Divorce Rate for Greek Orthodox Couples?
Using these figures alone, the divorce rate would be 14% of the total Orthodox marriages, falling far below the US national average of approximately 43%.
[68]
The Rate of Divorces Based on All Religions in the United States ...
Jul 30, 2024 · Divorce Rates: The divorce rates among Orthodox Christians are generally lower than the national average. This is influenced by strong communal ...
[69]
What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage?
Sep 4, 2025 · Jesus' teaching seems to be that adultery unties the marriage knot, but the allowance of remarriage is not explicit. In Matthew 5:32, the ...
[70]
Divorce Policy Comparison Chart: 40 Church Denominations
Aug 19, 2020 · ... adultery, sexual immorality, physical abuse, emotional abuse/control ... About 6 in 10 Protestant Christian divorcees switch churches when they ...
[71]
What Does the Bible Teach About Divorce and Remarriage?
Jul 15, 2024 · Some holding the permanence view claim the exception refers to adultery during betrothal but before marriage (see Matt. 1:18–19). But in Matthew ...Missing: clause | Show results with:clause
[72]
On Divorce & Remarriage in the Event of Adultery | Desiring God
Jan 1, 1986 · There is no loophole in Scripture for divorce and remarriage when one of the partners commits adultery.
[73]
Surah Al-Isra - 32 - Quran.com
وَلَا. تَقۡرَبُواْ. ٱلزِّنَىٰٓۖ. إِنَّهُۥ. كَانَ. فَٰحِشَةٗ. وَسَآءَ. سَبِيلٗا. ٣٢ ... Do not go near adultery. It is truly a shameful deed and an evil way. ... Quran.com is a trusted platform ...
[74]
https://www.islamicstudies.info/tafheem.php?sura=17&verse=32
[75]
Surah An-Nur - 2 - Quran.com
As for female and male fornicators, give each of them one hundred lashes, 1 and do not let pity for them make you lenient in ˹enforcing˺ the law of Allah.
[76]
Sahih Muslim 1691a - The Book of Legal Punishments - كتاب الحدود
Stoning is a duty laid down in Allah's Book for married men and women who commit adultery when proof is established, or it there is pregnancy, or a confession.Missing: muhsan | Show results with:muhsan
[77]
Tafsir Surah An-Nur - 2 - Quran.com
The punishment for adultery in Islam is most severe as compared to all other punishments prescribed by the Qur'an for the crimes committed by human beings.
[78]
Application of Hudud Punishments - The Evolution of Sharia
For example, the hadd (singular of hudud) for zina (fornication) requires proof through the testimony of four male witnesses to the actual act of intercourse.
[79]
[PDF] Evidentiary Standards for Sexual Offenses in Islam
A judge must follow the general guidelines of Shari'a. Under Shari'a law, adultery is considered a sexual offense. Adultery is called. Zina in Islamic legal ...
[80]
[PDF] Sharia law and the death penalty - Penal Reform International
Zina: adultery. The death penalty for zina (adultery). Adultery (zina) is strictly forbidden in Islam. Muslim jurists treat it as both a sin and a crime. The.
[81]
[PDF] How Hanafi and Maliki Zinā Jurisprudence
Legal Paths to Justice for Female Survivors under Islamic Law: How Hanafi and Maliki Zinā ... adultery in an Islamic country may not be representative of all ...
[82]
(PDF) Ta'dhir in Islamic Law : Types of Crimes and Punishments
Oct 18, 2024 · ... ta'zir becomes obligatory. For example, if a person slanders a. Muslim with insults other than adultery, such as calling someone a 'fasiq ...
[83]
Lineage (Al-Nasab) | Marriage according to the Five Schools of ...
The Illegitimate Child (Walad al-Zina) ... The purpose behind all this is to cover the deed' of people, to protect their honor, to protect the family from the ...
[84]
[PDF] Ziba Mir-Hosseini - Sur - International Journal on Human Rights
In any case, jurists agree that the punishment was superseded by Quran, Surah an-Nur (Quran 24. 2), which reads: “The woman and the man guilty of adultery or ...Missing: symmetry | Show results with:symmetry<|separator|>
[85]
[PDF] Is There a Relationship Between Religiosity and Infidelity? A Meta
Jul 21, 2022 · Researchers have used multiple terms to describe infidelity, sometimes synonymously, such as: infidelity, cheating, affair, unfaithfulness, ...
[86]
Code of Hammurabi Laws 127-194 Summary & Analysis
The rules in this section address situations connected to family and marriage law. They begin with considerations regarding adultery.
