Adultery in United Kingdom

Definition of Adultery

In accordance with the work A Dictionary of Law, this is a description of Adultery :

An act of sexual intercourse between a male and female not married to each other, when at least one of them is married to someone else. Intercourse for this purpose means penetration of the vagina by the penis; any degree of penetration will suffice (full penetration is not necessary). Adultery is one of the five facts that a petitioner may rely on under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 as evidence to show that the marriage has irretrievably broken dow However, in addition to the adultery, the petitioner must show that she or he finds it intolerable to live with the respondent.

See divorce.

Adultery and Medieval Law

Adultery and Legal History

Resources

See Also

• Uses (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Marriage (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• Medieval Legal History (in this legal Encyclopedia)
• List of Medieval Laws (in this legal Encyclopedia)

Bibliographies of English Law History

• Maxwell, William H. A Legal Bibliography of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Volume 1: English Law to 1800. London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1955-
• Beale, Joseph H. A Bibliography of Early English Law Books. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1926.
• Winfield, Percy H. The Chief Sources of English Legal History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925.