Religion and Law about non-monogamous relationships

• The Code of Hammurabi
  The ability to take a second wife was restricted in some ways. A man could have children by a female slave, but she thereby gained certain rights and protections.
• Judaism
  • Bible (old testament)
    • Genesis 4: Lamech took two wives
    • Genesis 28: Esau takes an additional wife, Mahalath
    • Genesis 29: Jacob, Leah, and Rachel
    • Genesis 30: Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah
    • Genesis 36: Esau takes two more Canaanite wives
    • Deuteronomy 17: A king of Israel shall not "multiply wives unto himself"
      A law more often breached than observed.
    • Deuteronomy 21: inheritance law when a man has two wives
    • Judges 8: Gideon had many wives
    • I Samuel 1: Elkanah and his wives Hannah & Peninnah
    • I Samuel 25: David takes Abigail and Ahinoam as wives
    • II Samuel 5: David takes further wives and concubines
    • II Samuel 11: David gets Bathsheba pregnant, has her husband Uriah killed, and marries her
    • I Kings 11: Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines
    • I Kings 20: Implies King Ahab had multiple wives
    • II Kings 24: King Jehoiachin had multiple wives
    • I Chronicles 2: a lot of begatting via multiple wives
    • I Chronicles 4: Ashur had two wives, Helah and Naarah
    • I Chronicles 8: Shaharaim had two wives, Hushim and Baara
    • I Chronicles 14: David takes more wive at Jerusalem
    • II Chronicles 11: Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines
    • II Chronicles 13: Abijah marries 14 wives
    • II Chronicles 21: King Jehoram had multiple wives
    • II Chronicles 24: Jehoiada had two wives
    • Daniel 5: King Belshazzar had wives and concubines
  • Bigamy and Polygamy in Jewish Law
  • Polygamy in Jewish History
  • soc.culture.jewish FAQ section on polygamy
    If you read the details in the preceding two references, you'll see that this FAQ's section on polygamy is approximately correct, but overly simplistic.
  • Emes l'Yaakov - an Orthodox Jewish pro-polygamy page
  • What about Abraham's Polygamy?
• Christianity
  • Bible (new testament)
  • Catholicism
    • Pope Leo XIII, "Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae" (1880)
    • Pope Pius XI, "Casti connubii" (1930)
      "it is clear that legitimately constituted authority has the right and therefore the duty to restrict, to prevent, and to punish those base unions which are opposed to reason and to nature. ... Nor did Christ Our Lord wish only to condemn any form of polygamy or polyandry, as they are called, whether successive or simultaneous, and every other external dishonorable act, but, in order that the sacred bonds of marriage may be guarded absolutely inviolate, He forbade also even willful thoughts and desires of such like things"
  • Lutheranism
    • Luther's letter to Melanchthon (1 August 1521), "Let Your Sins Be Strong", includes these comments which could be construed to apply to poly marriage as well as marriage of priests: "So also the violence of persecution separates men and women, which God forbids to separate, neither do they agree to be separated. Therefore, neither do godfearing hearts agree that they should be robbed ... There HE does not demand it, and here the tyrant oppresses."
    • Article XXIII: Of the Marriage of Priests in Luther's The Augsburg Confession (1530) gives Luther's general reasoning about marriage among priests.
    • Despite the fact that Luther himself said that he could not prohibit polygamy on scriptural grounds, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod defines marriage as "the lifelong union of one man and one woman entered into by mutual consent". However, they also say that "The essence of marriage does not consist in legal requirements nor in ecclesiastical ceremonies. ... Not the pronouncement of a minister but the consent of the partners belongs to the essence of marriage." Amen to that!
  • Mormonism
    • Article about "Aunt Jenny" Larson, who "helps women and girls escape polygamous sect of Mormon fundamentalists".
    • Chapter 15 of Travels With Samantha discusses polygamy in Utah.
    • Mormon Fundamentalism and Violence: A Historical Analysis by Garn LeBaron Jr.
    • Utah Centennial 1896-1996
    • LDS Leaders, Their Ethics and Lying for the Lord
    • Max Bertola's The Polygamy Story
      • Charles C. Rich house
      • Bill Hickman Cabin
      • The John Gardiner Cabin
      • Brigham Young: The Man
    • Temple Ritual Altered includes a discussion of the "revelation" that polygamy was wrong.
    • See also the Mormon polygamy booklist
• Islam
  • Quran (in English)
  • relevant excerpts from the Quran
  • Women and Islam by Lahoucine Ouzgane
  • Who Practices Polygamy? by The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E)
  • Islam FAQ: Part 7: Women In Islam
  • Sayings of Imam Ali
    "123. Jealousy in woman is unpardonable but in man it is a sign of his faith in religion (because Islam has permitted polygamy and prohibited polyandry)."
  • Articles on Women In Islam
  • Jamal Badawi, Gender Equity in Islam
• Buddhism
  • Dewaraja/The position of women in Buddhism(.zip)
  • Buddhism Virtual Library at ANU Canberra
• Hinduism
• Discordianism
  

The Law

• Sex Laws of many countries
• The Establishment Clause: Public Policy gives legal arguments for why the government was justified in prohibiting polygamy in Utah.
• one man's opinion of when the government is justified in constraining liberty, which mentions polygamy as an example. May be a letter to the Boston Review.
• Lesbian couple leads fight for right to marry, Article by Carol Ness, S.F. Examiner
• Laws of various jurisdictions
  • Australia - a "union in the nature of a marriage", entered into outside Australia, is deemed to be a marriage.
  • European Union - Resolution A3-0028/94 approved on 8 Feb 1994 invited European countries "to promulgate legislation extending the equal application of the right to marriage, adoption and foster-parenting laws to same-sex families". However, there was much resistance to this idea; for example in the City of Verona.
  • Iran, Mauritania, and Yemen have the death penalty for homosexuality, so if there's poly there it had better be strictly het. [Washington Blade, 17 March 1995]
  • Thailand - An essay on Bangkok prostitution says that "Polygamy and prostitution have long been a privilege of Thai men".
  • United States
    • Alaska - "unlawful marrying" is a class A misdemeanor (Title 11 ch. 51 sec. 140)
    • California - Bigamy is punishable by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison.
    • Florida - bigamy is a felony of the third degree, regardless of whether all parties desire it or not.
    • Georgia - bigamy is punishable by 1 to 10 years imprisonment, regardless of whether all parties desire it or not.
    • Indiana - bigamy is a class D felony (Section 35-46-1-2).
    • Kansas - bigamy is a class E felony, regardless of whether all parties desire it or not. It is apparently legal to have been multiply married outside the state of Kansas, as long as you don't cohabit within Kansas.
    • Minnesota - bigamy will get you "imprisonment for not more than five years" or "payment of a fine of not more than $10,000", or both.
    • Missouri - bigamy is a class A misdemeanor.
    • New York - bigamy is a class E felony.
    • Texas Family Code only makes a second marriage void while the first marriage exists. But the Texas Penal Code not only considers multiple marriages void, but if you marry more than once, it is a Class A misdemeanor.
    • Utah - bigamy is a felony of the third degree. However, "Marriages solemnized in any other country, state or territory, if valid where solemnized, are valid here."
    • Washington - bigamy is a class C felony.
    • Wyoming - bigamy is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years, a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.