DETERRENT DEBATE: Lawyers were divided over whether the rules that were cut helped protect families, while one justice disapproved of Interpretation No. 791

Taipei Times
Date: May 30, 2020
By: Wu Cheng-feng, Chang Wen-chuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Adultery was decriminalized in Taiwan yesterday after the Council of Grand Justices issued Constitutional Interpretation No. 791, declaring that Article 239 of the Criminal Code and a proviso clause for Article 239 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) are unconstitutional and considered null and void, effective immediately.

The 15 justices issued the interpretation after hearing debate on the article, which said that both people convicted in a case of adultery face up to one year in prison, although no trial was possible without a complaint by the spouse.

The clause says that in the case of an offense specified in the Criminal Code, the withdrawal of a complaint against an accused spouse is not the same as the withdrawal of a complaint against the other party in the alleged adulterous relationship.

The interpretation was issued after 18 judges and a man convicted of adultery this year asked the Council of Grand Justices to overturn Interpretation No. 554, which found the Criminal Code article constitutional.    [FULL  STORY]