CRIM. CON. An abbreviation for crim inal conversation, of very frequent use, de noting adultery, unlawful sexual intercourse with a married woman. Bull. N. P. 27; Ba con, Abr. Marriage (E) 2 ; Nixon v. Brown, 4 Blackf. (Ind.) 157; 3 Bla. Com. 139.
The term is used to denote the act of adul tery in a suit brought by the husband of the married woman with whom the act was com mitted, to recover damages of the adulterer. That the plaintiff connived at or assented to his wife's infidelity, or that he her for gain, is a complete answer to the ac tion. But the fact that the wlfe's character for chastity was bad before the plaintiff mar ried her, that he lived with her after he knew of the criminal intimacy with the defendant, that he had connived at her intimacy with other men, or that the plaintiff had been false to his wife, only go in mitigation of dam ages ; Sanborn v. Neilson, 4 N. H. 501; Sher wood v. Tltman, 55 Pa. 77 ; as will the fact that the wife willingly consented or threw herself in the way of her paramour ; Fergu son v. Smethers, 70 Ind. 520, 36 Am. Rep.
186.
The wife cannot maintain an action for criminal conversation with her husband; and for this, among other reasons, because her husband, who is particeps criminis, must be joined with her as plaintiff. But the husband may maintain the action after a di vorce granted ; 2 Bish. Marr. Div. & Sep. § 727; Ratcliff v. Wales, 1 Hill (N. Y.) 63. This action is rare in the United States, and has been abolished in England by 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85, § 59. The husband may, how ever, in suing for a divorce, claim damages from the adulterer ; 3 Steph. Com. 437. The right to an action for damages is not barred by the fact that the act was done by violence, and that a criminal action will lie ; Egbert v. Greenwalt, 44 Mich. 245, 6 N. W. 654, 38 .Am. Rep. 260. See 15 Am. L. Reg. (N. S.) 451. That the defendant was ignorant that the woman was married is -immaterial; Wales v. Miner, 89 Ind. 119 ; 4 C. & P. 499.