They legislated, but they did not legislate enough. They left too many ambiguities, and even though it's been years since this happened, they have not fixed them.
They legislated, but they did not legislate enough. Indeed, open adultery is already a crime in Florida; while some would argue that it shouldn't be, I would suggest that if nothing else, it is an eggregious violation of contract; while contract issues are usually a civil matter, there are exceptions.
Although one might be able to argue that the law is vague, the only issue I see is whether all of the following are required:
- The person is committing adultery.
- The person knows, or reasonably must know, that the adultery is common knowledge.
- The person makes no effort which could reasonably be expected to prevent the adultery from becoming common knowledge.
- The person continues to claim to be married (i.e. there's no possible claim of non-officially-recognized separation).
- There is no evidence of spousal consent.
Perhaps there are some requirements that I missed, but I don't think there can be any doubt that Michael committed adultery during Terri's lifetime and that he was quite open about it. And yet some people--even some conservatives--continued to insist that to deny his authority over Terri would be to undermine the sanctity of marriage.