Adultery
...for constant attendance, and wives to bear us legitimate children, and to be our faithful housekeepers. Yet, because of the wrong done to the husband only, the Athenian lawgiver Solon, allowed any man to kill an, adulterer whom he had taken in the act" (Catholic Encyclopedia). In the early Roman Law the jus tori belonged to the husband. There was, therefore, no such thing as the crime of adultery on the part of a husband towards his wife. Moreover, this crime was not committed unless one of the parties was a married woman. The Roman husband often took advantage of his legal immunity. Later on in Roman history, as the late William E.H. Lecky has shown the idea that the husband owed a “fidelity” like that demanded of the wife must have gained ground at least in theory. This Lecky gathers from the legal maxim of Ulpian: "It seems most unfair for a man to require from a wife the chastity he does not himself practice" (Catholic Encyclopedia). In the Mosaic Law, as in the old Roman Law, adultery meant only the carnal intercourse of a wife with a man who was not her lawful husband. The intercourse of a married man with a single woman was not accounted adultery, but fornication. In the law of Jesus Christ regarding marriage, the unfaithful husband loses his ancient immunity. Now the consequences are much less severe. In 1880, one marriage in 21, fewer than 5 percent, ended in divorce. Over time, there have been peaks and valleys in the divorce rate, such as the period immediately following World War II, when returning soldiers found things rather different from how they had left them, or were themselves tremendously changed by war. But beginning in the mid-1960s the divorce rate again began to rise dramatically, fueled by even-higher marital expectations, a vast expansion of wives moving into the work force, the rebirth of feminism, and the adoption of 'no fault' divorce (that is, divorce granted without the need to establish wrongdoing by either party) in almost every state. The last factor, although hailed as a progressive step that would end the fraud, collusion, and acrimony that accompanied the adversarial system of divorce, has had disastrous consequences for women and children (Divorce Rates). Many celebrities have been blamed of committing adultery, and most have admitted to it. Michael Kennedy, son of Robert Kennedy, admitted to having sex with his daughter’s fourteen year old babysitter. Police found comedian Eddie Murphy, a married man, with a transvestite prostitute in his car. A child-support suit was filed against Roger Clinton, former President Bill Clintons brother, because he was conceived a child with a married woman in 1990. Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, the army’s top enlisted soldier, was charged with adultery as well as with sexually harassing four service women. Also, Frank Gifford admitted to having an affair outside his marriage with TV host Kathy Lee. With all these celebrities who have admitted or have been caught with adultery, none come close to former President of the United States, Bill Clinton. Clinton, who was president at the time, admitted to having an affair with Monaca Lawinski. Clinton also lied in front of the American people in a news conference before he admitted to having the affair. Most Americans have difficulty believing that anyone, particularly the president of the United States, would look them straight in the eye and lie with passion and conviction. As we have seen, the sin of adultery implies an act of injustice. This is committed against the lawful spouse of the adulterer or adulteress. By the adultery of a wife, besides the injury done the husband by her infidelity, a spurious child may be born which he may think of himself bound to sustain, and which may perhaps become his heir (Catholic Encyclopedia). For the injury suffered in the unfaithfulness of his wife restitution must be made to the husband, should he become apprised of the crime. Or is the obligation of this restitution ordinarily discharged by an award of money. Whenever it is certain that the offspring is illegitimate, and when the adulterer has employed violence to make the women sin, he is bound to refund the expenses incurred by the putative father in the support of the spurious child, and to make restitution for any inheritance which this child may receive (Catholic Encyclopedia). In case he did not employ violence, there bering on his part but a simple concurrence, then, according to the more probable opinion of theologians, the adulterer and adulteress are equally bound to the restitution just described (Catholic Encyclopedia). ...