Practicing Polygamy: Multicultural Right Or Liberal Crime?
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Law Reform in the Muslim World: a Comparative Study of the Practice and Legal Framework of Polygamy in Selected Jurisdictions
International Journal of Business & Law Research 2(3):32-44, September 2014 © SEAHI PUBLICATIONS, 2014 www.seahipaj.org ISSN: 2360-8986 LAW REFORM IN THE MUSLIM WORLD: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PRACTICE AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF POLYGAMY IN SELECTED JURISDICTIONS YELWA, Isa Mansur Ph. D Researcher, Postgraduate & Research, Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University, 53100, Jln Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia H/P +60166194962 (Malaysia) +2348068036959 (Nigeria) Email of corresponding author: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper studies the framework of family law in general and of polygamy in particular in the various jurisdictions around the Muslim world. The chronicles in the application of Islamic law in relation to polygamy in those jurisdictions are comparatively analyzed based on historical developments of their legal systems on the application of Islamic law and reforms that were introduced therein to suit the needs and challenges of legal dynamism based on suitability with the people, place and time. Jurisdictions within the sphere of the study are categorized into three, namely: 1. Jurisdictions where polygamy is practiced without regulation; 2. Jurisdictions where polygamy is outlawed; and 3. Jurisdictions where polygamy is practiced under a regulated framework. For each category, a number of relevant jurisdictions are selected for study. The legal framework on polygamy in the selected jurisdictions is briefly elaborated with precision based on the applicable statutory and judicial authorities available. The social set up of the people involved in polygamy in some jurisdictions is illustrated where needed in order to unveil the legal challenges in them. For each jurisdiction, the study examines the law that applied before, subsequent reforms that were brought into them and the contemporary applicable law and its challenges if any. -
Marriage, Free Exercise, and the Constitution
Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality Volume 26 Issue 1 Article 2 June 2008 Marriage, Free Exercise, and the Constitution Mark Strasser Follow this and additional works at: https://lawandinequality.org/ Recommended Citation Mark Strasser, Marriage, Free Exercise, and the Constitution, 26(1) LAW & INEQ. 59 (2008). Available at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/lawineq/vol26/iss1/2 Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality is published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. Marriage, Free Exercise, and the Constitution Mark Strassert Introduction Same-sex marriage opponents frequently suggest that if same-sex unions are constitutionally protected, then polygamous unions must also be protected, as if no more must be said to establish that neither should be recognized. 1 Yet, this reductio ad absurdum fails for two distinct reasons. First, even were it constitutionally permissible for states to ban polygamous relationships, that hardly would establish that same-sex unions could also be prohibited, since the kinds of reasons that tend to be accepted as justifications for polygamy bans have little or no force in the same-sex marriage context. 2 Second, the case establishing the permissibility of polygamy bans is not nearly as obvious or strong as its opponents imply. Indeed, a strong case can be made 3 for the proposition that polygamy is constitutionally protected. Part I of this Article briefly discusses the oft-made claim that if same-sex marriages are constitutionally protected, then plural marriages must also be protected. This Part suggests that although that argument is false because the two are distinguishable in constitutionally significant ways, a good argument can be made for the proposition that both same-sex marriage and plural marriage are constitutionally protected. -
Lessons from Islamic Polygamy: a Case for Expanding the American Concept of Surviving Spouse So As to Include De Facto Polygamous Spouses
Lessons from Islamic Polygamy: A Case for Expanding the American Concept of Surviving Spouse So As to Include De Facto Polygamous Spouses Michèle Alexandre∗ Abstract While polygamy is illegal in the United States, forms of it are still practiced either overtly, pursuant to religious traditions, or covertly, by the maintenance of two or more family units. As a result, any claims, disputes, or abuses that arise in the context of de facto polygamous unions remain irremediable. My focus, in this Article, is not to advocate that polygamy should be legally recognized. Nor is it my purpose to debate the viability or morality of polygamy. Instead, I am concerned with affording legal remedies for vulnerable individuals living and operating in de facto polygamous unions. In light of the thousands of individuals living in some form of multi-party unions, I propose that it is imperative to construct adequate legal options and remedies for the parties involved in these unions. In this Article, I evaluate how a women-centric interpretation of the Qur’anic treatment of Islamic polygamy might help us assess how to best protect American women involved in de facto polygamous unions. In addition, I advocate that a redefinition of the concept of the surviving spouse in American estate distribution will help to legally protect de facto spouses in the inheritance context. Finally, I further propose that the common law marriage doctrine be used to help prove the existence of de facto polygamous unions. ∗ B.A., Colgate University; J.D., Harvard Law School. Michèle Alexandre is an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Memphis Cecil C. -
