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bigamy |
Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Legal, Hutchinson | 0.15 sec. |
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bigamy (bĭ`gəmē), crime of marrying during the continuance of a lawful marriage. Bigamy is not committed if a prior marriage has been terminated by a divorce divorce, partial or total dissolution of a marriage by the judgment of a court. Partial dissolution is a divorce "from bed and board," a decree of judicial separation , leaving the parties officially married while forbidding cohabitation. ..... Click the link for more information. or a decree of nullity of marriage nullity of marriage, in law, an unlawful marriage that is either void or voidable because of conditions existing at the time of the marriage. A bigamous or incestuous marriage, for example, is void, and there is no need to bring a suit to obtain a decree declaring it ..... Click the link for more information. . In the United States if a husband or wife is absent and unheard of for seven (or in some states five) years and not known to be alive, he or she is presumed dead, and remarriage by the other spouse is not bigamous. It is not necessarily a defense to a charge of bigamy that the offending party believed in good faith that he was divorced or that his previous marriage was not lawful. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1878 that plurality of wives (polygamy), as originally permitted by the Mormon religion, violated criminal law and was not defensible as an exercise of religious liberty. The Latter-day Saints renounced polygamy in 1890, but the practice has persisted among some, although it has been rarely prosecuted. bigamy the crime of marrying a person while one is still legally married to someone else How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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He's such a phony,'' said Lea, whose marriage to Neven was annulled on June 21 on grounds it was a bigamous union. The most frequently cited is the proposition that, if states allow gays to marry, the definition of marriage itself will be altered beyond recognition, and all types of "marriages" would have to be recognized, including bigamous marriages, incestuous marriages, and marriages between humans and animals. So Leah and Rachel, the wives of a disturbingly bigamous Jacob, prefigure Martha and Mary, who ministered to Jesus and became in turn figures for the active and contemplative lives of Christians to this day. |
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