alienation of affection
Noun: - A legal tort: A civil wrong or cause of action based on the intentional and unjustified interference by a third party in a marital relationship, which results in the loss of love, affection, or consortium between the spouses.
This term is used in specific legal contexts, primarily in some jurisdictions within the United States. It describes a lawsuit that can be brought by a married person against a third party (not the spouse) whose actions are alleged to have caused the loss of the spouse's affection and led to the breakdown of the marriage.
- Legal Doctrine: The concept is an old common-law tort. Successful claims typically require proof that the marriage was loving and that the defendant's malicious actions directly caused the loss of that affection.
- "Seducer": In historical and legal contexts, the defendant in such a case is sometimes referred to as a "seducer" who alienated the affections of the plaintiff's spouse.
- Criminal conversation: (Noun) A related, older tort that specifically alleged adultery by the defendant with the plaintiff's spouse. It is often discussed alongside alienation of affection but is a distinct claim.
- Loss of consortium: (Noun) A broader legal claim for the loss of companionship, affection, and sexual relations within a marriage, which can be brought against a party who caused injury to the spouse.
- Interference with marital relations
- Enticement (in a specific legal historical sense)
This term has a very specific and technical meaning in law. It does not refer to the general feeling of being alienated or disconnected (which is the domain of the word "alienation" alone). The full phrase "alienation of affection" is a fixed legal term of art.
- a tort based on willful and malicious interference with the marriage relation by a third party without justification or excuse