The Positive Effects of Legalizing Polygamy: “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing”
03_DUNCAN.DOC 11/10/2008 11:56:21 AM THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF LEGALIZING POLYGAMY: “LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING” EMILY J. DUNCAN* INTRODUCTION Long thought to be a hidden, rare, and cultish phenomenon, polygyny is in fact practiced by an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 people in North America.1 It has recently been the focus of an FBI “Most Wanted” national manhunt, a raid in a small Texas town, an issue in political elections, and even the subject of a hit TV show “Big Love.” Although “polygamy” is defined as “the state or practice of having more than one spouse simultaneously,”2 most polygamists in the United States engage in “polygyny,” or, “the condition or practice of having more than one wife at the same time.”3 Polygynists4 in the United States are generally Mormon fundamentalists who believe they are “the true keepers of the faith.”5 Though formally excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“LDS”), fundamentalists continue to follow its founder Joseph Smith’s belief, known as “the principle” or “the marriage revelation,” that “a man need[s] at least three wives to attain the ‘fullness of exaltation’ in the afterlife.”6 More specifically, women “sealed with men for eternity” grant men the ability to reach the third and highest level of heaven where they become gods.7 There is no reliable census data on the number of polygynists living in the United States,8 but it is believed that thirty to fifty thousand fundamentalist Mormons live in polygynist families and communities in the western U.S. -
Polygamy After Windsor: What's Religion Got to Do With
\\jciprod01\productn\H\HLP\9-2\HLP206.txt unknown Seq: 1 21-JUL-15 15:23 Polygamy After Windsor: What’s Religion Got to Do with It? Casey E. Faucon* Ever since the 1878 case, Reynolds v. United States, polygamists have argued that their plural marriage practices are protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. After Lawrence v. Texas, polygamists added substantive Due Pro- cess arguments under the Fourteenth Amendment’s “intimacy privacy” interpretation to their arsenal. This article argues that in order for polygamists to find constitu- tional protection and recognition, they must shed their arguments founded in relig- ion and rely instead on substantive Due Process. Although First Amendment jurisprudence would subject polygamy bans to a higher level of scrutiny, this height- ened protection comes at a cost. The landmark same-sex marriage case, United States v. Windsor, and the opinion’s protected liberty interest of “equal dignity” provides polygamy advocates with substantive grounds to protect their plural mar- riage practices, as well as pave the way for recognition of “intimate pluralism” and alternative relationship forms like polyamory and group marriage. I. INTRODUCTION The legal tide is beginning to shift in favor of polygamists in America. On December 13, 2013, the Utah federal district court struck a prong of Utah’s criminal anti-polygamy statute as being unconstitutional in violation of the polygamous family’s First Amendment and substantive Due Process rights.1 The family members at the heart of Brown v. Buhman -
Gebremeskel Hailu Tesfay Abstract a Variety of Researches Conducted In
HARAMAYA LAW REVIEW Vol. 6 (2017) ISSN: 2227-2178 (P) & 2305-3739 (E) To cite this note: Gebremeskel Hailu Tesfay, Note on The Adverse Effects of Polygamy on the Rights of Women: A Case Study in Gedeo and Sidama Zones, HARAMAYA LAW REVIEW 6 (2017): 91-110 ____________________ NOTE ON: THE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF POLYGAMY ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN: A CASE STUDY IN GEDEO AND SIDAMA ZONES Gebremeskel Hailu Tesfay Abstract A variety of researches conducted in diverse contexts of Ethiopia found that polygamy type of family relationship hinders the realization of the rights of women in many respects. This research inquires whether the polygamous life style practiced in Gedeo and Sidama Zones adversely affects the rights of women in the same way. To deal with this question, the research has reviewed the legal status of polygamy under the international human rights instruments ratified by Ethiopia and the Ethiopian legal system. It also scrutinizes how polygamous marriages affect the rights of women in Gedeo and Sidama Zones using interview and focus group discussions. The study finds that while the prohibition against polygamy is presumed in the constitutional provisions, there is leniency in the subsidiary laws in Ethiopia. This practice is found to affect the social, economic, and civil rights of women in the study areas. Based on these findings, this article recommends that the Federal and SNNPR governments should revisit their respective laws to outlaw polygamy. Besides, to enhance voluntary compliance of the laws, educational campaigns have to be conducted revealing the adverse effects of polygamy on women and the society as a whole. -
