Nineteenth-century vice laws against adultery went largely unenforced in practice

Evidence

If we leap forward to the nineteenth century, we get a different picture. Laws against fornication and adultery were still on the books. But there seemed to be little appetite for enforcement. In some states, the crimes were redefined: in Indiana, for example, adultery was against the law only if it was “open and notorious.” In other words, adultery could not be punished unless the adulterers flaunted themselves before the public. The law was much less concerned with secret sin. Vice was tolerated if it kept in its place. In every large American city, there were so-​called red-​light districts. Prostitution was illegal in all of these cities, but it was “tacitly tolerated” and “relatively undisturbed” so long as the brothels stayed put in the red-​light districts. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 817

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A late-nineteenth-century crusade criminalized victimless vices like obscenity and gambling — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 818; Laws against sex and vice resurged strongly in late nineteenth-century America — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3323; Victorian America criminalized only public, notorious sin rather than private vice — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3324 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Laws against sex and vice resurged strongly in late nineteenth-century America #expands (0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3323
• Even unenforceable vice laws retained real deterrent bite through selective enforcement #complicates (0.80) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3360
• Victorian America criminalized only public, notorious sin rather than private vice #qualifies (0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3324
• Late-nineteenth-century penal reforms shifted punishment from the offense to the offender #complicates (0.72) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 3417
• Adultery is judged more seriously for women under patriarchal tradition #expands (0.70)