Polygamy

Polygamy (from Late Greek πολυγαμία, polygamía, "state of marriage to many spouses"[1][2][3][4]) is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry. If a marriage includes multiple husbands and wives, it can be called a group marriage.

For polygamy in animals, see Animal sexual behaviour § Polygamy and polygyny. For polygamy in plants, see Plant reproductive morphology.

In contrast, monogamy is marriage consisting of only two parties. Like "monogamy", the term "polygamy" is often used in a de facto sense, applied regardless of whether the state recognizes the relationship.[n 1] In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.

Worldwide, different societies variously encourage, accept or outlaw polygamy. Of societies which allow or tolerate polygamy, in the vast majority of cases the form accepted is polygyny. According to the Ethnographic Atlas (1998), of 1,231 societies noted, 588 had frequent polygyny, 453 had occasional polygyny, 186 were monogamous and 4 had polyandry;[5] although more recent research suggests polyandry may be more common than previously thought.[6] In cultures which practice polygamy, its prevalence among that population is often connected to class and socioeconomic status.[7]

From a legal point of view, in many countries, although marriage is legally monogamous (a person can only have one spouse, and bigamy is illegal), adultery is not illegal, leading to a situation of de facto polygamy being allowed, although without legal recognition for non-official "spouses".

According to scientific studies, the human mating system is considered to be primarily monogamous, with cultural practice of polygamy to be in the minority, based on both surveys of world populations,[8][9] and on characteristics of human reproductive physiology.[10][11][12]

Forms

Polygamy exists in three specific forms:

• Polygyny, wherein a man has multiple simultaneous wives
• Polyandry, wherein a woman has multiple simultaneous husbands
• Group marriage, wherein the family unit consists of multiple husbands and multiple wives of legal age

Polygyny

Main article: Polygyny

Incidence

Prince Manga Bell and favorite wives

Polygyny, the practice wherein a man has more than one wife at the same time, is by far the most common form of polygamy. Many Muslim-majority countries and some countries with sizable Muslim minorities accept polygyny to varying extents both legally and culturally; some secular countries like India also accept it to varying degrees. Islamic law or sharia law is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition which allows polygyny.[13][14] It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith. In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's (Arabic: الله‎ Allāh) immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations.[15][16][17]

Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than on any other continent,[18][19] especially in West Africa, and some scholars see the slave trade's impact on the male-to-female sex ratio as a key factor in the emergence and fortification of polygynous practices in regions of Africa.[20]

Anthropologist Jack Goody's comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the Ethnographic Atlas demonstrated an historical correlation between the practice of extensive shifting horticulture and polygamy in the majority of sub-Saharan African societies.[21] Drawing on the work of Ester Boserup, Goody notes that the sexual division of labour varies between the male-dominated intensive plough-agriculture common in Eurasia and the extensive shifting horticulture found in sub-Saharan Africa. In some of the sparsely-populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa, women do much of the work. This favours polygamous marriages in which men seek to monopolize the production of women "who are valued both as workers and as child bearers". Goody however, observes that the correlation is imperfect and varied, and also discusses more traditionally male-dominated though relatively extensive farming systems such as those that exist in much of West Africa, especially in the West African savanna, where more agricultural work is done by men, and where polygyny is desired by men more for the generation of male offspring whose labor is valued.[22]

Anthropologists Douglas R. White and Michael L. Burton discuss and support Jack Goody's observation regarding African male farming systems in "Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare"[23]^:884 where these authors note:

Goody (1973) argues against the female contributions hypothesis. He notes Dorjahn's (1959) comparison of East and West Africa, showing higher female agricultural contributions in East Africa and higher polygyny rates in West Africa, especially the West African savanna, where one finds especially high male agricultural contributions. Goody says, "The reasons behind polygyny are sexual and reproductive rather than economic and productive" (1973:189), arguing that men marry polygynously to maximize their fertility and to obtain large households containing many young dependent males.[23]^:873

Chinese immigrant with his three wives and fourteen children, Cairns, 1904

An analysis by James Fenske (2012) found that child mortality and ecologically-related economic shocks had a significant association with rates of polygamy in subsaharan Africa, rather than female agricultural contributions (which are typically relatively small in the West African savanna and sahel, where polygyny rates are higher), finding that polygyny rates decrease significantly with child mortality rates.[24]

Types of polygyny

Polygynous marriages fall into two types: sororal polygyny, in which the co-wives are sisters, and non-sororal, where the co-wives are not related. Polygyny offers husbands the benefit of allowing them to have more children, may provide them with a larger number of productive workers (where workers are family), and allows them to establish politically useful ties with a greater number of kin groups.[25] Senior wives can benefit as well when the addition of junior wives to the family lightens their workload. Wives', especially senior wives', status in a community can increase through the addition of other wives, who add to the family's prosperity or symbolize conspicuous consumption (much as a large house, domestic help, or expensive vacations operate in a western country). For such reasons, senior wives sometimes work hard or contribute from their own resources to enable their husbands to accumulate the bride price for an extra wife.[26]

Polygyny may also result from the practice of levirate marriage. In such cases, the deceased man's heir may inherit his assets and wife; or, more usually, his brothers may marry the widow. This provides support for the widow and her children (usually also members of the brothers' kin group) and maintains the tie between the husbands' and wives' kin groups. The sororate resembles the levirate, in that a widower must marry the sister of his dead wife. The family of the late wife, in other words, must provide a replacement for her, thus maintaining the marriage alliance. Both levirate and sororate may result in a man having multiple wives.[25]

Village chief and his wives in Guinea, c. 1910

In monogamous societies, wealthy and powerful men established enduring relationships with, and established separate household for, multiple female partners, aside from their legitimate wives; a practice accepted in Imperial China up until the Qing Dynasty of 1636–1912. This constitutes a form of de facto polygyny referred to as concubinage.[27]

Household organization

Marriage is the moment at which a new household is formed, but different arrangements may occur depending upon the type of marriage and some polygamous marriages do not result in the formation of a single household. In many polygynous marriages the husband's wives may live in separate households.[28] They can thus be described as a "series of linked nuclear families with a 'father' in common".[29]

Polyandry

Incidence

Main article: Polyandry

Polyandry, the practice of a woman having more than one husband at the one time, is much less prevalent than polygyny and is now illegal in virtually every country in the world. It takes place only in remote communities.[30]

Polyandry is believed to be more common in societies with scarce environmental resources, as it is believed to limit human population growth and enhance child survival.[31] It is a rare form of marriage that exists not only among poor families, but also the elite.[32] For example, in the Himalayan Mountains polyandry is related to the scarcity of land; the marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife allows family land to remain intact and undivided.[33] If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into unsustainable small plots. In Europe, this outcome was avoided through the social practice of impartible inheritance, under which most siblings would be disinherited.[34]

Types

Fraternal polyandry was traditionally practiced among nomadic Tibetans in Nepal, parts of China and part of northern India, in which two or more brothers would marry the same woman. It is most common in societies marked by high male mortality. It is associated with partible paternity, the cultural belief that a child can have more than one father.[35]

Non-fraternal polyandry occurs when the wives' husbands are unrelated, as among the Nayar tribe of India, where girls undergo a ritual marriage before puberty,[36] and the first husband is acknowledged as the father of all her children. However, the woman may never cohabit with that man, taking multiple lovers instead; these men must acknowledge the paternity of their children (and hence demonstrate that no caste prohibitions have been breached) by paying the midwife. The women remain in their maternal home, living with their brothers, and property is passed matrilineally.[37] A similar form of matrilineal, de facto polyandry can be found in the institution of walking marriage among the Mosuo tribe of China.