[87]
ADULTERY IN ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN LAW - jstor
The law of adultery in the ancient Near East was a complex affair. It was at the same time an offence against the husband, for which he could claim certain ...
[88]
The Husband Veils a Wife (Hittite Laws, Sections 197-98)
Sections 197f. (= Tablet II ?? 83f.) of the Hittite Laws deal with rape and adultery.' Rape, if the act is committed in 'the mountains,' adultery, if the.
[89]
Hittite Women as Reflected in the Laws of Marriage, Adultery and ...
Jun 3, 2011 · In addition, a married man could have sex with another woman without it being counted as adultery as long as the woman was not married. That is, ...
[90]
The Ancient Near East Was No Picnic: Contrasting the Mosaic Law ...
The Ancient Near East Was No Picnic: Contrasting the Mosaic Law to Ancient Moral Codes ... 21:12), a husband's payment for false accusation of adultery (cp. Dt.
[91]
[PDF] Women in Hebrew and Ancient Near Eastern Law
This is also in the code of. Hammurabi in cases of adultery, and the swearing of an oath of innocence at the temple (CH 131, 132). The swearing of innocence and ...
[92]
[PDF] The Patriarchs and Near Eastern Laws and Customs
May 8, 2021 · Ancient Mesopotamian law and customs are so reflected in the lives of the patriarchs that it is inappropriate to place them in any other time ...Missing: evidence stability
[93]
(PDF) Family, Gender Roles, and Marriage in the Ancient Near East ...
A brief investigation and analysis of the history, culture, and socio-ethics of family, gender roles, and marriage in the ancient near east and Greco Roman ...
[94]
[PDF] Evolved Gender Differences in Jealousy Prove Robust and Replicable
The phenomena of jealousy and infidelity are pervasive and important, since they are linked to love and long-term mating, betrayal of long-term commitments, and ...Missing: adultery | Show results with:adultery
[95]
Recent decline in nonpaternity rates: a cross-temporal meta-analysis
Across studies, the mean (and median) nonpaternity rate was 3.1% (2.1%). This estimate is consistent with estimates of 2 to 3% from recent reviews on the topic ...
[96]
How Many People Divorce Because of Infidelity?
Sep 14, 2021 · The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that anywhere from 20% to 40% of divorces are linked to infidelity, and men tend to cheat more often than ...
[97]
Parental divorce or separation and children's mental health - NIH
Parental divorce/separation is linked to increased risks of adjustment problems, disruptive behaviors, and depressed mood, though most children are resilient. ...
[98]
The Economic Status of Single Mothers
Aug 7, 2024 · In 2022, single mothers had a poverty rate of 28 percent using the official poverty measure (OPM) and 26 percent using the supplemental poverty ...
[99]
Single-parent poverty - FRED Blog - Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Sep 16, 2024 · Single-parent households can be between 3 and 6 times more likely to experience poverty than households where both parents are present.Missing: costs | Show results with:costs
[100]
[DOC] ADULTERY (Heb
1) describes Hosea's wife as adulterous, but this is probably a legendary motif of the sort typical in third-person prophetic narratives (see Hosea). Adultery ...
[101]
[PDF] Procedural Violations in the Trial of the Woman Taken in Adultery
Jan 1, 2019 · Since adultery was a capital crime, illicit lovers would have every incentive to avoid detection, and the law required two eyewitnesses to the ...
[102]
Middle Assyrian Law Code - Jewish and Christian Literature
But, if the husband allows his wife to go free, the adulterer is also to be released. A16 If a man is seduced by a married woman, there is no penalty against ...
[103]
Adultery in Ancient Egypt and Biblical Israel
33 As for adultery, it was common, but it was certainly not looked upon forgivingly, and the adulterer was forced to deal with the consequences of his actions.
[104]
Adultery in Ancient Egypt and Biblical Israel - ResearchGate
Aug 5, 2025 · In biblical Israel, the traditional view was that adultery was a violation of the covenant between the people and their god.
[105]
Adultery in the Middle Ages
Adultery was the only reason the church would grant a divorce, but “the hope was that the guilty party would do penance and the marriage continue” (Bullough 11) ...
[106]
Running Naked in the Streets: Repression of Adultery in the Later ...
Jan 29, 2023 · Running was only imposed to inveterate adulterers or in cases of aggravated adultery, namely a pregnancy (an illegitimate birth) or an affair ...
[107]
Medieval marriage II -adultery. - The History Jar
Aug 3, 2017 · Women could, in the early medieval period, have their nose and ears cut off if found guilty of adultery – a law which Cnut would have recognised ...
[108]
August 1650: An Act against several Atheistical, Blasphemous and ...
