Proposed legislation is pending in the SC Senate that would reinstate an obsolete law that once allowed jilted spouses to sue people who had "stolen" their spouses for alienation of affection.
“It should be a law. It’s just like if someone steals your car. If someone steals your wife,” there should be consequences, said sponsor Sen. Jake Knotts, R-Lexington.
I'm sorry, but a spouse is in no way like a car. A married person does not own their spouse like they own a car.
A second point is that a divorce is between the married couple only. The straying spouse is responsible for their own behavior, not the person they strayed with. The third person didn't take marriage vows and it's not up to them to uphold them.
When overturning the original law in 1992, Chief Justice David Harwell wrote for the majority that such “heart balm” laws “were rooted in antiquated perceptions that wives are chattel of husbands.” The high court scrapped the law also because of its propensity to be used as blackmail.
Hopefully, the attempt to exhume this antiquated law will die in committee.
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2 comments:
That's South Carolina for you! A state that considers progression the reinstatement of primitive ideals.
I wonder if you could do trade in deals on the new model?
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