Serial monogamy

Serial monogamy refers to remarriage after divorce or death of a spouse from a monogamous marriage, i.e. multiple marriages but only one legal spouse at a time (a series of monogamous relationships).[38]

According to Danish scholar Miriam K. Zeitzen, anthropologists treat serial monogamy, in which divorce and remarriage occur, as a form of polygamy as it also can establish a series of households that may continue to be tied by shared paternity and shared income.[25] As such, they are similar to the household formations created through divorce and serial monogamy.[39]

Serial monogamy creates a new kind of relative, the "ex-".[40] The "ex-wife", for example, can remain an active part of her "ex-husband's" life, as they may be tied together by legally or informally mandated economic support, which can last for years, including by alimony, child support, and joint custody. Bob Simpson, the British social Anthropologist, notes that it creates an "extended family" by tying together a number of households, including mobile children. He says that Britons may have ex‑wives or ex‑brothers‑in‑law, but not an ex‑child. According to him, these "unclear families" do not fit the mold of the monogamous nuclear family.[41]

Group marriage

Main article: Group marriage

Group marriage is a non-monogamous marriage-like arrangement where three or more adults live together, all considering themselves partners, sharing finances, children, and household responsibilities. Polyamory is on a continuum of family-bonds that includes group marriage.[42] The term does not refer to bigamy as no claim to being married in formal legal terms is made.[43]

Religious attitudes to polygamy

Buddhism

Buddhism does not regard marriage as a sacrament - it is purely a secular affair, and normally Buddhist monks do not participate in it (though in some sects priests and monks do marry). Hence marriage receives no religious sanction.[44] Forms of marriage, in consequence, vary from country to country. The Parabhava Sutta states that "a man who is not satisfied with one woman and seeks out other women is on the path to decline". Other fragments in the Buddhist scripture seem to treat polygamy unfavorably, leading some authors to conclude that Buddhism generally does not approve of it[45] or alternatively regards it as a tolerated, but subordinate, marital model.[46]

Thailand legally recognized polygamy until 1955. Myanmar outlawed polygyny from 2015. In Sri Lanka, polyandry was legal in the kingdom of Kandy, but outlawed by British after conquering the kingdom in 1815.[44] When the Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese, the concubines of others were added to the list of inappropriate partners. Polyandry in Tibet was common traditionally, as was polygyny, and having several wives or husbands was never regarded as having sex with inappropriate partners.[47] Most typically, fraternal polyandry is practiced, but sometimes father and son have a common wife, which is a unique family structure in the world. Other forms of marriage are also present, like group marriage and monogamous marriage.[25] Polyandry (especially fraternal polyandry) is also common among Buddhists in Bhutan, Ladakh, and other parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Celtic traditions

Some pre-Christian Celtic pagans were known to practice polygamy, although the Celtic peoples wavered between it, monogamy and polyandry depending on the time period and area.[48] In some areas this continued even after Christianization began, for instance the Brehon Laws of Gaelic Ireland explicitly allowed for polygamy,[49][50] especially amongst the noble class.[51] Some modern Celtic pagan religions accept the practice of polygamy to varying degrees,[52] though how widespread the practice is within these religions is unknown.

Christianity

Main article: Polygamy in Christianity

Polygamy is not forbidden in the Old Testament. Although the New Testament is largely silent on polygamy, some point to Jesus's repetition of the earlier scriptures, noting that a man and a wife "shall become one flesh".[53] However, some look to Paul's writings to the Corinthians: "Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.'" Supporters of polygamy claim this indicates that the term refers to a physical, rather than spiritual, union.[54]

Some Christian theologians argue that in Matthew 19:3-9 and referring to Genesis 2:24 Jesus explicitly states a man should have only one wife:

Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

The Bible states in the New Testament that polygamy (including adulterous relationships, as evident from verses condemning sexual immorality) should not be practiced by certain church leaders. 1 Timothy states that certain Church leaders should have but one wife: "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach" (chapter 3, verse 2; see also verse 12 regarding deacons having only one wife). Similar counsel is repeated in the first chapter of the Epistle to Titus.[55]

Periodically, Christian reform movements that have aimed at rebuilding Christian doctrine based on the Bible alone (sola scriptura) have at least temporarily accepted polygyny as a Biblical practice. For example, during the Protestant Reformation, in a document referred to simply as "Der Beichtrat" (or "The Confessional Advice" ),[56] Martin Luther granted the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, who, for many years, had been living "constantly in a state of adultery and fornication",[57] a dispensation to take a second wife. The double marriage was to be done in secret, however, to avoid public scandal.[58] Some fifteen years earlier, in a letter to the Saxon Chancellor Gregor Brück, Luther stated that he could not "forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture." ("Ego sane fateor, me non posse prohibere, si quis plures velit uxores ducere, nec repugnat sacris literis.")[59]

In Sub-Saharan Africa, there has often been a tension between the Christian insistence on monogamy and traditional polygamy. For instance, Mswati III, the Christian king of Swaziland, has 15 wives. In some instances in recent times there have been moves for accommodation; in other instances, churches have resisted such moves strongly. African Independent Churches have sometimes referred to those parts of the Old Testament that describe polygamy in defending the practice.

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church condemns polygamy; the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists it in paragraph 2387 under the head "Other offenses against the dignity of marriage" and states that it "is not in accord with the moral law." Also in paragraph 1645 under the head "The Goods and Requirements of Conjugal Love" states "The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to husband and wife in mutual and unreserved affection. Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive."

Saint Augustine saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy. He refrained from judging the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygyny. On the contrary, he argued that the polygamy of the Fathers, which was tolerated by the Creator because of fertility, was a diversion from His original plan for human marriage. Augustine wrote: "That the good purpose of marriage, however, is better promoted by one husband with one wife, than by a husband with several wives, is shown plainly enough by the very first union of a married pair, which was made by the Divine Being Himself."[60]

Augustine taught that the reason patriarchs had many wives was not because of fornication, but because they wanted more children. He supported his premise by showing that their marriages, in which husband was the head, were arranged according to the rules of good management: those who are in command (quae principantur) in their society were always singular, while subordinates (subiecta) were multiple. He gave two examples of such relationships: dominus-servus - master-servant (in older translation: slave) and God-soul. The Bible often equates worshiping multiple gods, i.e. idolatry to fornication.[61] Augustine relates to that: "On this account there is no True God of souls, save One: but one soul by means of many false gods may commit fornication, but not be made fruitful."[62]

As tribal populations grew, fertility was no longer a valid justification of polygamy: it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce (utrum et nunc fas sit, non temere dixerim). For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful."[63]

Augustine saw marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman, which may not be broken. It was the Creator who established monogamy: "Therefore, the first natural bond of human society is man and wife."[64] Such marriage was confirmed by the Saviour in the Gospel of Matthew (Mat 19:9) and by His presence at the wedding in Cana (John 2:2).[65] In the Church—the City of God—marriage is a sacrament and may not and cannot be dissolved as long as the spouses live: "But a marriage once for all entered upon in the City of our God, where, even from the first union of the two, the man and the woman, marriage bears a certain sacramental character, can in no way be dissolved but by the death of one of them."[66] In chapter 7, Augustine pointed out that the Roman Empire forbad polygamy, even if the reason of fertility would support it: "For it is in a man's power to put away a wife that is barren, and marry one of whom to have children. And yet it is not allowed; and now indeed in our times, and after the usage of Rome (nostris quidem iam temporibus ac more Romano), neither to marry in addition, so as to have more than one wife living." Further on he notices that the Church's attitude goes much further than the secular law regarding monogamy: It forbids remarrying, considering such to be a form of fornication: "And yet, save in the City of our God, in His Holy Mount, the case is not such with the wife. But, that the laws of the Gentiles are otherwise, who is there that knows not."[67]

The Council of Trent condemns polygamy: "If any one saith, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is not prohibited by any divine law; let him be anathema.."[68]

In modern times a minority of Roman Catholic theologians have argued that polygamy, though not ideal, can be a legitimate form of Christian marriage in certain regions, in particular Africa.[69][70] The Roman Catholic Church teaches in its Catechism that

polygamy is not in accord with the moral law. [Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God that was revealed from the beginning, because it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive.[71]

