The state has repealed an adultery law dating back to 1907, which said it was a crime where a person “engages in sexual intercourse with another person at a time when he has a living spouse, or the other person has a living spouse”.

As a class B misdemeanour, those found guilty of adultery could be jailed for up to three months.

Over a dozen people have been charged with adultery by New York prosecutors since the 1970s, most recently in 2010 – though only five were convicted.

The 2010 charge was one of a number of charges brought against a woman arrested in connection with an alleged public sex act, and was dropped as part of a plea deal, CBS News reports.

Charles Lavine, the New York State Assembly legislator who spearheaded the repeal effort, said: “Laws are meant to protect our community and to serve as a deterrent to anti-social behaviour.

“New York’s adultery law advanced neither purpose.”