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Current Events » in reply to The Inconvenient Question, revisited

The crux of that argument is polygamy
Mary Anne — (archived)

And, truthfully, most of our contract law makes not a single contract among multiple parties, but a web of single contracts between them.

Polygamy presents two problems:

1. By "polygamy" in this country, we mean "polygyny" only (one husband, several wives), which has been used, and can be demonstrated to have been used, as a way to enforce inferior status on women, who are usually the domestic partners in such arrangements. If "polygamy" were understood to include, and did in fact include, "polyandry" (one wife, several husbands), I wonder if it would be such an issue.

2. The contract that we call "marriage" is between the two parties engaged in the arrangement, including care of children, ownership of property, and so forth. If one wants to include polygamy in the marriage definition, then the contract will have to include mutual contracts between and among existing spouses, to make sure that all the people in the household agree to the arrangement, and none is being subjected to a living arrangement to which they did not agree (a form of slavery). If marriage is extended to polygamy, the contractual agreements will need to be modified and extended as well, making universal agreement among all partners required each time a new spouse is brought into the marriage.

I suggest that, under such conditions, legal polygamy in a non-abusive situation will be quite rare, and divorce will be a nightmare for all concerned. Therefore, people in their right minds will not enter into such an arrangement, or if they do (addled by hormones), the drawbacks will soon become very publicly apparent. That will be deterrent enough for most people.

The polygynous Mormon sects might find that their domestic behavior would be, in fact, more closely regulated by such a change in the law than it is currently, when the law merely forbids them to marry multiple partners. The women in these situations would have more legal remedy, as contractual arrangements would be implied for those who enter into a polygamous marriage, if such law were enacted. That is, they could sue for their rights and not lose their home and income entirely.

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