The illegality of polygamy in certain areas creates, according to certain Bible passages, additional arguments against it. Paul the Apostle writes "submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience" (Romans 13:5), for "the authorities that exist have been established by God." (Romans 13:1) St Peter concurs when he says to "submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." (1 Peter 2:13,14) Pro-polygamists argue that, as long as polygamists currently do not obtain legal marriage licenses nor seek "common law marriage status" for additional spouses, no enforced laws are being broken any more than when monogamous couples similarly co-habitate without a marriage license.[72]

Lutheran Church

The Lutheran World Federation hosted a regional conference in Africa, in which the acceptance of polygamists into full membership by the Lutheran Church in Liberia was defended as being permissible.[73] The Lutheran Church in Liberia, however, does not permit polygamists who have become Christians to marry more wives after they have received the sacrament of Holy Baptism.[74] Evangelical Lutheran missionaries in Maasai also tolerate the practice of polygamy and in Southern Sudan, some polygamists are becoming Lutheran Christians.[75]

Anglican Communion

The 1988 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion ruled that polygamy was permissible in certain circumstances:[76]

The Conference upholds monogamy as God's plan, as the idea of relationship of love between husband and wife; nevertheless recommends that a polygymaist who responds to the Gospel and wishes to join the Anglican Church may be baptized and confirmed with his believing wives and children on the following conditions:

• that the polygamist shall promise not to marry again as long as any of his wives at the time of his conversion are alive;
• that the receiving of such a polygamist has the consent of the local Anglican community;
• that such a polygamist shall not be compelled to put away any of his wives on account of the social deprivation they would suffer.[76]

Latter Day Saint movement

Main article: Mormonism and polygamy

See also: List of Latter Day Saint practitioners of plural marriage

In accordance with what Joseph Smith indicated was a revelation, the practice of plural marriage, the marriage of one man to two or more women, was instituted among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840s.[77] Despite Smith's revelation, the 1835 edition of the 101st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, written after the doctrine of plural marriage began to be practiced, publicly condemned polygamy. This scripture was used by John Taylor in 1850 to quash Mormon polygamy rumors in Liverpool, England.[78] Polygamy was made illegal in the state of Illinois[79] during the 1839–44 Nauvoo era when several top Mormon leaders, including Smith,[80][81] Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball took multiple wives. Mormon elders who publicly taught that all men were commanded to enter plural marriage were subject to harsh discipline.[82] On 7 June 1844 the Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith for plural marriage.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)

After Joseph Smith was killed by a mob on 27 June 1844, the main body of Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo and followed Brigham Young to Utah where the practice of plural marriage continued.[83] In 1852, Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS Church, publicly acknowledged the practice of plural marriage through a sermon he gave. Additional sermons by top Mormon leaders on the virtues of polygamy followed.[84]^:128 Controversy followed when polygamy became a social cause, writers began to publish works condemning polygamy. The key plank of the Republican Party's 1856 platform was "to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery".[85] In 1862, Congress issued the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which clarified that the practice of polygamy was illegal in all US territories. The LDS Church believed that their religiously based practice of plural marriage was protected by the United States Constitution,[86] however, the unanimous 1878 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. United States declared that polygamy was not protected by the Constitution, based on the longstanding legal principle that "laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices."[87]

Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation in the US led some Mormons to emigrate to Canada and Mexico. In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff issued a public declaration (the Manifesto) announcing that the LDS Church had discontinued new plural marriages. Anti-Mormon sentiment waned, as did opposition to statehood for Utah. The Smoot Hearings in 1904, which documented that the LDS Church was still practicing polygamy spurred the LDS Church to issue a Second Manifesto again claiming that it had ceased performing new plural marriages. By 1910 the LDS Church excommunicated those who entered into, or performed, new plural marriages. Even so, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.[88]

Enforcement of the 1890 Manifesto caused various splinter groups to leave the LDS Church in order to continue the practice of plural marriage.[89] Polygamy among these groups persists today in Utah and neighboring states as well as in the spin-off colonies. Polygamist churches of Mormon origin are often referred to as "Mormon fundamentalist" even though they are not a part of the LDS Church. Such fundamentalists often use a purported 1886 revelation to John Taylor as the basis for their authority to continue the practice of plural marriage.[90] The Salt Lake Tribune stated in 2005 there were as many as 37,000 fundamentalists with less than half of them living in polygamous households.[91]

On 13 December 2013, US Federal Judge Clark Waddoups ruled in Brown v. Buhman that the portions of Utah's anti-polygamy laws which prohibit multiple cohabitation were unconstitutional, but also allowed Utah to maintain its ban on multiple marriage licenses.[92][93][94][95] Unlawful cohabitation, where prosecutors did not need to prove that a marriage ceremony had taken place (only that a couple had lived together), had been the primary tool used to prosecute polygamy in Utah since the 1882 Edmunds Act.[88]

Mormon fundamentalism

The Council of Friends (also known as the Woolley Group and the Priesthood Council)[96][97] was one of the original expressions of Mormon fundamentalism, having its origins in the teachings of Lorin C. Woolley, a dairy farmer excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924. Several Mormon fundamentalist groups claim lineage through the Council of Friends, including but not limited to, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), the Apostolic United Brethren, the Centennial Park group, the Latter Day Church of Christ, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) prior to 2001, has never sanctioned polygamy since its foundation in 1860. Joseph Smith III, the first Prophet-President of the RLDS Church following the reorganization of the Church, was an ardent opponent of the practice of plural marriage throughout his life. For most of his career, Smith denied that his father had been involved in the practice and insisted that it had originated with Brigham Young. Smith served many missions to the western United States, where he met with and interviewed associates and women claiming to be widows of his father, who attempted to present him with evidence to the contrary. Smith typically responded to such accusations by saying that he was "not positive nor sure that [his father] was innocent",[98] and that if, indeed, the elder Smith had been involved, it was still a false practice. However, many members of the Community of Christ and some of the groups that were formerly associated with it are not convinced that Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage and feel that the evidence that he did is flawed.[99][100]

Hinduism

The Rig Veda mentions that during the Vedic period, a man could have more than one wife.[101] The practice is attested in epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Dharmashastras permit a man to marry women provided that the first wife agree to marry him. Despite its existence, it was most usually practiced by men of higher status. Common people were only allowed a second marriage if the first wife could not bear a son or have some dispute because there is no law for divorce in hinduism.[102]

According to Vishnu Smriti, the number of wives is linked to the knowledge system:

Now a Brāhmaṇa may take many wives in the direct order of the (four) knowledge;
A Kshatriya means warrior knowledge, three;
A Vaishya means business knowledge, two;
A Shudra means cleaning knowledge, one only[103]

This linkage of the number of permitted wives to the knowledge system is also supported by Baudhayana Dharmasutra and Paraskara Grihyasutra.[104][105]

The Apastamba Dharmasutra and Manusmriti allow a second wife if the first one is unable to discharge her religious duties or is unable to bear a child or have any dispute because in hinduism there was no law for divorce.[104]

For a Brahmana, only one wife could rank as the chief consort who performed the religious rites (dharma-patni) along with the husband. The chief consort had to be of an equal knowledge. If a man married several women from the same knowledgeable, then eldest wife is the chief consort.[106] Hindu kings commonly had more than one wife and are regularly attributed four wives by the scriptures. They were: Mahisi who was the chief consort, Parivrkti who had no son, Vaivata who is considered the favorite wife and the Palagali who was the daughter of the last of the court officials.[101]

Traditional Hindu law allowed polygamy if the first wife could not bear a child.[107]

The Hindu Marriage Act was enacted in 1955 by the Indian Parliament and made polygamy illegal for everyone in India except for Muslims. Prior to 1955, polygamy was permitted for Hindus. Marriage laws in India are dependent upon the religion of the parties in question.[108]

Islam

Main article: Polygyny in Islam

In Islamic marital jurisprudence, under reasonable and warranted conditions, a Muslim man may have more than one wife at the same time, up to a total of four. Muslim women are not permitted to have more than one husband at the same time under any circumstances.

