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Fornication'''Fornication''', or simple fornication, is a term which typically refers to voluntary sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other. [WordNet Search - 3.0]
The etymology|origin of the word derives from Latin. The word ''fornix'' means "an archway" or "vault" (in Ancient Rome|Rome, prostitutes could be solicited there). More directly, ''fornicatio'' means "done in the archway"; thus a euphemism for prostitution.
Fornication is dealt with differently in various religions, societies and cultures.
ReligionsFor a broad overview, see Religion and sexuality.
Laws
The laws on fornication have historically been tied with religion and the legal and political traditions within the particular jurisdiction. In the common law countries (England, USA, Canada, Australia, etc.), the Courts were never interested in punishing subjects for purely private moral deviations - even incest - although sodomy was an exception. What laws did exist were purely statutory. In many other countries, however, there have been attempts to secularize constitutions, and laws differ greatly from country to country. Most Western countries and some secular Muslim countries like Turkey and Azerbaijan have no laws against fornication if both parties are above the age of consent.
Jurisdictions within the United States of America
Premarital sexual relations were viewed as a matter of private morality, and, as such, were never viewed as criminal offenses against the common law.[Jim Thompson, The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Nov. - Dec., 1958), pp. 350-356] This legal position was inherited by the United States from Britain. Later, some jurisdictions, a total of 16 in the Southern and Eastern United States, as well as the State of Wisconsin,[Jim Thompson The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Nov. - Dec., 1958), pp. 350-356, 353] passed statutes creating the offense of "fornication" that prohibited (vaginal) sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons of the opposite sex. Most of these laws either were repealed, were not enforced, or were struck down by the courts in several States as being odious to their state Constitutions. See also ''State v. Saunders'', Court decision|381 A.2d 333 (N.J. 1977), ''Martin v. Ziherl'', Court decision|607 S.E.2d 367 (Va. 2005).
With respect to sexual relations between persons of the same sex, such acts may be prohibited under criminal laws defining the offense of "sodomy," rather than the laws defining the offense of "fornication." The U.S. Supreme Court decision in ''Lawrence v. Texas'' (2003) rendered the states' remaining laws related to "sodomy" unconstitutional. ''Lawrence v. Texas'' is also presumed by many to invalidate laws prohibiting fornication, as the decision declared sodomy laws unconstitutional due to the interference of such laws with private, consensual, non-commercial intimate relations between unrelated adults, and therefore are odious to the rights of liberty and privacy, such rights being retained by the people of the United States. However, because ''Lawrence'' explicitly declared sodomy laws unconstitutional, some states continue to enforce laws prohibiting fornication.[ For example, North Carolina courts regard ''Lawrence v. Texas'' as applying to their sodomy laws only. (Note: "criminal conversation" is a euphemism for extramarital sex.)
http://www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/2005/031630-1.htm]
In Utah, any unmarried person who voluntarily engages in sexual intercourse with another is guilty of fornication, which is a class B misdemeanor. See also
- Free love
- Illegitimacy
- Zina (Arabic)|Zina
References
External links
- Social Determinants of Attitudes Towards Women's Premarital Sexuality Among Female Turkish University Students
- Shtup in the Name of Love, The Indypendent
Category:History of human sexuality
Category:Sexual fidelity
Category:Sexuality and religion
simple:Fornication
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Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL
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