CHAPTER 19
ABOLITION OF ACTIONS FOR ALIENATION OF AFFECTIONS
AND BREACH OF PROMISE TO MARRY
Sec.
1901. Actions for alienation of affections abolished.
1902. Actions for breach of promise to marry abolished.
1903. Purpose of chapter.
1904. Filing or threatening to file actions prohibited.
1905. Instruments executed in satisfaction of abolished claims prohibited.
Enactment. Chapter 19 was added December 19, 1990, P.L.1240, No.206, effective in 90 days.
§ 1901. Actions for alienation of affections abolished.
(a) General rule.--All civil causes of action for alienation of affections of husband or wife are abolished.
(b) Exception.--Subsection (a) does not apply to cases where the defendant is a parent, brother or
sister or a person formerly in loco parentis to the spouse of plaintiff.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
8
cases, 1992–2019 · leading case:
Veeder v. Kennedy, 1999 SD 23 (S.D. 1999).
Veeder v. Kennedy, 1999 SD 23 (S.D. 1999).
· cites it 2× “380 (1997); New Jersey, NJStatAnn § 2A:23-1 (West 1987); New York, NYCivRightsLaw § 80-a (McKinney 1992); North Dakota, NDCentCode § 14-02-06 (1997); Oklahoma, OklaStat tit 76, § 8.”
Long v. Ostroff, 854 A.2d 524 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2004).
“See 23 Pa. C.S. § 1901; Fadgen v. Lenkner, 469 Pa.”
Haddad v. Gopal, 787 A.2d 975 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).
“The legislature abolished alienation of affections, 23 Pa.C.S. § 1901(a), stating “[a]ll civil causes of action for alienation of affections of husband or wife are abolished.”
Bland v. Hill, 735 So. 2d 414 (Miss. 1999).
“Stat. § 25-21,188 (1995); Nev.Rev.Stat., § 41.”
Nardella v. Dattilo, 36 Pa. D. & C.4th 364 (1997).
“23 Pa.C.S. §1901. Instead, his recovery is being sought in a derivative capacity, which is completely proper under the circumstances of this action.”
Yanakos, C., Aplts. v. UPMC (Pa. 2019).
“”); 23 Pa.C.S. § 1901 (“All civil causes of action for alienation of affections of husband or wife are abolished.”
Stephenson v. Szabo, 20 Pa. D. & C.4th 97 (1992).
“Szabo argues in his demurrer that Stephenson makes a claim for damages arising from breach of a promise to marry, which is a claim specifically prohibited by statute historically referred to as the Heart Balm Act, 23 Pa.C.S. §1901 et seq. This statute expressly provides: “All…”
— 23 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1901(a) — 1 case
Haddad v. Gopal, 787 A.2d 975 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).
“The legislature abolished alienation of affections, 23 Pa.C.S. § 1901(a), stating “[a]ll civil causes of action for alienation of affections of husband or wife are abolished.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.