Based on verse 30:21 of Quran the ideal relationship is the comfort that a couple find in each other's embrace:

And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.

— Qur'an, Sura 30 (Ar-Rum), Ayah 21[109]

The polygyny that is allowed in the Quran is for special situations. There are strict requirements to marrying more than one woman, as the man must treat them equally financially and in terms of support given to each wife, according to Islamic law. However, Islam advises monogamy for a man if he fears he can't deal justly with his wives. This is based on verse 4:3 of Quran which says:

If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or one that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.

— Qur'an, Sura 4 (An-Nisa), Ayah 3[110]

Muslim women are not allowed to marry more than one husband at once. However, in the case of a divorce or their husbands' death they can remarry after the completion of Iddah, as divorce is legal in Islamic law. A non-Muslim woman who flees from her non-Muslim husband and accepts Islam has the option to remarry without divorce from her previous husband, as her marriage with non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved on her fleeing.[111] A non-Muslim woman captured during war by Muslims, can also remarry, as her marriage with her non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved at capture by Muslim soldiers.[112][113] This permission is given to such women in verse 4:24 of Quran. The verse also emphasizes on transparency, mutual agreement and financial compensation as prerequisites for matrimonial relationship as opposed to prostitution; it says:

Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess: Thus hath Allah ordained (Prohibitions) against you: Except for these, all others are lawful, provided ye seek (them in marriage) with gifts from your property,- desiring chastity, not lust, seeing that ye derive benefit from them, give them their dowers (at least) as prescribed; but if, after a dower is prescribed, agree Mutually (to vary it), there is no blame on you, and Allah is All-knowing, All-wise.

— Qur'an, Sura 4 (An-Nisa), Ayah 24[114]

Muhammad was monogamously married to Khadija, his first wife, for 25 years, until she died. After her death, he married multiple women, mostly widows,[115] for social and political reasons.[116] He had a total of nine wives, but not all at the same time, depending on the sources in his lifetime. The Qur'an does not give preference in marrying more than one wife. One reason cited for polygyny is that it allows a man to give financial protection to multiple women, who might otherwise not have any support (e.g. widows).[117] However, the wife can set a condition, in then marriage contract, that the husband cannot marry another woman during their marriage. In such a case, the husband cannot marry another woman as long as he is married to his wife.[118] According to traditional Islamic law, each of those wives keeps their property and assets separate; and are paid mahar and maintenance separately by their husband. Usually the wives have little to no contact with each other and lead separate, individual lives in their own houses, and sometimes in different cities, though they all share the same husband.

In most Muslim-majority countries, polygyny is legal with Kuwait being the only one where no restrictions are imposed on it. The practice is illegal in Muslim-majority Turkey, Tunisia, Albania, Kosovo and Central Asian countries.[119][120][121][122]

Countries that allow polygyny typically also require a man to obtain permission from his previous wives before marrying another, and require the man to prove that he can financially support multiple wives. In Malaysia and Morocco, a man must justify taking an additional wife at a court hearing before he is allowed to do so.[123] In Sudan, the government encouraged polygyny in 2001 to increase the population.[124]

Judaism

See also: Pilegesh

The Torah contains a few specific regulations that apply to polygamy,[125] such as Exodus 21:10: "If he take another wife for himself; her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish".[126] Deut 21:15–17, states that a man must award the inheritance due to a first-born son to the son who was actually born first, even if he hates that son's mother and likes another wife more;[127] and Deut 17:17 states that the king shall not have too many wives.[128]

The Torah may distinguish concubines and "sub-standard" wives with the prefix "to" (e.g., lit. "took to wives").[129] Despite these nuances to the biblical perspective on polygamy, many important figures had more than one wife, such as in the instances of Esau (Gen 26:34; 28:6-9),[126] Jacob (Gen 29:15-28),[126] Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:1-8),[126] David (1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13-16),[126] and Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3).[126]

Multiple marriage was considered a realistic alternative in the case of famine, widowhood, or female infertility[130] like in the practice of levirate marriage, wherein a man was required to marry and support his deceased brother's widow, as mandated by Deuteronomy 25:5–10. Despite its prevalence in the Hebrew Bible, scholars do not believe that polygyny was commonly practiced in the biblical era because it required a significant amount of wealth.[131] Michael Coogan, in contrast, states that "Polygyny continued to be practiced well into the biblical period, and it is attested among Jews as late as the second century CE".[132]

The monogamy of the Roman Empire was the cause of two explanatory notes in the writings of Josephus describing how the polygamous marriages of Herod the Great were permitted under Jewish custom.[133][134]

The rabbinical era that began with the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE saw a continuation of some degree of legal acceptance for polygamy. In the Babylonian Talmud (BT), Kiddushin 7a, its states, "Raba said: [If a man declares,] 'Be thou betrothed to half of me,' she is betrothed: 'half of thee be betrothed to me,' she is not betrothed."[135] The BT during a discussion of Levirate marriage in Yevamot 65a appears to repeat the precedent found in Exodus 21:10: "Raba said: a man may marry wives in addition to the first wife; provided only that he possesses the means to maintain them".[136] The Jewish Codices began a process of restricting polygamy in Judaism.

Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah maintained that polygamous unions were permissible from a legal point of view, which was contrary to his personal opinion. The Mishneh Torah, while maintaining the right to multiple spouses, and the requirement to provide fully for each as indicated in previously cited sources, went further: "He may not, however, compel his wives to live in the same courtyard. Instead, each one is entitled to her own household".[137]

The Shulchan Aruch builds on all of the previous works by adding further nuances: "...but in any event, our sages have advised well not to marry more than four wives, in order that he can meet their conjugal needs at least once a month. And in a place where it is customary to marry only one wife, he is not permitted to take another wife on top of his present wife."[138] As can be seen, while the tradition of the rabbinic period began with providing legal definition for the practice of polygamy (although this does not indicate the frequency with which polygamy in fact occurred) that corresponded to precedents in the Tanakh, by the time of the Codices the rabbis had greatly reduced or eliminated sanction of the practice.

Most notable in the rabbinic period on the issue of polygamy, though more specifically for Ashkenazi Jews, was the synod of Rabbeinu Gershom. About 1000 CE he called a synod which decided the following particulars: (1) prohibition of polygamy; (2) necessity of obtaining the consent of both parties to a divorce; (3) modification of the rules concerning those who became apostates under compulsion; (4) prohibition against opening correspondence addressed to another.[139][140] Some sephardic Jews such as Abraham David Taroç, where known to have several wives.

In the modern day, polygamy is almost nonexistent in Rabbinic Judaism.[141] Ashkenazi Jews have continued to follow Rabbenu Gershom's ban since the 11th century.[142] Some Mizrahi Jewish communities (particularly Yemenite Jews and Persian Jews) discontinued polygyny more recently, after they immigrated to countries where it was forbidden or illegal. Israel prohibits polygamy by law.[143][144] In practice, however, the law is loosely enforced, primarily to avoid interference with Bedouin culture, where polygyny is practiced.[145] Pre-existing polygynous unions among Jews from Arab countries (or other countries where the practice was not prohibited by their tradition and was not illegal) are not subject to this Israeli law. But Mizrahi Jews are not permitted to enter into new polygamous marriages in Israel. However polygamy may still occur in non-European Jewish communities that exist in countries where it is not forbidden, such as Jewish communities in Iran and Morocco.

