2,029. A Presumption of Marriage

Hilchos Issurei Biah 1:21

Let’s say that a couple arrives from abroad and each of them states that the other is their spouse. If the man establishes a presumption in the city for 30 days that she’s his wife, then we execute another man who may be intimate with her. Within 30 days, however, we don’t execute someone on the presumption that she’s a married woman.

Hilchos Issurei Biah 1:22

If a woman is presumed among her neighbors to be menstruous, her husband is lashed for intimacy with her as a niddah. Let’s say that a man issues a warning to his wife about seclusion with a certain man, after which she’s secluded with that person. If (a) one witness testifies that she was unfaithful, (b) the husband is a kohein and (c) he was intimate with her subsequently, then he is lashed for having relations with a woman who has had impermissible relations. [The technical term is a “zonah” but people use this word in a way that strays far from its halachic parameters, so we’re going to write around it to avoid misunderstandings.] Even though this is based on the testimony of one witness, it was her own actions that caused her to be classified as such.