(740 ILCS 50/1) (from Ch. 40, par. 1951)
Sec. 1. It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislative determination, that the remedy heretofore provided by law for the enforcement of the action for criminal conversation has been subjected to grave abuses and has been used as an instrument for blackmail by unscrupulous persons for their unjust enrichment, due to the indefiniteness of the damages recoverable in such actions and the consequent fear of persons threatened with such actions that exorbitant damages might be assessed against them. It is also hereby declared that the award of monetary damages in such actions is ineffective as a recompense for genuine mental or emotional distress. Accordingly, it is hereby declared as the public policy of the state that the best interests of the people of the state will be served by limiting the damages recoverable in such actions and by leaving any punishment of wrongdoers guilty of criminal conversation to proceedings under the criminal laws of the state, rather than to the imposition of punitive, exemplary, vindictive or aggravated damages in actions for criminal conversation. Consequently, in the public interest, the necessity for the enactment of this chapter is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.
(Source: Laws 1947, p. 800.)
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Last modified: February 18, 2015