... Adultery, Incest, Fornication, Uncleanness, Sodomy, Drunkenness, filthy and lascivious Speaking, are not things in themselves shameful, wicked, sinful ...
[109]
Legislation on the Detestable Sins, 1650 - Early Modern Whale
Aug 24, 2006 · Having thus resoundingly discouraged adultery, the act considered fornication, with virgin, widow or unmarried woman (those convicted get three ...
[110]
Adultery in Islam and among the Ottomans - Hürriyet Daily News
Feb 22, 2015 · The Ottoman criminal code did not distinguish between fornication and adultery; zina was the word used for both, according to Uriel Heyd in “ ...Missing: enforcement | Show results with:enforcement
[111]
[PDF] Adultery, Gender and Modernization of Penal Practices in Ottoman ...
Adultery (zinā') as a sexual act is a double-edged affair that plays a prominent part in reshaping the legal and social image of both the adulterer and the ...Missing: symmetry | Show results with:symmetry
[112]
Dishonoured: The Fate of Infants Born out of Wedlock - PubMed
From 1400 to 1600, the illegitimacy ratio dropped markedly, but from 1650 to 1850, it seems to have gradually risen from around 5 to 9% in most European states.Missing: societies | Show results with:societies
[113]
Full article: Illegitimate parenthood in early modern Europe
Dec 1, 2020 · In the literature on early modern illegitimacy, illegitimate parenthood is usually understood as fatherhood or motherhood out of wedlock (Adair, ...
[114]
Map Shows 16 States Where It's Illegal to Cheat on Your Wife
Apr 5, 2024 · The list of states where adultery is a crime could drop to 15 as New York legislators consider repealing an old law.
[115]
States Where Adultery is Illegal 2025 - World Population Review
States Where Adultery is Illegal 2025 ; District of Columbia Flag. District of Columbia, Decriminalized ; Idaho Flag. Idaho, Decriminalized ; Massachusetts Flag.<|separator|>
[116]
Queer Law for the Straight Guy: The Effect of Lawrence on ...
Dec 16, 2009 · This Article inteprets the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas ... Queer Law for the Straight Guy: The Effect of Lawrence on Fornication and Adultery Statutes.
[117]
A Content Analysis of How State Courts Applied Lawrence v. Texas ...
Feb 11, 2025 · In fact, the exception of a handful of cases invalidating laws or convictions for fornication or adultery, Lawrence's long-term impact on ...<|separator|>
[118]
A history of no-fault divorce in the US - CNN
Nov 27, 2023 · Statistics show no-fault divorce does indeed correlate with an initial spike in divorce rates, but the numbers even out or even drop below ...<|separator|>
[119]
Where is adultery still illegal? - The Week
Sep 27, 2018 · The last European nations to decriminalise infidelity were Austria, in 1997, and Romania, in 2006. The story is similar in Latin America, which ...
[120]
The effect of divorce laws on divorce rates in Europe - ScienceDirect
We estimate that the introduction of no-fault, unilateral divorce increased the divorce rate by about 0.6, a sizeable effect given the average rate of 2 ...
[121]
Infidelity Stats 2024: Who Cheats More? 49 Startling Facts
Studies show that men tend to cheat more often than women in marriages. About 20% of married men cheat, compared to 13% of married women. This gender gap in ...Missing: lifetime | Show results with:lifetime
[122]
Saudi Arabia Laws And Punishments - Crime - Mondaq
Jul 11, 2025 · Adultery (Zina): Stoning to death for married offenders and 100 lashes for unmarried offenders. Consumption of Alcohol: Between 40 and 80 lashes ...
[123]
What is the punishment for adultery in Saudi Arabia?
If a married person commits adultery in Saudi Arabia, he or she is to be stoned to death. However, there are some exceptions to this punishment which have been ...
[124]
Iran Human Rights | Article: Man Receives Death Penalty for Adultery
Jul 26, 2023 · Unfortunately, the international community's lack of appropriate reaction to the execution of another person for adultery and two people for ...Missing: Sharia 2020s
[125]
Country policy and information note: 'Zina' (sex outside of marriage ...
Jul 5, 2022 · Country policy and information note: 'Zina' (sex outside of marriage and adultery), Iran, July 2022 (accessible). Updated 8 October 2025 ...
[126]
[PDF] Saudi Arabia: Treatment of a man who had sexual relations with a ...
Jun 23, 2015 · According to an 18 February 2002 article in Arab News, a Saudi man was sentenced to 4,750 lashes and six years in prison for committing adultery ...
[127]
Adultery - DIVORCE AND FAMILY LAW, HAGIT HALEVY & CO.
