Adultery was decriminalized in Taiwan following a ruling from its constitutional court on Friday.
The court overruled the law against adultery, saying it was unconstitutional and that it violated privacy and sexual autonomy protections.
The law stated that any person who was found guilty of adultery could face up to a year in prison, but normally, an offender only paid a fine and got a mark on his or her criminal record.
“The adultery law offers limited help to maintaining marriage relationships … State power interfering in people’s marriages actually has a negative impact on marriage,” said Lin Hui-Huang, secretary-general of the Justice Ministry, who approved of the court’s decision.
Hui-Huang said the law was a “serious invasion of privacy.” Although the law rarely led to anyone going to jail, activists brought more than 20 petitions against the law to the courts.
The Awakening Foundation, a women’s rights group, tried for years to get the law overturned. It said the law discriminated against women and that women were charged under the law at higher rates than men.
The new ruling protects “sexual autonomy, privacy, and personal dignity” and recognizes the “diversity of marriage in a modern society,” the Awakening Foundation said.
“The Criminal Code should not be used to punish actions that hurt personal feelings,” said Hsu Tzong-li, the head of the constitutional court, when overruling the law.
Adultery laws have been overturned in other parts of Asia, with South Korea and India banning their own adultery laws just a few years ago. However, other parts of the world, including some states in the United States, still have adultery criminalized.
