Fornication

Fornication

Fornication, or simple fornication, is a term which refers to voluntary sexual intercourse between persons not married to each other. [ [http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=fornication WordNet Search - 3.0 ] ]

The origin of the word derives from Latin. The word "fornix" means "an archway" or "vault" (in 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.

Religions

"For 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 England. 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 Most of these laws either were repealed, were not enforced, or were struck down by the courts in several States as being odious to their state Constitutions.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", 381 A.2d 333 (N.J. 1977), "Martin v. Ziherl", 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. [cite web |title=Utah Code, Title 76, Chapter 07. "Offenses Against the Family" |url=http://le.utah.gov/~code/TITLE76/htm/76_07_010400.htm]

In recent years, premarital sex has become a politically divisive issue in the United States, The debate about abstinence-only sex education has brought the issue of premarital sex to the forefront of what conservative politicians call the "Culture Wars."

See also

* Free love
* Illegitimacy
* Zina

External links

* [http://www.archive.org/details.php?identifier=TurkishPremaritalSex Social Determinants of Attitudes Towards Women's Premarital Sexuality Among Female Turkish University Students]
* [http://www.indypendent.org/?p=179 Shtup in the Name of Love, The Indypendent]

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • fornication — Fornication …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • fornication — [ fɔrnikasjɔ̃ ] n. f. • déb. XIIe; lat. ecclés. fornicatio; de fornix « voûte », parce que les prostituées habitaient à Rome des chambres voûtées ♦ Relig. (t. bibl.) Péché de la chair (relations charnelles entre deux personnes qui ne sont ni… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • fornication — for·ni·ca·tion /ˌfȯr nə kā shən/ n [Late Latin fornicatio, from fornicare to have intercourse with prostitutes, from Latin fornic fornix arch, vault, brothel]: consensual sexual intercourse between a man and esp. single woman who are not married …   Law dictionary

  • fornication — FORNICATION. s. f. Le peché de la chair entre deux personnes non mariées, ny liées par aucun voeu. Simple fornication. le peché de fornication. commettre fornication. Ce mot & celuy de Fornicateur qui suit ne se disent guere que dans le… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • Fornication — For ni*ca tion, n. [F. fornication, L. fornicatio.] 1. Unlawful sexual intercourse on the part of an unmarried person; the act of such illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman as does not by law amount to adultery. [1913 Webster] Note …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fornication — [fôr΄ni kā′shən] n. [ME fornicacioun < OFr fornication < LL(Ec) fornicatio < fornicatus: see FORNICATE1] 1. a) voluntary sexual intercourse engaged in by a man, esp. an unmarried man, with an unmarried woman b) voluntary sexual… …   English World dictionary

  • fornication — (n.) c.1300, from O.Fr. fornicacion (12c.), from L.L. fornicationem (nom. fornicatio), noun of action from pp. stem of fornicari fornicate, from L. fornix (gen. fornicis) brothel (Juvenal, Horace), originally arch, vaulted chamber (Roman… …   Etymology dictionary

  • fornication — *adultery, incest …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • fornication — [n] sexual intercourse coition, coitus, copulation, intimacy, lovemaking, relations, screwing around, sex, sleeping around; concepts 375,384 …   New thesaurus

  • Fornication — Le terme fornication désigne un rapport sexuel entre deux individus non mariés entre eux, pratique condamnée par certaines religions (péché de la chair). Il a une forte connotation morale voire moralisatrice. Son usage est cependant péjoratif et… …   Wikipédia en Français

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