Most people consider betrayal-adultery as a sexual act out of the formal relationship (not necessarily marriage), between people.
[128]
[PDF] Jewish Divorce Denial Serves as a Form of Domestic Abuse
a desire to continue the relationship, to exact revenge, or to use the get as leverage in the divorce negotiations — the under-.Missing: Judaism | Show results with:Judaism
[129]
Divorce Rates by Country 2025 - Data Pandas
May 20, 2025 · Saudi Arabia, 2.1. 24, Iran, 2.1. 24, Georgia ... United Nations Demographic Yearbook - Marriage and Divorce Statistics. Last updated. 2023. Keep ...
[130]
[PDF] 2021 Divorces et taux bruts - the United Nations
Divorces and crude divorce rates by urban/rural residence: 2017 - 2021 ... 17 Includes data for East Jerusalem and Israeli residents in certain other.
[131]
Reasons for Divorce and Recollections of Premarital Intervention - NIH
The next most often cited major contributing factor to divorce was infidelity, endorsed by 59.6% of individuals and by at least one partner in 88.8% of couples.
[132]
Are Problems that Contribute to Divorce Present at the Start of ... - NIH
The problems most often cited as contributing to divorce were “communication” (70%), “willingness to work on the relationship” (70%), “trust” (61%), “jealousy/ ...
[133]
[PDF] Infidelity and Behavioral Couple Therapy: Relationship Outcomes ...
Nov 12, 2012 · Divorce rates were significantly higher for secret infidelity couples (80%, n ⫽ 4) than for revealed infidelity (43%, n ⫽ 6) and noninfidelity ...
[134]
Is a Partner Who Has Cheated Likely to Cheat Again?
Oct 3, 2017 · In this new study, 45 percent of individuals who reported cheating on their partner in the first relationship reported also doing so in the ...
[135]
Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater? DU Study Examines Serial ...
Sep 19, 2018 · 40 percent of unmarried couples report infidelity. Worse: cheaters are more likely to cheat with future partners. Worse still, those who are cheated on are ...
[136]
Marital Commitment and Mental Health in Different Patterns of Mate ...
The mean duration of marriage in the traditional pattern (12.43 ± 8.72 years) was higher than in the mixed (9.78 ± 6.56 years) and the modern (6.91 ± 6.23 years) ...Missing: census | Show results with:census
[137]
(PDF) A Family Affair: Examining the Impact of Parental Infidelity on ...
Oct 28, 2015 · A Family Affair: Examining the Impact of Parental Infidelity on Children Using a Structural Family Therapy Framework. June 2016; Contemporary ...
[138]
[PDF] Adult Children's Accounts of Parental Infidelity and Divorce ...
Another hypothesis that links parental infidelity to risky behaviors in children states that an affair may destroy a child's sense of security and trust, and ...
[139]
Faithful parent's attempts to make their adult children feel caught ...
In Study 3, parental infidelity was positively associated with offspring infidelity. Study 3 revealed that parental infidelity is associated with offspring ...
[140]
Family Background and Propensity to Engage in Infidelity
Apr 22, 2015 · The current study explored how a variety of family-of-origin experiences are related to individuals' infidelity history.
[141]
Does Having an Affair Mean You Lose Your Kids? - Bolton Law
Mar 30, 2025 · However, if the affair leads to instability, such as substance abuse or neglect, it could impact custody arrangements. Influence of Child's ...
[142]
Interesting Divorce Statistics, Facts, and Rate | Orlando, FL
... Adultery Laws · Annulment · Divorce & Your Children · Flat Fee Divorce · High Net ... In fact, a large percentage of mothers fall into poverty after getting a ...The Annual Divorce Rate... · Lifetime Divorce Rate · Factors That Lead To Divorce
[143]
[PDF] Tsapelas, I, HE Fisher, and A Aron (2010) “Infidelity
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, approximately 33% of men and 26% of women in an. American sample were adulterous (Kinsey et al., 1948; Kinsey et al., 1953).
[144]
Fifty years after Alfred Kinsey, what more do we know?
Sep 26, 2007 · ” Laumann's adultery number for men was also half the Kinsey figure: Only 25 percent of married men (and roughly 15 percent of married women) ...
[145]
The New Face of Infidelity - Association for Psychological Science
Oct 25, 2012 · ... U.S. had an extramarital affair. No one puts much stock in Dr. Kinsey's high numbers any more—his sampling methods suffered from a raging ...Missing: historical adultery
[146]
Divorce Statistics: Over 115 Studies, Facts and Rates for 2024
Rating 4.9 (24) The average total cost of divorce in the United States is $15,000. 105 ... The nation's 1.4 million divorces in 2002 are estimated to have cost the taxpayers more ...Missing: economic | Show results with:economic
[147]
[PDF] The Causal Effect of Growing up in a Two-Parent Household on ...
