In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), who legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, Chief Justice Roberts predicted that the reasoning of the majority of the court would lead to the legalization of polygamy. As Roberts wrote in the dissenting opinion: In some cases, however, parties may be entitled to forms of legal protection similar to those in divorce cases. Agreements between “spouses” on certain matrimonial obligations may serve as a basis for legal action for certain contract remedies. Islam is the only major religion whose sacred texts arguably advocate polygamy. Verse 3 of Sura 4 An-Nisa (women) explains that under certain (and disputed) circumstances, a man can marry up to four wives. According to this text, many Muslim countries allow a man to have up to four wives. However, many also require the man to indicate whether he plans to be monogamous or polygamous under the marriage contract with his first wife, and if she does not allow it, he cannot marry another woman as long as he is married to her. In addition, polyandry, in which a wife has several husbands, is still strictly prohibited. The practice of polygamy is generally frowned upon in most countries. Countries that legally recognize polygamy have populations where its practice is part of organized religion, namely the denominations of Islam.
However, other religions also recognize polygamy, such as the small, unofficial sects of Mormonism. Notably, the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) – the Mormon religion officially recognized in countries around the world – does not encourage or tolerate polygamy. Some countries where polygamy is legal are not signatories to the ICCPR, including Qatar, Oman, Malaysia, Brunei, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan and the United Arab Emirates; so that the ICCPR does not apply to these countries. [152] The Department of Justice Canada has argued that polygamy is a violation of international human rights law. [153] Polyandry is the de facto norm in rural Tibet, although it is illegal under Chinese family law. Polygamy continues in Bhutan[35] in various forms, as it has done since ancient times. It is also found in parts of Nepal,[142] despite its formal illegality in the country. [143] Polyandry also existed among South American tribes when the Bororo practiced polyandry, while up to 70 percent of Amazonian cultures may have believed in the principle of multiple paternity. “The Tupi-Kawahib also practice fraternal polyandry. In 1882, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act, which strengthened the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act by classifying polygamy as a crime and establishing “unlawful cohabitation” as a misdemeanor that excluded unmarried couples from living together. This made it easier to detect unofficial polygamous acts, as it eliminated the need to prove the existence of a legal marriage.
Since the 19th century, the practice of polygamy has been subject to legal prohibitions in the United States, including by the federal government. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which banned the practice of bigamy. At the time, many Republican politicians campaigned on the idea that polygamy, besides slavery, was the only other moral injustice worth abolishing. Buddhists view marriage as a secular issue rather than a sacrament. As such, each Buddhist country has its own position on polygamy. For example, Thailand legalized polygamy in 1955, while Myanmar banned polygamy in 2015. Most countries that accept any form of polygamy limit legal recognition to the practice of polygamy, but prohibit polyandry. The cultural practice of polyandry can be observed in the cultures of Tibet, Nepal and northern India and is associated with systems of inheritance and land ownership. Marriage, divorce proceedings and other family law matters are governed by state law. All U.S. jurisdictions prohibit polygamy by invalidating marriages with more than two spouses.
State laws against bigamy — marrying someone while they are still legally married to another person — are usually grounds for annulment. This subsection of Christianity is known for its historically atypical attitude toward polygamy. In the United States, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Utah, practiced polygamy from 1847 to 1890, which it called “plural marriage.” The U.S. government made polygamy illegal in 1862, mostly in response to the LDS Church. The church, recognizing that support for polygamy prevented the state of Utah, banned the practice in 1890, and the church`s founder, Joseph Smith, disavowed the practice in 1904. Some small Mormon groups that have split from the LDS Church still practice polygamy, as do some members of society as a whole, but these unions are not legally registered or recognized. The Muslim acceptance of polygamy is illustrated by the fact that polygamy is more common in the Middle East and North and Central Africa, the regions of the world with the highest concentrations of Muslims, and illegal in most other regions. In addition, several countries recognize polygamous marriages between Muslims, but not between practitioners of other religions.
Polygamy is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, where 11% of the population lives in agreements involving more than one spouse. Polygamy is prevalent in a group of West and Central African countries, including Burkina Faso (36%), Mali (34%) and Nigeria (28%). In these countries, polygamy is legal, at least to some extent. Muslims in Africa are more likely than Christians to live in this type of arrangement (25% vs. 3%), but in some countries the practice is also widespread among followers of folk religions and people who do not identify with a religion. For example, in Burkina Faso, 45 per cent of people with popular religions, 40 per cent of Muslims and 24 per cent of Christians live in polygamous households. Chad is the only country in this analysis where Christians (21%) are more likely than Muslims (10%) to live in this type of arrangement. Debates on the legalization of polygamous marriages continue in Central Asian countries.
[ref. needed] The legal status of polygamy varies widely around the world. Polygamy is legal in 58 of the approximately 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of which are Muslim-majority countries. Polyandry is illegal in virtually all countries and strictly forbidden in Islam. [ref. Several non-Muslim countries (particularly in sub-Saharan Africa) allow polygamy among Muslims in their communities. Some countries that allow polygamy have restrictions, such as requiring the first wife to give consent. In countries that prohibit polygamy, the crime is commonly referred to as bigamy, although the penalty varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
In some countries where polygamy is illegal, the ban is not enforced. In some African countries, polygamy is illegal under civil law, but still permitted under common law, where actions traditionally accepted by a particular culture are considered legal. This arguably confusing loophole leads to two types of marriages: “civil” marriages and “habitual” or “religious” marriages, and allows countries like Liberia, Malawi, and Sierra Leone to allow and even support polygamous marriages without formally recognizing them. A person`s fundamental right to marry is an important constitutional right, but it is not immune to state regulation.