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Polygamy is legal in 58 out of nearly 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of them being Muslim-majority countries. Some countries that permit polygamy have restrictions, such as requiring the first wife to give her consent. In countries that ban polygamy, the offence is commonly called bigamy, though
Because state laws exist, polygamy is not actively prosecuted at the federal level. [3] Many US courts (e.g. Turner v. S., 212 Miss. 590, 55 So.2d 228) treat bigamy as a strict liability crime: in some jurisdictions, a person can be convicted of a felony even if he reasonably believed he had only one legal spouse. For example, if a person has ...
Israel prohibits polygamy by law, [157] [158] and Mizrahi Jews are not permitted to enter into new polygamous marriages in Israel, though existing polygamous marriages may be maintained. Polygamy may still occur in non-European Jewish communities that exist in countries where it is not forbidden, such as Jewish communities in Iran or Morocco.
[note 1] In many countries, the law only recognises monogamous marriages (a person can only have one spouse, and bigamy is illegal), but adultery is not illegal, leading to a situation of de facto polygamy being allowed without legal recognition for non-official "spouses". Worldwide, different societies variously encourage, accept or outlaw ...
Polygamy is a crime and punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both, according to the law of the individual state and the circumstances of the offense. [18] Polygamy was outlawed in federal territories by the Edmunds Act, and there are laws against the practice in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, [19] and Puerto Rico. [20]
Muslims in the rest of the country are subject to the terms of The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, interpreted by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. [ 8 ] However, in a judgment in February 2015, the Supreme court of India stated that "Polygamy was not an integral or fundamental part of the Muslim religion, and ...
Indonesia’s 1974 Marriage Law, which first introduced conditions for polygamy, has faced growing calls for reform from activists and human rights organisations.
Polygamy is common among traditional communities in Kenya, as well as among the country’s Muslim community. [3] In parliament, the proposed 2014 polygamy bill had initially given a wife the right to veto the husband's choice, but male members of parliament overcame party divisions to push through a text that dropped this clause. [4]