Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

The commandment that the wife of one who “puts out a bad name” [about her] dwell with him forever: That we are commanded [about] one who puts out a bad name about his wife that she shall dwell with him forever — and even if she is blind or has a skin disease — as it is stated (Deuteronomy 22:19), “and to him shall she be a wife.” And included in this law is that the court is commanded also to lash him about that which he put out a bad name falsely and to [fine] him one hundred coins (sela) of refined silver, as it is stated in the section [of the Torah that deals with this]. And they, may their memory be blessed, explained (Ketuvot 46a) that the warning against putting out a bad name is included in “do not go tale-bearing among your people” (Sefer HaChinukh 236).

From the roots of the commandment [is that it is] to deter villains from engaging in such evil villainy, and like the matter that we will write adjacently below, with God’s help, about the law of rape (Sefer HaChinukh 557).

From the laws of the commandment, Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote (Mishneh Torah, Virgin Maiden 3:6-7), “How is the putting out of a bad name? It is that he come to the court and say, ‘I had sexual relations with this maiden and I did not find her hymen [intact], and when I inquired about the thing, it became known to me that she was unfaithful to me after I engaged her, and these are my witnesses — since she was unfaithful in front of them.’ And the court listens to the words of the witnesses and investigates their testimony. If the thing is found to be true, she is stoned. But if the father brings witnesses and they impugn the witnesses that the husband brought, and it is found that the [first set of] witnesses testified falsely, they are stoned and [the husband] is lashed. And even though there is no action in this but only speech, the Torah obligated him in [getting] lashes, as it is written, ‘and they shall discipline him,’ and he gives a hundred sela; and about this it is stated, ‘and these are the signs of my daughter’s virginity’ — these are the witnesses that impugned the witnesses of the husband. If the husband comes back and brings other witnesses and impugns the witnesses of the father, behold, the maiden and the witnesses of the father are stoned, and about this is it stated, ‘and if true was this matter.’ From the tradition we learned that this section has in it impugning witnesses and impugners of the impugners. If he puts out a bad name about her and she is [now] an adult, even though he brings witnesses that she was unfaithful to him, [if they testified about the time] when she was a maiden (before full legal adulthood), behold, he is exempt from lashes and from the fine. But if it is found that the matter is true, behold, she is stoned, even though she is an adult, since she was a maiden at the time that she was unfaithful.” And the rest of its details are in the third chapter of Makkot and in third and fourth chapters of Ketuvot. (See Tur, Orach Chaim 177.)

And with regards to the lashes and the fine, it is practiced during the time of the Temple, when we were adjudicating the laws of fines. But with regards to her dwelling with her husband forever, [it is practiced] also at the present time — since there is a commandment upon him about this, as this is truly a commandment and not a fine.