cohabitation

cohabitation definition - legal

n

The act of a man and a woman, unmarried to each other, publicly living together in an intimate relationship as if husband and wife. Although a crime in most states, it is seldom prosecuted. Where illegal, it is also called illicit cohabitation, lascivious cohabitation, and notorious cohabitation. See also fornication, bigamy, civil union, and marriage.

Webster's New World Law Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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