Among Karaite Jews, who do not adhere to rabbinic interpretations of the Torah, polygamy is almost non-existent today. Like other Jews, Karaites interpret Leviticus 18:18 to mean that a man can only take a second wife if his first wife gives her consent (Keter Torah on Leviticus, pp. 96–97) and Karaites interpret Exodus 21:10 to mean that a man can only take a second wife if he is capable of maintaining the same level of marital duties due to his first wife; the marital duties are 1) food, 2) clothing, and 3) sexual gratification. Because of these two biblical limitations and because most countries outlaw it, polygamy is considered highly impractical, and there are only a few known cases of it among Karaite Jews today.

Israel has made polygamy illegal.[146][147] Provisions were instituted to allow for existing polygamous families immigrating from countries where the practice was legal. Furthermore, former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef[148] has come out in favor of legalizing polygamy and the practice of pilegesh (concubine) by the Israeli government.

Tzvi Zohar, a professor from the Bar-Ilan University, recently suggested that based on the opinions of leading halachic authorities, the concept of concubines may serve as a practical Halachic justification for premarital or non-marital cohabitation.[149][150]

Legal status

  Polygamy is legal only for Muslims

  Polygamy is legal

  Polygamy is legal in some regions (Indonesia)

  Polygamy is illegal, but practice is not criminalised

  Polygamy is illegal and practice criminalised

  Legal status unknown

• In India, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore polygamy is only legal for Muslims.
• In Nigeria and South Africa, polygamous marriages under customary law and for Muslims are legally recognized.
• In Mauritius, polygamous unions have no legal recognition. Muslim men may, however, "marry" up to four women, but they do not have the legal status of wives.

International law

In 2000, the United Nations Human Rights Committee reported that polygamy violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), citing concerns that the lack of "equality of treatment with regard to the right to marry" meant that polygamy, restricted to polygyny in practice, violates the dignity of women and should be outlawed.[151] Specifically, reports to UN Committees have noted violations of ICCPR due to these inequalities[152] and reports to the UN General Assembly have recommended it be outlawed.[153][154]

ICCPR does not apply to countries that have not signed it, which includes many Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, Brunei, Oman, and South Sudan.[155]

Canada

Canada has taken a strong stand against polygamy, and the Canadian Department of Justice has argued that polygyny is a violation of International Human Rights Law, as a form of gender discrimination.[156] In Canada, the federal Criminal Code applies throughout the country. It extends the definition of polygamy to having any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time. Also anyone who assists, celebrates, or is a part to a rite, ceremony, or contract that sanctions a polygamist relationship is guilty of polygamy. Polygamy is an offence punishable by up to five years in prison. In 2017, two Canadian religious leaders were found guilty of practicing polygamy by the Supreme Court of British Columbia.[157] Both of them are former bishops of the Mormon denomination of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).[157]

Russia

Polygamous marriages are not recognized in Russia. The Family Code of Russia states that a marriage can only be contracted between a man and a woman, neither of whom is married to someone else.[158] Furthermore, Russia does not recognize polygamous marriages that had been contracted in other countries.[159] However, de facto polygamy or multiple cohabitation in and of itself is not a crime.[160] Due to the shortage of men in Russia's population, it is not uncommon for men to father children with multiple women, and sometimes that results in households that are openly de facto polygamous.[161][162]

United Kingdom

Bigamy is illegal in the United Kingdom.[163] De facto polygamy (having multiple partners at the same time) is not a criminal offence, provided the person does not register more than one marriage at the same time. In the UK, adultery is not a criminal offence (it is only a ground for divorce[164]). In a written answer to the House of Commons, "In Great Britain, polygamy is only recognized as valid in law in circumstances where the marriage ceremony has been performed in a country whose laws permit polygamy and the parties to the marriage were domiciled there at the time. In addition, immigration rules have generally prevented the formation of polygamous households in this country since 1988."[165]

The 2010 Government in the UK decided that Universal Credit (UC), which replaces means-tested benefits and tax credits for working-age people and will not be completely introduced until 2021, will not recognize polygamous marriages. A House of Commons Briefing Paper states "Treating second and subsequent partners in polygamous relationships as separate claimants could in some situations mean that polygamous households receive more under Universal Credit than they do under the current rules for means-tested benefits and tax credits. This is because, as explained above, the amounts which may be paid in respect of additional spouses are lower than those which generally apply to single claimants." There is currently no official statistics data on cohabiting polygamous couples who have arranged marriage in religious ceremonies.[166]

In October 2017 there was media attention in the UK concerning website over a dating website offering Muslim men an opportunity to seek second or third wives. The website had 100 000 users of which 25 000 were in the UK. Website founder Azad Chaiwala created the website when he was seeking a second wife for himself.[167]

United States

Main article: Legality of polygamy in the United States

Polygamy is illegal in 49 United States. Utah is the only state where it is a civil infraction rather than a crime as of 2020. Federal legislation to outlaw the practice was endorsed as constitutional in 1878 by the Supreme Court in Reynolds v. United States, despite the religious objections of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

On 13 December 2013, a federal judge, spurred by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups,[168] struck down the parts of Utah's bigamy law that criminalized cohabitation, while also acknowledging that the state may still enforce bans on having multiple marriage licenses.[169]

Individualist feminism and advocates such as Wendy McElroy and journalist Jillian Keenan support the freedom for adults to voluntarily enter polygamous marriages.[170][171]

Authors such as Alyssa Rower and Samantha Slark argue that there is a case for legalizing polygamy on the basis of regulation and monitoring of the practice, legally protecting the polygamous partners and allowing them to join mainstream society instead of forcing them to hide from it when any public situation arises.[172][173]

In an October 2004 op-ed for USA Today, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley argued that, as a simple matter of equal treatment under law, polygamy ought to be legal. Acknowledging that underage girls are sometimes coerced into polygamous marriages, Turley replied that "banning polygamy is no more a solution to child abuse than banning marriage would be a solution to spousal abuse".[174]

Stanley Kurtz, a conservative fellow at the Hudson Institute, rejects the decriminalization and legalization of polygamy. He stated:

Marriage, as its ultramodern critics would like to say, is indeed about choosing one's partner, and about freedom in a society that values freedom. But that's not the only thing it is about. As the Supreme Court justices who unanimously decided Reynolds in 1878 understood, marriage is also about sustaining the conditions in which freedom can thrive. Polygamy in all its forms is a recipe for social structures that inhibit and ultimately undermine social freedom and democracy. A hard-won lesson of Western history is that genuine democratic self-rule begins at the hearth of the monogamous family.[175]

In January 2015, Pastor Neil Patrick Carrick of Detroit, Michigan, brought a case (Carrick v. Snyder) against the State of Michigan that the state's ban of polygamy violates the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.[176][177]

See also

• Bigamy
• Polyday
• Conflict of marriage laws
• Legal status of polygamy
• List of polygamy court cases
• More danico
• Serial monogamy
• Types of marriages

Notes

1. For the extent to which states can and do recognize potentially and actual polygamous forms as valid, see Conflict of marriage laws.

