Bigamy

In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other. In countries that have bigamy laws, consent from a prior spouse makes no difference to the legality of the second marriage, which is usually considered void.

History of anti-bigamy laws

Before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, Diocletian and Maximilian passed strict anti-polygamy laws in 285 AD that mandated monogamy as the only form of legal marital relationship, as had traditionally been the case in classical Greece and Rome. In 393, the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I issued an imperial edict to extend the ban on polygamy to Jewish communities. In 1000, Rabbi Gershom ben Judah ruled polygamy inadmissible within Ashkenazi Jewish communities, living in a Christian environment.

Polygamy

Polygamy (from Late Greek πολυγαμία, polygamia, "state of marriage to many spouses") involves marriage with more than one spouse. When a man is married to more than one wife at a time, it is called 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. 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 relationship is recognized by the state. In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.

Bigamy (film)

Bigamy (German:Bigamie) is a 1927 German silent drama film directed by Jaap Speyer and starring Heinrich George, Maria Jacobini and Anita Dorris.

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