Polygamy

1.

The civil condition of having more wives than one; a social order permitting several wives.

2.

The ofience of marrying more than two wives or husbands, the previous spouses being alive and undivorced; plurality of marriages, as distinguished from bigamy in the sense of a double marriage.

8.

The offence committed by a layman in marrying while any previous wife is living and undivorced; as distinguished from bigamy in the sense of a breach of ecclesiastical law involved in any second marriage by a clerk. The above are presented as alternative definitions. All are not needed; the first is recommended. The choice will be made according as one is more influenced by the etymology of words, the history of their use, or the practical convenience of use at the present day. The history of the words involved favors the third of the above definitions. In early times, in England, the ecclesiastical law forbade a person in orders to many again, even after the death of a first wife; or to marry a widow. The offence, an ecclesiastical one only, of his doing so was called bigamy, q. v. The general civil law of the land also forbade that any man should marry while any previous wife was living and undivorced, Bometimes called bigamy; but, to distinguish it from the diiferent ecclesiastical breach, some authorities advised calling it polygamy.

See 4 Bl. Com. 164; 4 Steph. Com. 278, note.

It appears to be upon this principle that the statutes of Massachusetts employ the term polygamy, instead of bigamy. Etymology favors the second definition. Bigamy literally means a second marriage distinguished from a third or other; while polygamy means many marriages — implies more than two. But there are at the present day no reasons of practical convenience for adhering to either of these definitions. The distinctions they preserve are unimportant. The ecclesiastical offence is obsolete, or of no note in jurisprudence; and the offence of marrying a third or fourth or twentieth spouse while the first lives is in no respect different from that of marrying a second. But, so long as countries and governments exist in which men are under any conditions allowed to have more wives than one, there is need of a term for this civil condition, or peculiar social system, — a term which, though it may be charged with moral reprobation, does not import criminality; that is, violation of the local law. And there is equal need of a term in our own criminal law for the having more wives or husbands than one, considered as an offence. Practical considerations favor employing bigamy as the name of the offence, irrespective of how many marriages have been contracted; and polygamy, for the practice of plurality of wives, presented not as a crime, but as a condition locally recognized and allowed. Ponderantur testes, non numerantur. Witnesses are weighed, not counted. Witnesses are estimated by the weight or importance of their testimony, and not by their number. When there is conflicting evidence, the jury must determine the degree of credit to be given to each of the witnesses; for the testimony of one witness may In many cases be more trustworthy than opposing testimony of many. Tlie rule has been expressed, ponderantur testes, nan numerantur; but " testimonia" or " probationes" would be better than "testes," as it is clearly not