Bigamy and polygamy
Bigamy and polygamy refer to practices involving multiple spouses, but they are differentiated by legality and consent. Bigamy is the act of marrying another person while already legally married, typically characterized by deceit, as the first marriage remains valid. In contrast, polygamy includes having multiple spouses or partners with the knowledge and consent of all involved, although only one marriage is recognized legally. In the United States, both practices are illegal, yet enforcement is inconsistent, with bigamy potentially leading to felony convictions and imprisonment. Historically, polygamy was notably practiced among Mormons in the 19th century until it was criminalized by federal legislation. Despite its illegality, some groups in the U.S. continue to engage in polygamous relationships, advocating for their rights based on religious freedom and privacy. This ongoing tension between cultural practices and legal frameworks raises complex issues, including allegations of abuse and welfare dependency within some polygamous communities. The conversation around bigamy and polygamy remains dynamic, reflecting broader societal debates about marriage, legality, and personal freedom.
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Bigamy and polygamy
SIGNIFICANCE: Both bigamy and polygamy are illegal practices in the United States, but neither is regularly prosecuted. The legal ramifications of bigamy include possible felony convictions for fraud resulting in imprisonment for no less than two and no more than seven years.
Both bigamy and polygamy are defined as having more than one spouse. Bigamy is the crime of one person’s knowingly taking a second spouse through a fraudulent marriage, while that person’s first marriage remains legally binding. By contrast, polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse, or love partner, with the knowledge and consent of all the partners, even though only one marriage is legally binding. In legal terms, then, the key distinction between bigamy and polygamy is that the deceit inherent in the former is absent in the latter.
Anyone who willfully and knowingly enters into a second marriage before a prior marriage has been legally terminated by divorce , annulment, or death of the first spouse commits the crime of bigamy. It is not bigamy, however, for people to remarry after their spouses have been missing for a specific number of years—usually seven—and are not known to be alive. If a first spouse reappears, proof must be offered that there was a false report of death or that there has been no knowledge of the first spouse’s existence for a specified period of time. When this proof is accepted, laws in most states do not consider such remarriages bigamous. In some states, a remarried person may choose between their two spouses, and one of the marriages must be annulled.
During the mid-to-late nineteenth century, polygamy was a commonly accepted and publicly taught practice among Mormons—members of the recently established Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who built their church in what was then the federal territory of Utah. In 1862, the U.S. Congress formally made polygamous marriages illegal in federal territories. Although Mormons believed that their religious-based practice of what they called “plural marriage” was protected under the U.S. Constitution, its practice was used to delay Utah’s admittance to the Union as a state until 1896. Because antipolygamy legislation stripped members of the church of their rights as citizens and permitted government seizure of church property, the church ordered the official discontinuance of this practice in 1890.
In the twenty-first century, many communities in the United States continue practicing polygamy, which they believe to be constitutionally protected under the principles of religious freedom, the right to privacy and separation of church and state. These issues represent the focal point for legal challenges regarding polygamy, and since it also has been perceived as a victimless crime, courts have continued to look the other way. However, several recent incidents in Utah have brought polygamy back to the courts’ attention. In one, a sixteen-year-old girl was severely beaten by her father when she refused to marry her uncle. In another, a group of former polygamist wives formed the Tapestry Against Polygamy, and the Salt Lake Tribune ran a series of investigative exposés that documented reliance on welfare benefits, forced marriages, incest, pedophilia, and abuse.
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