Polygamy

The term polygamy (literally many marriage in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology.

Legal situation

Secular law in most western countries with large Jewish and Christian populations does not recognise polygamous marriages. However, few such countries have any laws against living a polygamous lifestyle: they simply refuse to give it any official recognition. Parts of the United States, however, criminalise even the polygamous lifestyle, which is unusual; these laws originated as anti-Mormon legislation, although they are rarely enforced.

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Multiple divorce and marriage for polygamy

Some polygamous families use a system of multiple divorce and legal marriage. This is where the husband marries the first wife, she takes his last name, he divorces her and then marries the next wife who takes his name. For polyandry relationships, it is the wife that marries and divorces the husbands one after another. This is repeated until he has married and divorced all his wives, except possibly the last one. This way the wives feel justified in calling themselves Mrs. and, while legally they're divorced from the husband, they act still married to him and expect those around them to acknowledge and respect this.

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Since only one wife is married to the husband at any one time, no law was being broken and so this type of polygamous family unit could be overt about their relationship.

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This changed in 2001, with the conviction of Thomas Arthur Green -- {{dubious}}.

Related Topics:
2001 - Thomas Arthur Green

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Recent polygamy prosections and convictions

In 2001, the state of Utah in the United States convicted Tom Green of criminal non-support and four counts of bigamy for having 5 serially monogamous marriages, while living with previous legally divorced wives. His cohabitation was considered evidence of a common-law marriage to the wives he had divorced while still living with them. That premise was subsequently affirmed by the Utah Supreme Court in State v. Green, as applicable only in the State of Utah. Green was also convicted of child rape and criminal non-support. In 2005, the state attorneys-general of Utah and Arizona issued a primer on helping victims of domestic violence and child abuse in polygamous communities. These states are emphasizing enforcement of crimes of child abuse, domestic violence, and fraud over the enforcement of the crime of bigamy. The priorities of local prosecutors are not covered by this statement.

Related Topics:
2001 - Utah - United States - 2005 - Arizona

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Deseret News article about Tom Green

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