Adultery

In the traditional English common law, adultery was a felony. Legal definitions of adultery vary. 

In common-law countries, adultery was also known as criminal conversation. The Hebrew Bible prohibits adultery in the Seventh Commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:12). Leviticus 20:10 prescribes capital punishment for adultery between a man and married woman:

And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Adultery in Judaism is prohibited by the Seventh Commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." The Book of Mormon also prohibits adultery. Various conditions and punishments have been attributed to adultery.

Qur'anic verses prohibiting adultery include:

"Do not go near to adultery. Surely it is a shameful deed and evil, opening roads (to other evils)."

"Say, 'Verily, my Lord has prohibited the shameful deeds, be it open or secret, sins and trespasses against the truth and reason."

Adultery is a crime in Taiwan and the Philippines. It was a crime in Japan until 1947 and until 2015 in South Korea. In 2015 South Korea's Constitutional Court overturned that country's law against adultery because the court found that adultery is a private matter which should not be intervened by the state. Adultery is no longer a crime in any European country and in most Communist countries. In Turkey, adultery laws were held to be invalid in 1996 because the law was deemed discriminatory as it differentiated between women and men. In 2004, there were proposals to introduce a gender-neutral adultery law. Before the 20th century, adultery was often punished harshly. Until the 1990s, most Latin American countries had laws against adultery. Australian states and territories had previously repealed their respective adultery criminal laws. Pennsylvania abolished its fornication and adultery laws in 1973.

In the U.S. Military, adultery is a potential court-martial offense. 

The Qur`Anic Penalty For Zina` (Adultery)

1.        The Qur`anic punishment of 100 lashes is for the case of an unmarried person.

2.        For married persons, the Sunnah abrogated the Qur`anic penalty of 100 lashes and instead prescribed death by stoning.

3.        For married persons, the Sunnah prescribed rajm as a second penalty which is to be combined with the Qur`anic penalty of 100 lashes.

4.        The stoning penalty is found in the Qur`an but it is known only to scholars of great erudition capable of diving deep into the meanings of the Book of God.

5.        The Qur`an did prescribe stoning for adultery but the verse in which the law was stated was not included in the Qur`an.