3 Polygamy in England: Tracing Legal Developments
Year: 2023
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: This chapter starts to build a contextualised account of the law around polygamous marriage to uncover the forces that shape and frame the law and its effects on people in these marriages. The focus of this chapter is the law around polygamous marriages celebrated in England between individuals who are domiciled and/or living in England. The chapter adds to existing work on domestic polygamy by thinking through the wider contextual issues and dominant discourses in the law that need to be disrupted to better meet the needs of people in polygamous marriages. Stretching back to before European colonising processes, the presence of polygamous communities in ancient Britain are explored. Following this, the chapter is organised around a series of key legal moments in English matrimonial law, including the Bigamy Act 1604; the Clandestine Marriages Act 1753 and the Marriage Act 1836. It is argued that Anglican Christianity dominates English marriage law, which is intertwined with coloniality to make the law indifferent to polygamy. Thus, the law ignores marriage ceremonies and relationships that do not conform to Anglican Christian monogamous ideals.
Source: Bristol University Press eBooks
Author: Zainab Batul Naqvi
Language: English
Topic: Marriage and Family Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4317860910