Adultery: Infidelity and the Law

I recently finally went to the new Mid-Manhattan, which has a different name now, which re-opened last year after being renovated. It looks nice and there is for now no guards to check your bags on the way out. There are guards at the research library across the street.

A smallish book is by Deborah Rhode, who turns out to have been a long term legal ethics expert, who also died last year. This obit has various interesting and at times amusing information about her long and much respected career. One part of her deep life is a skill at amateur photography, including taking pictures of Thurgood Marshall, who she law clerked for. 

Prof. Rhode argued that adultery should not be illegal or generally (except in special circumstances, such as interfering with chain of command in the military) be used for negative results.  The book is not comprehensive (and some Muslims might argue she provides a too narrow view of Shariah law), but does its job pretty well.  

She also includes an argument regarding accepting polygamy, but not recognizing it legally. Showing her reasonable approach, Rhode recognizes that polygamy in action will involve some troubling issues (such as underage "marriages" in some cases), which would have to be addressed.  But, as with other possible concerns, criminality across the board is not the best way to address such things.  A good pragmatic approach.

Ultimately, Rhode notes she personally tells people she opposes adultery. As a whole, the book suggests people still think of adultery as a bad thing, if perhaps likely to exist in some form.  The numbers there seem a bit extreme, especially given how often adultery actually occurs. 

I think ultimately it might not be necessarily always a bad thing (putting aside what amounts to agreed upon behavior, including open marriages, which is sort of separate), especially with special circumstances.  If a person, e.g., has an elderly spouse unable to provide certain sexual outlets, is it really horrible to have an affair?  [Entry expanded.]

But, morality and the law often should be separate.