About the Criminal Liability of Wives for Adultery: A classic Example of oppressing Women. Reflections on Legal History. Pre-State Societies, the Code of Hammurabi with Sumerian Precursors, and German...

Abstract

The publication at hand1 in its core is nothing more than an overview on the specific issue “adultery of wives as a criminal offence” presented from the standpoint of criminal law history. However, this issue is nothing less than a classic example of the generic problem “discrimination against and oppression of women”. Thus, the subject matter of the present paper is of considerable relevance for the understanding of such generic problem. Furthermore, still today there are states imposing death penalty for adultery only against wives, but de jure or at least generally not against adulterous husbands.2 So, the issue of the publication at hand unfortunately is still of current significance.