Bigami

[kaktus]

Last night I saw a programme about bigami, they claimed that bigami happens twice a week in the UK. Is this true? I assume, that by bigami they mean people who remarries without being divorced from first spouse or at least that this is the most common form of bigami in the UK.

 

ps I can't figure out where to post this so it ended up here, if you guys can think of a better place for it, please report it.

[Octavius]

Polygamy is an anthropological term. A related legal term is bigamy, which refers to someone who has entered into any number of "secondary" marriages in addition to one legally-recognised marriage. Many countries have specific statutes outlawing bigamy, making any secondary marriage a crime. When a man with three wives is charged, for example, he is charged with two counts of bigamy, for the two "secondary" marriages after the first one.

Secular law in most western countries with large Jewish and Christian populations does not recognise polygamous marriages. However, few such countries have any laws against living a polygamous lifestyle: they simply refuse to give it any official recognition. Parts of the United States, however, criminalise even the polygamous lifestyle, which is unusual; these laws originated as anti-Mormon legislation, although they are rarely enforced.

It is possible that this happens twice a week in the uk, and 3 times on Sunday(!) but wouldn't know where to look to get the true facts.

[kaktus]

Thanks Octavius, I figured it would be difficult to answer. As another point it was an estimated guess that it happened twice a week, so I guess it actually is impossilbe to answer. I just think it quite a high number.

Sorry about the spelling mistakes, apparently my fingers were going for a little Danglish :0)

[Octavius]

I read on some site or other that there were more than 100 reported cases per year in Britain, so it's not far off.  Remember though that some cultures accept/expect it, although legally in the UK it is not recognised,

[kaktus]

wow! I reckon that some of those with more than more wife or husband must be because of other cultural beliefs, but I must admit I'm amazed :0)

Can I ask what your personal opinion on why this happens often is? One explanation I guess could be that some people simply don't bother to get a divorce?

In Denmark it is almost impossible to commit bigamy as we have a personal identity number and that prevents it.

[Octavius]

I don't think it is the "not bothering to get a divorce" as I doubt many people would agree to marrying someone where it would in fact be null and void.  in many cases (cultural beliefs aside) it is simply a matter of someone being duped.  Alot of people who commit this are quite often serial-bigamists, and I really can't explain the rationale behind that.  See here for real life stories:

 http://www.stopbigamy.co.uk/

[Octavius]

actually, in many cases serial bigamists will marry someone for their money which would explain it in some of the cases.  

[kaktus]

I agree with you on that the person marrying a bigamist is duped. What I mean by not being bothered to get a divorce is when the bigamist don't bother to get a divorce and obviously not tell that s/he hasn't been married before or don't tell that s/he actually isn't divorced. This of course rule out those who have two (or more) spouses at the same time and see them both.

Well I guess there are lots of reasons to why people would do it. I'm still a bit baffled :0)

Thanks a lot for your answers!!