References

1. Harper, Douglas (ed.). "Polygamy". Online Etymology Dictionary. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016.
2. πολυγαμία. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
3. "πολυγαμία". Dictionary of Standard Modern Greek (in Greek). Center for the Greek Language. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016.
4. Babiniotis, Georgios (2002). "s.v. πολυγαμία". Dictionary of Modern Greek (in Greek). Lexicology Centre.
5. Ethnographic Atlas Codebook Archived 18 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine derived from George P. Murdock's Ethnographic Atlas recording the marital composition of 1231 societies from 1960 to 1980
6. Starkweather, Katherine E; Hames, Raymond (2012). "A Survey of Non-Classical Polyandry". Human Nature. 23 (2): 149–172. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.697.138. doi:10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x. PMID 22688804.
7. Golomski, Casey (6 January 2016). Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies – via ResearchGate.
8. Low, B. (1988). "Measures of polygyny in humans". Curr Anthropol. 29: 189–194. doi:10.1086/203627.
9. Murdock GP (1981) Atlas of World Cultures. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press
10. Anderson, M. J.; Dixson, A. F. (2002). "Sperm competition: motility and the midpiece in primates". Nature. 416 (6880): 496. Bibcode:2002Natur.416..496A. doi:10.1038/416496a. PMID 11932733.
11. Dixson, A. L.; Anderson, M. J. (2002). "Sexual selection, seminal coagulation and copulatory plug formation in primates". Folia Primatol. 73 (2–3): 63–69. doi:10.1159/000064784. PMID 12207054.
12. Harcourt, A. H.; Harvey, P. H.; Larson, S. G.; Short, RV (1981). "Testis weight, body weight and breeding system in primates". Nature. 293 (5827): 55–57. Bibcode:1981Natur.293...55H. doi:10.1038/293055a0. PMID 7266658.
13. "British & World English: sharia". Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
14. Editors, History com. "Islam". HISTORY. Retrieved 24 January 2020.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
15. John L. Esposito, ed. (2014). "Islamic Law". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
16. Vikør 2014. sfn error: no target: CITEREFVikør2014 (help)
17. Calder 2009. sfn error: no target: CITEREFCalder2009 (help)
18. Clignet, Remi, Many Wives, Many Powers, Northwestern University Press, Evanston (1970), p. 17.
19. Fenske, James (9 November 2013). "African polygamy: Past and present". VoxEU.org. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
20. Henrich, Joseph; Boyd, Robert; Richerson, Peter J. (5 March 2012). "The puzzle of monogamous marriage". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 367 (1589): 657–669. doi:10.1098/rstb.2011.0290. ISSN 0962-8436. PMC 3260845. PMID 22271782.
21. Goody, Jack (1976). Production and Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 27–29.
22. Goody, Jack. "Polygyny, Economy and the Role of Women". In: The Character of Kinship. London: Cambridge University Press, 1973, pp. 180–190.
23. White, Douglas; Burton, Michael (December 1988). "Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare". American Anthropologist. 90 (4): 871–887. doi:10.1525/aa.1988.90.4.02a00060.
24. Fenske, James (November 2012), "AFRICAN POLYGAMY: PAST AND PRESENT" (PDF), Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford: 1–30
25. Zeitzen, Miriam Koktvedgaard (2008). Polygamy: A Cross-Cultural Analysis. Oxford: Berg. ISBN 978-1-84520-220-0.
26. Lee, Gary R. (1982). "Structural Variety in Marriage". Family Structure and Interaction: A Comparative Analysis (2nd, revised ed.). University of Minnesota Press. pp. 92–93.
27. Herlihy, David (1984). McNetting, Robert; Will, Richard; Arnould, Eric (eds.). Households: Comparative and Historical Studies of the Domestic Group. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 393–395.
28. Baloyi, Elijah M. (August 2013). "Critical reflections on polygamy in the African Christian context". Missionalia. 41 (2): 164–181. ISSN 0256-9507.
29. Fox, Robin (1967). Kinship and Marriage. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books. p. 39.
30. ¿Está demostrado que el ser humano es monógamo por naturaleza?
31. (Linda Stone, Kinship and Gender, 2006, Westview, 3rd ed, ch 6) The Center for Research on Tibet Papers on Tibetan Marriage and Polyandry. Retrieved 1 October 2006
32. Goldstein, Pahari and Tibetan Polyandry Revisited, Ethnology. 17(3): 325–327, 1978, from The Center for Research on Tibet. Retrieved 1 October 2007
33. Starkweather, Katherine E.; Hames, Raymond (June 2012). "A Survey of Non-Classical Polyandry". Human Nature. 23 (2): 149–172. doi:10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x. ISSN 1045-6767.
34. Levine, Nancy (1998). The Dynamics of polyandry: kinship, domesticity, and population on the Tibetan border. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
35. Starkweather, Katherine; Hames, Raymond (2012). "A Survey of Non‑Classical Polyandry" (PDF). Human Nature. 23 (2): 149–72. doi:10.1007/s12110-012-9144-x. eISSN 1936-4776. ISSN 1045-6767. OCLC 879353439. PMID 22688804. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015.
36. Nayar - Marriage and Family
37. Gough, E. Kathleen (1959). "The Nayars and the Definition of Marriage". Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 89 (1): 23–34. doi:10.2307/2844434. JSTOR 2844434.
38. Fisher, Helen (2000). The First Sex. Ballantine Books. pp. 271–72, 276. ISBN 978-0-449-91260-7.
39. FALEN, DOUGLAS J. (23 October 2009). "Polygamy: a cross-cultural analysis by Zeitzen, Miriam Koktvedgaard". Social Anthropology. 17 (4): 510–511. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8676.2009.00088_20.x. ISSN 0964-0282.
40. For a popular press angle, see e.g. Rosie Wilby, Is Monogamy Dead?: Rethinking Relationships in the 21st Century (Cardiff: Accent Press, 2017), 107. ISBN 9781786154521. For deeper, scholarly analysis, see e.g. David Silverman, "The Construction of 'Delicate' Objects in Counselling", in ed. Margaret Wetherell et al., Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader (London: Sage, 2001), 123-27. ISBN 9780761971566
41. Simpson, Bob (1998). Changing Families: An Ethnographic Approach to Divorce and Separation. Oxford: Berg.
42. "Polyamory", in Robert T. Francoeur and Raymond J. Noonan, eds., The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality (London: A&C Black, 2004), 1205. ISBN 9780826414885
43. Constantine, Larry L. (1974). Group Marriage: A Study of Contemporary Multilateral Marriage. Collier Books. ISBN 978-0020759102.
44. "Accesstoinsight.org". Accesstoinsight.org. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
45. The Ethics of Buddhism, Shundō Tachibana, Routledge, 1992, ISBN 978-0-7007-0230-5
46. An introduction to Buddhist ethics: foundations, values, and issues, Brian Peter Harvey, Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-521-55640-8
47. Berzin, Alexander (7 October 2010). "Buddhist Sexual Ethics: Main Issues". Study Buddhism. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016.
48. Markale, Jean (1986) [1st pub. 1972 La Femme Celte (in French)]. "The Judicial Framework". Women of the Celts. Translated by Mygind, A.; Hauch, C.; Henry, P. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-89281-150-2. LCCN 86-20128. OCLC 14069840. OL 2726337M.
49. Jan Fries, Cauldron of the Gods, page 192.
50. Seán Duffy, Medieval Ireland, An Encyclopedia, page 74.
51. Paul F State, A brief history of Ireland, page 17.
52. Fox, Martin and O'Ciarrai, Breandan. "Céard is Sinnsreachd Ann? (What Is Sinnsreachd?) Archived 31 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine", Tuath na Ciarraide, 7 March 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
53. Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:3–6
54. 1 Corinthians 6:16
55. The Digital Nestle-Aland lists only one manuscript (P46) as source of the verse, while nine other manuscripts have no such verse, cf. http://nttranscripts.uni-muenster.de/AnaServer?NTtranscripts+0+start.anv
56. Letter to Philip of Hesse, 10 December 1539, De Wette-Seidemann, 6:238–244
57. Michelet, ed. (1904). "Chapter III: 1536–1545". The Life of Luther Written by Himself. Bohn’s Standard Library. Translated by Hazlitt, William. London: George Bell and Sons. p. 251.
58. James Bowling Mozley Essays, Historical and Theological 1:403–404 Excerpts from Der Beichtrat
59. Letter to the Chancellor Gregor Brück, 13 January 1524, De Wette 2:459.
60. On Marriage and Concupiscence, I,10
61. Marcus, Joel (April 2006). "Idolatry In The New Testament". Interpretation. 60 (2): 152–164. doi:10.1177/002096430606000203.
62. Augustine, On the Good of Marriage, ch. 20; cf. On Marriage and Concupiscence, I,10
63. St. Augustin On the Good of Marriage, ch.17; cf. On Marriage and Concupiscence, I,9.8
64. On the Good of Marriage, ch.1
65. On the Good of Marriage, ch.3
66. On the Good of Marriage, 17
67. Augustine, On the Good of Marriage, ch. 7
68. PapalEncyclicals: Council of Trenty, 24th Sessions
69. "The Ratzinger report: an exclusive interview on the state of the Church Pope Benedict XVI, Vittorio Messori", p. 195, Ignatius Press, 1985, ISBN 0-89870-080-9
70. "Morality: The Case for Polygamy", Time Magazine, 10 May 1968, time.com and "Christianity and the African imagination: essays in honour of Adrian Hastings", edited by David Maxwell with Ingrid Lawrie, p. 345–346, Brill, 2002, ISBN 90-04-11668-0
71. Catholic Cathechism, para. 2387 April 5, 2009, Vatican website
72. "Law of the Land -- Exegesis - Biblical Polygamy . com". www.biblicalpolygamy.com.
73. Deressa, Yonas (1973). The Ministry of the Whole Person. Gudina Tumsa Foundation. p. 350.
74. Kilbride, Philip Leroy; Page, Douglas R. (2012). Plural Marriage for Our Times: A Reinvented Option?. ABC-CLIO. p. 188. ISBN 9780313384783.
75. Mlenga, Moses (13 January 2016). Polygamy in Northern Malawi: A Christian Reassessment. Mzuni Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN 9789996045097.
76. Draper, Jonathan A. (1 April 2003). The Eye of the Storm: Bishop John William Colenso and the Crisis of Biblical Inspiration. A&C Black. p. 304. ISBN 9780826470904.
77. "Polygamy (Plural Marriage) | LDS Church Perspective on Polygamy". ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
78. Three nights public discussion between the Revds. C. W. Cleeve, James Robertson, and Philip Cater, and Elder John Taylor, Of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, At Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France. Chairman, Rev. K. Groves, M.A., Assisted By Charles Townley, LL.D., and Mr. Luddy. pp. 8–9
79. Greiner & Sherman, Revised Laws of Illinois, 1833, pp. 198–199
80. Compton, Todd (1996). "A Trajectory of Plurality: An Overview of Joseph Smith's Thirty‑three Plural Wives". Dialogue. 29 (2): 1–38. ISSN 0012-2157. OCLC 929467668. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012.
81. Smith, George D (1994). "Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841–46: A Preliminary Demographic Report" (PDF). Dialogue. 27 (1): 1–72. ISSN 0012-2157. OCLC 367616792.
82. Times and Seasons, vol. 5, p. 423, 1 February 1844
83. Lifting the Veil of Polygamy. Main Street Church. 2007., a video presentation concerning the history of Mormon polygamy and its modern manifestations.
84. Young, Brigham (18 June 1865). "Personality of God — His Attributes — Eternal Life, etc". Journal of Discourses. 11: 119–128. Since the founding of the Roman empire monogamy has prevailed more extensively than in times previous to that. The founders of that ancient empire were robbers and women stealers, and made laws favoring monogamy in consequence of the scarcity of women among them, and hence this monogamic system which now prevails throughout Christendom, and which had been so fruitful a source of prostitution and whoredom throughout all the Christian monogamic cities of the Old and New World, until rottenness and decay are at the root of their institutions both national and religious.
85. GOP Convention of 1856 in Philadelphia Archived 10 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine from the Independence Hall Association website
