1. The crime of adultery.
2. A punishment imposed for the offense of adultery.
“Adulterium…. [A]dultery … was considered a criminal offense only when committed by a married woman (adultera) …. [Before the Lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis of 18 B.C.], customary law admitted only immediate revenge of the husband …. Under the Julian statute, the father of the adulterous woman was permitted to kill her and her partner (adulter) if he surprised them in his or her husband’s house. The husband’s rights were rather limited; he was forced to divorce her, for otherwise he made himself guilty of matchmaking [pandering] …. Besides, he or his father had to accuse the adulteress of adulterium which now became a public crime prosecuted before a criminal court.” Adolf Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law 352 (1953).