The Case for Polygamous Marriage After United States V
University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Law Faculty Publications School of Law 2015 "I Now Pronounce You Husband and Wives": The Case for Polygamous Marriage after United States v. Windsor and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Peter N. Swisher University of Richmond, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/law-faculty-publications Part of the Family Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, and the Religion Law Commons Recommended Citation Peter N. Swisher, "I Now Pronounce You Husband and Wives": The Case for Polygamous Marriage after United States v. Windsor and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, BYU J. Pub. L. (2015). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Law Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "I Now Pronounce You Husband and Wives": The Case for Polygamous Marriage after United States v. Windsor and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores PeterNash Swisher * "Unconventional [marital] relationships between men and women are now at least tolerated. We hear of.... homosexual marriages, new types of marriagesare now advocated, and the institution of marriage,as well as the conduct of married persons, is being subjected to fewer legal restraints. The Victorian Age of [Chief Justicel Morrison Waite [who wrote Reynolds v. United States in 1876] is far behind us... " "Marriageis both a private and public institution.Although it involves an individual's deeply personal decision to make a lifelong commitment to another, states place strictures on who has the right to marry and confir benefits and obligations on married individuals. -
Polygamy After Windsor: What's Religion Got to Do with It General Essays
Alabama Law Scholarly Commons Essays, Reviews, and Shorter Works Faculty Scholarship 2015 Polygamy after Windsor: What's Religion Got to Do with It General Essays Casey E. Faucon University of Alabama - School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_essays Recommended Citation Casey E. Faucon, Polygamy after Windsor: What's Religion Got to Do with It General Essays, 9 Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 471 (2015). Available at: https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_essays/15 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at Alabama Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Essays, Reviews, and Shorter Works by an authorized administrator of Alabama Law Scholarly Commons. Polygamy After Windsor: What's Religion Got to Do with It? Casey E. Faucon* Ever since the 1878 case, Reynolds v. United States, polygamists have argued that their plural marriage practices are protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the FirstAmendment. After Lawrence v. Texas, polygamists added substantive Due Pro- cess arguments under the FourteenthAmendment's "intimacy privacy" interpretation to their arsenal. This article argues that in orderfor polygamists to find constitu- tional protection and recognition, they must shed their argumentsfounded in relig- ion and rely instead on substantive Due Process. Although First Amendment jurisprudencewould subject polygamy bans to a higher level of scrutiny, this height- ened protection comes at a cost. The landmark same-sex marriage case, United States v. Windsor, and the opinion's protected liberty interest of "equal dignity" provides polygamy advocates with substantive grounds to protect their plural mar- riagepractices, as well as pave the way for recognitionof "intimate pluralism" and alternative relationshipforms like polyamory and group marriage. -
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Swann, Adam (2014) 'Nature’s coyn must not be hoorded': Milton and the economics of salvation, 1634-1674. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4823/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] ‘Nature’s coyn must not be hoorded’: Milton and the Economics of Salvation, 1634-1674 Adam Swann Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in English Literature School of Critical Studies College of Arts University of Glasgow January 2014 2 Abstract Milton’s use of economic tropes has attracted very little critical attention, and the connections between economics and theology in his thought have not yet been explored. Blair Hoxby’s Mammon’s Music: Literature and Economics in the Age of Milton (2002) focuses on the influence of economic ideas on Milton’s political thought, arguing that the poet persistently associates trade monopolies with autocratic abuses of monarchical power. David Hawkes places Milton’s lifelong professional usury at the centre of his 2009 biography, John Milton: A Hero of Our Time, and his 2011 essay, ‘Milton and Usury,’ fruitfully reads key passages from Paradise Lost in relation to contemporary tracts on usury. -
Immigration Law's Gendered Impact
