NC lawmakers opt to keep century-old law against adultery
North Carolinians can still sue a person who has an affair with their spouse, after a handful of lawmakers killed a bill that would have repealed a state law at least a century old.
In a hearing Wednesday morning, members of a House judiciary committee split in a 4-4 vote on whether to advance House Bill 485 and eliminate the state’s “criminal conversations” law. The tie vote kept the bill from moving forward.
This isn’t the first time lawmakers have attempted to remove North Carolina from a list of just six states where husbands or wives can sue a third party for having an affair with their spouse. England abolished the centuries-old law, which originated when men still considered women as property, in the 1850s.
The law is harsh, cruel and has been not been used as intended, said Rep. Billy Richardson, a Democrat from Fayetteville, in the committee hearing Wednesday.
“That’s extortion,” he said.
Democrats sponsored the legislation, signaling it likely wouldn’t have passed the Republican-majority General Assembly even if it had advanced further. At least one Republican, Rep. Jon Hardister, a Republican from Whitsett, vocally supported the bill and voted in favor of it Wednesday, however.
“I want to preserve marriages as much as the next person, but it is between two spouses,” Hardister said in the hearing.
Former state Sen. Rick Gunn, a Republican from Burlington, was sued in his final months in office, accused by his legislative assistant’s husband of having an affair with her and destroying their marriage.
The lawsuit, filed in August, said Gunn “alienated the affection” of his assistant, Karen Johns, from her husband, Arthur Johns.
In March, both Gunn and Arthur Johns’ attorney said the lawsuit was expected to be settled for an undisclosed sum.
Sseveral people spoke against the bill in the committee Wednesday, saying if it were signed into law, North Carolina would be “legalizing adultery.”
“Marriages are worth protecting,” said Jere Royall of the North Carolina Family Policy Council.
The state passed a slight change to the law in 2009, when the state legislature was still under Democratic control. The change narrowed when someone can take action against their spouse and another person for adultery.
Still, supporters of the bill said it’s time to totally abolish the law in North Carolina.
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This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 7:12 PM with the headline "NC lawmakers opt to keep century-old law against adultery."
