New York Governor Kathy Hochul has reversed a 1907 law that deemed adultery illegal.
New York on Friday repealed a seldom-used, more than century-old law that made it a crime to cheat on your spouse - a misdemeanor that once could have landed adulterers in jail for three months.
"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," she said. "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 Let's take this silly, outdated statute off the books, once and for all.
New York defined adultery as when a person "engages in sexual intercourse with another person at a time when he has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse." The state's law was first used a few weeks after it went into effect, according to a New York Times article, to arrest a married man and 25-year-old woman.
"Laws are meant to protect our community and to serve as a deterrent to anti-social behavior. New York's adultery law advanced neither purpose," Lavine said in a statement Friday.
New York State Governor Governor Kathy Hochul Hochul Adultery Cheating Cheating Spouse Spouse Wife Husband 15578184
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