polygamy
Polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse at the same time. Polygamy as a crime originated in the common law , and it is now outlawed in every state. In the United States, polygamy was declared unlawful through the passing of Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882.
In Murphy v. Ramsey, 114 U.S. 15 , the Supreme Court held that polygamist means “every person who has a husband or wife living, who, in a territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction , hereafter marries another, whether married or single, and any man who hereafter simultaneously or on the same day marries more than one woman, in a territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction.”
As a crime, polygamy is often synonymous with bigamy (marrying one spouse while already being married to another).
[Last reviewed in March of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team ]
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