- Joined
- Feb 9, 2011
- Messages
- 19,982
- Reaction score
- 7,364
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Libertarian
What of it? Polygamy is illegal just like bigamy. Anyone who's engaging in it is breaking the state law, whether or not there is any official record of the partners involved.
Oh how very wrong you are, as proven by the recent case in Utah. In the first place, if a given person is not in possession of greater than one marriage certificate/license, then they cannot be charged with bigamy, no matter how many spouses they claim. Bigamy simply is being in possession of multiple marriage certificates/licenses of the legal variety. The one you create on your own at home with the computer and printer doesn't count. If a single certificate denotes more than two people in the marriage, then that is a single certificate, and none of the people upon it can be charged with bigamy.
The case in Utah has shown us that the government cannot charge people with the crime of polygamy or bigamy, if those involved have never sought or obtained multiple licenses or a single one for mor than two people (the latter of which does not currently exist in any state....yet). Without those legal papers, they are not violating the law. Right now I have a wife. Our marriage is currently legally recognized. We were married for 6 years, before we bothered to get said legal recognition. Prior to that point we could neither receive any legal benefit of marriage nor be charged with any marriage related crime. We are currently dating another woman. It is in the beginning stages, so who knows where it will go. But let's say my wife and I decide to marriage this other woman. As long as we do not attempt to get another license either between her and me and/or her and my wife, then we cannot ever be charge with bigamy or polygamy, no matter how many time we call the other woman our wife. There are hundreds of poly families in the US today, and not a single unit is breaking any law. Well, at least not any marriage related laws.