10 May – Commonwealth (Adultery) Act (1650) imposes the death penalty for incest, and for adultery, that is defined as sexual intercourse between a married woman and a man other than her husband. Both partners would be liable for death sentence in such a case, although the courts are reluctant to impose the ultimate penalty.[1] If a man (married or unmarried) has sex with an unmarried woman (including a widow), that would be fornication, punishable only by three months for first offenders, applicable to both partners.[1][2] In the history of adultery in English law, this represents the only time since the twelfth century when adultery has been outlawed in secular statute law.[3]
29 September – Henry Robinson opens his Office of Addresses and Encounters, a form of employment exchange, in Threadneedle Street, London.
30 October – the Religious Society of Friends acquires the nickname "Quakers" when the judge at George Fox's blasphemy trial says that they "tremble at the word of the Lord".[6]
14 December – Anne Greene is hanged at Oxford Castle for infanticide, having concealed an illegitimate stillbirth. The following day she revives in the dissection room and, being pardoned, lives until 1665.[7][8]
^Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN0-14-102715-0.
^A Scholler in Oxford (1651). Newes from the Dead, or a True and Exact Narration of the Miraculous Deliverance of Anne Greene; whereunto are prefixed certain Poems casually written upon that subject. Oxford: printed by Leonard Lichfield for Tho. Robinson. Includes Latin verses by Christopher Wren.