The children who grew up in two-parent households for their entire childhood earn more than the other children reared in non-intact parental families.
[148]
Growing Up in Intact Families Matters More Than Ever
Oct 2, 2023 · Boomers raised in a stable, two-parent family saw their odds of reaching this level of economic success increase by only 16 percentage points ...<|separator|>
[149]
On the Relationship Between Country Sex Ratios and Teen ...
Hendrix, L. (1996). Illegitimacy and social structures: Cross-cultural perspectives on nonmarital birth. Westport, CT: Greenwood. Google Scholar.
[150]
Economic Events and Illegitimacy in Developed Countries - jstor
We then examine more direct measures of government programs that assist unwed mothers and illegitimate children. The " Welfare State" and Illegitimacy. Our ...
[151]
The Double Standard, Men as Victims of Adultery, Prostitution, and ...
Jul 7, 2020 · Although both men and women could be perpetrators of adultery, only men could be victims. Not that this was ever God's view of the matter; it ...
[152]
Polygamy and Old Testament Law - Dr. Michael Heiser
Mar 26, 2012 · Adultery was a capital crime according to Lev 20:10 and Deut 22:22. Both parties must die. The reasons for the gravity of this crime are never ...Missing: paternal | Show results with:paternal
[153]
https://assets.cambridge.org/052184/5386/excerpt/0521845386_excerpt.htm
[154]
Blue Eyes Help Men Reduce the Cost of Cuckoldry - PMC
Sep 27, 2021 · Blue Eyes Help Men Reduce the Cost of Cuckoldry ... Paola Bressan. 1Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy.
[155]
Cuckoldry is incredibly rare among humans - Ars Technica
Apr 5, 2016 · cuck shortage. Cuckoldry is incredibly rare among humans. New study finds that only 1-2% of men unknowingly raise children who aren't theirs .
[156]
[PDF] Cuckoldry - Todd Shackelford
Solutions to the Problem of Cuckoldry. To address or avoid the costs associated with cuckoldry, males of many species have evolved anti-cuckoldry tactics that ...
[157]
How Well Does Paternity Confidence Match Actual Paternity?
Evolutionary theory predicts that males will provide less parental investment for putative offspring who are unlikely to be their actual offspring.Missing: adultery | Show results with:adultery
[158]
Women More Likely Than Men to Initiate Divorces, But Not Non ...
Sep 28, 2022 · As part of his analysis, Rosenfeld found that women initiated 69 percent of all divorces, compared to 31 percent for men. In contrast, there was ...
[159]
Why Do Women Initiate Divorce More Frequently Than Men?
Mar 8, 2024 · About 70 percent of divorces are initiated by women. On top of that ... infidelity. There's more than can be added to that list but you ...
[160]
The female happiness paradox | Journal of Population Economics
Feb 9, 2024 · It is correct that women's happiness has declined relative to men's since the 1970s ... happiness data from the General Social Survey through to ...
[161]
[PDF] Economic Origins of the No-Fault Divorce Revolution - Peter Leeson
May 20, 2015 · ... divorce only if adultery could be proved governed marital dissolution in the state. Observers decried the perjury rampant in. New York's ...
[162]
[PDF] “Fault” in Divorce: Its History and Current Role (and a ...
May 2, 2025 · spousal maintenance statutory framework to no longer expressly provide for the punishment of adultery in issuing spousal main- tenance, and ...
[163]
The Problem With Polyamory: A Social Scientific View
Feb 7, 2024 · The evidence from the anthropological and historical record suggests that polyamory is unlikely to be viable in the long term.
[164]
A scoping review of research on polyamory and consensual non ...
Nov 27, 2023 · In this scoping review, we evaluate and synthesize 209 research studies about polyamory and CNM, paying particular attention to trends in research design.<|separator|>
[165]
Straight Talk about Polyamory | Public Square Magazine
Jun 29, 2022 · First, in our research, about 10% disagreed that a married couple should be monogamous— reflecting attitudes that suggest a future fertile field ...
[166]
The puzzle of monogamous marriage - PMC - PubMed Central
These effects result in (i) lower rates of crime, personal abuse, intra-household conflict and fertility, and (ii) greater parental investment (especially male) ...
[167]
Integrating economic and evolutionary approaches to polygynous ...
We discuss some advantages of analysing marriage through the lens of competitive markets, and outline some of the ways that economists analyse the emergence of ...