86. "Free Exercise Clause - First Amendment". Caselaw.lp.findlaw.com. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
87. "FindLaw's United States Supreme Court case and opinions". Findlaw.
88. Embry, Jessie L. (1994). "Polygamy". In Powell, Allan Kent (ed.). Utah History Encyclopedia. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press. ISBN 978-0874804256. OCLC 30473917.
89. "The Primer" Archived 19 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine - Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities. A joint report from the offices of the Attorneys General of Arizona and Utah. (2006)
90. "An 1886 Revelation to John Taylor". Mormonfundamentalism.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
91. Adams, Brooke (9 August 2005). "LDS splinter groups growing". The Salt Lake Tribune. ISSN 0746-3502. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014.
92. "Utah Polygamy Decision | Mormonism and Polygamy | Polygamy".
93. Schwartz, John (14 September 2013). "A Law Prohibiting Polygamy is Weakened". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
94. Mears, Bill (14 December 2013). "'Sister Wives' case: Judge strikes down part of Utah polygamy law". CNN. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
95. Stack, Peggy Fletcher (14 December 2013). "Laws on Mormon polygamists lead to win for plural marriage". The Salt Lake Tribune. ISSN 0746-3502. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
96. Religious Sects, and Cults That Sprang from Mormonism (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers Central Company, 1942).
97. Musser, Joseph W. (September 1943). "Factions". Truth. 9 (24): 94–96.
98. Launius, Roger D. (1987). "Methods and Motives: Joseph Smith III's Opposition to Polygamy, 1860–90". Dialogue. 20 (4): 112. ISSN 0012-2157. OCLC 365871238. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. When challenged this way he typically responded . . . ‘I am not positive nor sure that he was innocent’.
99. Promeet, Dutta; Chauhan, Yamini (6 October 2013) [1st pub. 14 June 2007]. "Community of Christ". Encyclopædia Britannica. London. Retrieved 1 February 2016. The Community of Christ . . . claims that polygamy was introduced by Brigham Young and his associates and that the revelation on polygamy, which was made public in 1852 by Young in Utah . . . was not in harmony with the original tenets of the church or with the teachings and practices of Smith.
100. "Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy". www.restorationbookstore.org. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
101. MacDonell, Arthur Anthony; Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1995). Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, Volume 1; Volume 5. p. 478. ISBN 9788120813328.
102. James g. Lochtefeld, Ph.D (15 December 2001). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N–Z. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 514. ISBN 9780823931804.
103. "XXIV". www.sacred-texts.com.
104. Singh, Madan Mohan (1967). Life in North-eastern India in Pre-Mauryan times. pp. 39–40.
105. Siddiqui, Moid (2009). The world wakes up to Islam!. p. 301. ISBN 9788174355904.
106. Barnett, Lionel D. (30 April 1999). Antiquities of India. p. 114. ISBN 9788171564422.
107. Larson, Gerald James (2001). Religion and Personal law in secular India: A call to judgment. p. 153. ISBN 978-0253214805.
108. Marriages-Divorces Archived 1 September 2005 at the Wayback Machine section at general information website on Indian laws by Sudhir Shah and Associates
109. ^{[Quran 30:21]}
110. Quran 4:3
111. Çiğdem, Recep (March 2015). "Interfaith marriage in comparative perspective". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 68 (1): 59–86. doi:10.1556/AOrient.68.2015.1.4. ISSN 0001-6446.
112. Thomas Hughes (1855), Dictionary of Islam, p.59.
113. David Samuel Margoliouth (1905), Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, p.407, p.461.
114. Quran 4:24
115. "Prophet Muhammad and polygyny", IslamWeb.
116. Sahar El-Nadi, "Why Did the Prophet Have So Many Wives?," OnIslam.net
117. "IslamWeb". IslamWeb. 7 February 2002. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
118. "ahlalhdeeth". ahlalhdeeth. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
119. Nurmila, Nina (10 June 2009). Women, Islam and Everyday Life: Renegotiating Polygamy in Indonesia. Routledge. ISBN 9781134033706 – via Google Books.
120. Maike Voorhoeve (31 January 2013). "Tunisia: Protecting Ben Ali's Feminist Legacy". Think Africa Press. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
121. Kudat, Ay?e; Peabody, Stan; Keyder, Ça?lar (29 December 2017). Social Assessment and Agricultural Reform in Central Asia and Turkey. World Bank Publications. ISBN 9780821346785 – via Google Books.
122. "LES EXPERTS DU CEDAW S'INQUIÈTENT DE LA PERSISTANCE DE STÉRÉOTYPES SEXISTES ET DE LA SITUAITON DES MINORITÉS EN SERBIE". United Nations. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
123. Modern Muslim societies. 2010. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-7614-7927-7.
124. "Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has urged Sudanese men to take more than one wife, claiming that this would the population". BBC News. 15 August 2001. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
125. Coogan, Michael (October 2010). God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says (1st ed.). New York, Boston: Twelve. Hachette Book Group. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9. OCLC 505927356.
126. The Jerusalem Bible: The Holy Scriptures. Ed. Harold Fisch. Trans. Fisch. Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 1980.
127. Deuteronomy 21:15–17 Archived 3 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine from mechon-mamre.org
128. "Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 17 (Parshah Shoftim)". www.chabad.org.
129. Women, similar to wives from vadimcherny.org
130. Freeman, Tzvi. "Chabad.org". Chabad.org. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
131. Gene McAfee "Sex" The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, eds. Oxford University Press 1993. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 19 March 2010.
132. Coogan, Michael (October 2010). God and Sex: What the Bible Really Says (1st ed.). New York, Boston: Twelve. Hachette Book Group. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-446-54525-9.
133. "The Jewish Family: Metaphor and Memory", David Charles Kraemer, p. 21, Oxford University Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-505467-9
134. Antiquities of the Jews, xvii. 1, § 3
135. Babylonian Talmud: Kiddushin 7a. halakhah.com, n.d. 7a. Web. 25 October 2012
136. Babylonian Talmud: Yevamot 65a. halakhah.com, n.d. 5a. Web. 25 October 2012
137. Mishneh Torah: Laws of Matrimoney 14:3. chabad.org, n.d. Web. 25 October 2012. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/682956/jewish/Mishneh-Torah.htm
138. Shulkhan Aruch: Even Ha'ezer 1:9 en.wikisource.org, n.d. Web 25 October 2012. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
139. The Routledge companion to Jewish history and historiography. Bell, Dean Phillip, 1967-. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon. ISBN 978-0-429-45892-7. OCLC 1055160815.CS1 maint: others (link)
140. Lapidoth, Ruth (July 1975). "Israel Yearbook on Human Rights. Edited by Yoram Dinstein and Nitza Shapiro-Libai. [Published under the auspices of the Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, vol. I (1971), 464 pp. and vol. II (1972), 391 pp.]". Israel Law Review. 10 (3): 408–412. doi:10.1017/s0021223700005355. ISSN 0021-2237.
141. "Does Jewish Law Forbid Polygamy?". www.chabad.org.
142. Judaism and Polygamy: "Originally, Gershom's ban was limited in time to the year 1260", and a man "could marry more than one wife if he obtained the special permission of 100 rabbis in 3 countries". From faqs.org
143. Penal Law Amendment (Bigamy) Law, 5719-1959.
144. Shifman, P. (29 December 1978). "The English Law of Bigamy in a Multi-Confessional Society: The Israel Experience". The American Journal of Comparative Law. 26 (1): 79–89. doi:10.2307/839776. JSTOR 839776.
145. "Victims of polygamy", Haaretz
146. Eglash, Ruth (30 October 2008). "Israel 2008: State of Polygamy". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
147. Aburabia, Sarab. "Victims of polygamy". Haaretz. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
148. Polygamy's Practice Stirs Debate in Israel Archived 14 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
149. Navon, Emmanuel (16 March 2006). "Kosher Sex Without Marriage, a Jerusalem Post article that discusses Jacob Emden's and Tzvi Zohar's views". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
150. "Tzvi Zohar's comprehensive academic research on the subject, Akdamot Journal for Jewish Thought 17, 2003, Beit Morasha Press (in Hebrew)" (PDF). Retrieved 13 September 2011.
151. "Equality of Rights Between Men and Women". University of Minnesota Human Rights Library.
152. "OHCHR report" (PDF). Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
153. "Report of the Human Rights Committee" (PDF). United Nations General Assembly.
154. "GENERAL COMMENTS ADOPTED BY THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE UNDER ARTICLE 40, PARAGRAPH 4, OF THE INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS". United Nations Human Rights Website. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013.
155. "United Nations Treaty Collection".
156. "POLYGYNY AS A VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW". Department of Justice, Government of Canada. 11 July 2006.
157. "Canadian polygamists found guilty". BBC News. 25 July 2017 – via www.bbc.com.
158. "Family Code of the Russian Federation, Articles 12 & 14" (in Russian). Retrieved 6 August 2012.
159. "Family Code of the Russian Federation, Article 158" (in Russian). Retrieved 6 August 2012.
160. Neither bigamy, nor polygamy, nor cohabitation is listed as a crime or offence in the Criminal Code of Russia or the Offences Code of Russia
161. "Russians beating demographics with polygamy". RT. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
162. Mira Katbamna (26 October 2009). "Half a good man is better than none at all". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
163. reporter, Daily Express (31 July 2012). "Polygamous marriage not legal in UK".
164. "Get a divorce - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk.
165. James Plaskitt (20 February 2008). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 755W.
166. "House of Commons Library Briefing Paper Number 05051: Polygamy" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 6 January 2016.
167. Mehta, Ankita. "Website for Muslim men to find second wife sparks outrage in UK; campaigners demand ban on the site". International Business Times, India Edition. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
168. ACLU of Utah to Join Polygamists in Bigamy Fight, 16 July 1999 press release.
169. "Federal judge declared Utah polygamy law unconstitutional". The Salt Lake Tribune. 13 December 2013. ISSN 0746-3502.
170. Korol, Bruce (2009). "Polygamy is a (al)right". Arts & Opinion. 8 (3). Reprinted by Wendy McElroy at wendymcelroy.com
171. Keenan, Jillian (15 April 2013). "Legalize Polygamy! No. I am not kidding". Slate.
172. ROWER, ALYSSA (29 December 2017). "The Legality of Polygamy: Using the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment". Family Law Quarterly. 38 (3): 711–731. JSTOR 25740483.
173. "Are Anti-Polygamy Laws an Unconstitutional Infringement on the Liberty Interests of Consenting Adults?" Samantha Slark, Journal of Law & Family Studies No. 6 (2004), p. 451-60.
174. "Polygamy laws expose our own hypocrisy". Jonathan Turley, USA Today (3 March 2004)
175. "Polygamy vs. Democracy". The Weekly Standard. Published: 5 June 2006.
176. "Carrick v. Snyder et al". Justia Dockets & Filings.
177. Oralandar Brand-Williams, The Detroit News (13 January 2015). "Minister sues Mich. for right to marry same-sex couples". The Detroit News.

