The New Taipei District Court ordered a man and a woman to pay the woman’s former husband NT$100,000 in compensation for “exceeding the boundaries of normal interactions between men and women,” sparking discussion about judicial standards regarding spousal rights.
The woman and her former husband had been married for about 10 years before they divorced in March last year.
Before they finalized the divorce, the husband said he discovered that his wife had been regularly seeing a man named A-yung (阿勇) and found a photo of them where they had their arms around each other on the Miramar Ferris Wheel in Taipei’s Dazhi District (大直).
Photo: Taipei Times
His ex-wife and the man would kiss each other on the cheek, the woman would call A-yung “husband” and accompany him while he was driving a tow truck on official business, the man said, adding that it caused him mental and physical distress.
The former husband sought NT$1 million (US$31,568) in damages.
During the trial, A-yung and the woman said they were acting as normal friends do, and that the photo was obtained illegally and should not be used as evidence.
Police officers are present when tow trucks go out on official business, so the woman would not have been able to accompany him, A-yung said, denying the ex-husband’s claim.
There was no evidence supporting the husband’s claim that the woman accompanied A-yung during work, kissed him on the cheek or called him husband, the court said, and ruled the claims were unsubstantiated.
The photo of the pair with their arms around each other in a public place could be used as evidence and shows that they had gone out together and engaged in intimate behavior, which damages the integrity of the husband and the marriage, the court said.
It ruled that A-yung and the ex-wife must jointly pay the woman’s former husband NT$100,000 in compensation.
The ruling sparked discussion over what standards judges use to determine spousal rights.
Former prosecutor Ho Hao-yuan (何皓元) said that following the nation’s decriminalization of adultery and evolving interpretations in courts, what judges consider marital fidelity has extended beyond just physical infidelity.
In the past, proving adultery required proof of physical intercourse, but the key factor in determining liability has become whether the conduct “exceeds ordinary social boundaries,” Ho said.
Being alone together late at night, kissing or putting an arm around someone’s shoulder is socially considered behavior sufficient to undermine the integrity of a marriage, he said.
Judges could consider whether the behavior has any romantic characteristics, such as putting an arm around the other’s shoulder, which demonstrates intimacy and crosses the boundary of ordinary friendship, he said.
They would consider prevailing social norms and whether normal people would consider the behavior inappropriate, he added.
Finally, they would consider the evidence, and although the defendants said the photo was obtained illegally, photos taken in public places are usually considered valid evidence, Ho said.
Marriage laws protect emotional exclusivity and purity of a shared life, and the ruling showed that these laws punish physical and emotional betrayal, he said.
Some courts have recently challenged traditional interpretations and said that spousal rights are not fundamental, constitutionally protected rights, he added.
They view that spouses remain independent after marriage, so their sexual autonomy must be protected and one should not be viewed as a possession of the other, Ho said.
Accordingly, adultery or extramarital affairs would not necessarily constitute civil damages that contravene spousal rights, he added.
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