EICHENBERGER IN PRINTER PROOF (DO NOT DELETE) 2/21/2012 4:30 PM WHEN FOR BETTER IS FOR WORSE: IMMIGRATION LAW’S GENDERED IMPACT ON FOREIGN POLYGAMOUS MARRIAGE SARAH L. EICHENBERGER† ABSTRACT The United States has banned polygamous immigrants since the late nineteenth century. Enacted amid isolationist fears that an influx of polygamists would cause moral deterioration, the polygamy bar remains a resolute, if often overlooked, feature of modern immigration law. The current immigration scheme continues this tradition, rendering immigrants who intend to practice polygamy in the United States categorically ineligible for legal-permanent-resident status. As a result, the immigration bar allows polygamous men to immigrate with a wife of their choosing and the children from each of their marriages. Their other wives, however, are deemed inadmissible to the United States. This Note explores the immigration bar’s disproportionate effect on the foreign wives of polygamous immigrants. In addition to precluding the other wives of polygamous immigrants from legal- permanent-resident status, the current immigration bar also renders such women ineligible for humanitarian ingress. After offering a comparative analysis of how Canada and the United Kingdom reconcile their respective policies against polygamy with the burgeoning question of women’s rights, this Note proposes that Congress likewise treat foreign women in polygamous unions with a degree of equity. Copyright © 2012 by Sarah L. Eichenberger. † Duke University School of Law, J.D. expected May 2012; Dartmouth College, B.A. 2007. I remain indebted to the friends and family who offered both levity and encouragement throughout the publication process. I thank my parents for their enduring support and for instilling in me a love of learning. -
Plural Marriage: When One Spouse Is Not Enough
PLURAL MARRIAGE: WHEN ONE SPOUSE IS NOT ENOUGH BY JOHN O. HAYWARD* And he [Solomon] had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; - 1 KINGS 11:31 INTRODUCTION Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage na- tionwide,2 the only remaining marital frontier–at least for the Judeo- Christian nations of the West–is polygamy, or “plural marriage” as it is known under its sanitized name.3 This Article presents a brief history of polygamy, reviews how the courts have responded to legal challenges to monogamous marriage, and examines how the rationale in Obergefell le- galizing same-sex marriage, including its constitutional analysis, can be applied to plural marriage.4 It also references Brown v. Buhman, a federal district court case invalidating the cohabitation prong of Utah’s anti- polygamy statute that was subsequently vacated and remanded,5 and con- cludes with the argument that while same-sex marriage merely extended *J.D.& A.B., Boston Univ., M.P.A., Harvard Univ. Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Bentley Univ., Waltham, MA. 1 1 Kings 11:3 (King James). 2 Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015) (holding 5-4 that under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, all states must license a marriage between two people of the same sex and recognize such a marriage if it was lawfully licensed and performed in another state). 3 See generally Peter Nash Swisher, “I Now Pronounce You Husband and Wives”: The Case for Polygamous Marriage after United States v. Windsor and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, 29 BYU J. -
Women and Polygamy
POLYGAMY; BETWEEN CONCEPT AND REALITY FOR WOMEN JAMILAH Dosen Luar Biasa fakultas Humaniora dan Budaya UIN Malang Abstrak Konsepsi tentang perempuan adalah salah satu isu yang paling sering dibicarakan khususnya diantara berbagai konsepsi sosial yang ada. Salah satu isu yang berkaitan dengan perempuan yang sering dibahas adalah poligami yang menimbulkan berbagai respon yang berbeda dari berbagai pihak dalam menyikapi isu tersebut. Perdebatan panjang tentang praktek poligami di masyarakat berdasar pada legalitas poligami dan dampaknya terhadap perempuan. Praktek poligami juga menarik perhatian banyak kalangan terutama ketika terjadi pro dan kontra. Bagi kelompok yang berpihak pada praktek poligami selalu berusaha mengemas alasan klise untuk mendukung argumen mereka. Sebaliknya, bagi kelompok yang menyuarakan isu-isu gender dan perempuan terus membangun argumen yang berusaha membuktikan bahwa poligami berpeluang untuk memberikan dampak yang negatif bagi perempuan. Terlepas dari kedua kutub tersebut, poligami merupakan suatu isu yang terus mengabadi sebagai wacana yang bersifat polemis yang nampaknya tidak mudah untuk berujung pada suatu kesepakatan dalam tataran konsep dan realitas. A. Introduction Polygamy is an ancient practice found in the annals of history for a diverse spectrum of civilizations. For the Muslim world, this type of marriage is an important issue. It is crucial because of its impact on women, socially and psychologically, has stirred much debate by academics concerned with gender issues. Of all the issues canvassed in this paper, it is the one that has aroused the greatest depth of feeling among women in particular areas where woman has exclusively experienced it. It is considered as a complex issue which touches many aspects of life i.e emotional, moral, sexual, legal and religious aspects 1 of marriage.