Bibliography

• Boserup, Ester (1997), "The economics of polygamy", in Grinker, Roy Richard; Steiner, Christopher B. (eds.), Perspectives on Africa: a reader in culture, history, and representation, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, pp. 506–517, ISBN 9781557866868.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Cairncross, John (1974). After Polygamy Was Made a Sin: The Social History of Christian Polygamy. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
• Chapman, Samuel A. (2001). Polygamy, Bigamy and Human Rights Law. Xlibris Corp. ISBN 978-1-4010-1244-1.
• Hillman, Eugene (1975). Polygamy Reconsidered: African Plural Marriage and the Christian Churches. New York: Orbis Books. ISBN 978-0-88344-391-0.
• Korotayev, Andrey (2004). World Religions and Social Evolution of the Old World Oikumene Civilizations: A Cross-cultural Perspective (First ed.). Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0-7734-6310-3.
• Van Wagoner, Richard S. (1992). Mormon Polygamy: A History (2nd ed.). Utah: Signature Books. ISBN 978-0-941214-79-7.
• Wilson, E. O. (2000). Sociobiology: The New Synthesis. Harvard Univ Pr. ISBN 978-0-674-00235-7.

External links

• History of Polygamy in Judaism
• "LIFE with Polygamists", 1944—slideshow by Life
• 5 Things I Learned as a Mormon Polygamous Wife