Bigamy

2 The offense of having two husbands or wives at the same time, the one dejure and the other defacto.^ Strictly speaking, bigamy means "twice married," as its derivation shows. This was never an offense at common law; it was made an offense by the canonists. Polygamy is the proper term; but, by long usage, bigamy has come to mean the state of a man who has two wives, or a woman who has two husbands, at the same time.* Whence bigamist (not a legal term), and bigamous. The penalties of the offense are not incurred where one of a married couple has been absent and unheard of for a long period, as five to seven years, and the other party marries; nor, in some States, where one is sentenced to imprisonment for a long term, as for life; nor where there has been a legal dissolution of the relation for a cause not involving guilt, as for a contract made within the age of consent.' The first wife is not admitted as a witness against her husband, because she is the true wife: but the sec- 1 Graffam v. Burgess, 117 U. S. 191-93 (1886), cases, Bradley, J. See also Vass v. Arrington, 89 N. 0. 13 <1883) — ten per cent, rule; Hansucker v. Walker, 70 Va. 763 (1882); Langyhec v. Patterson, 77 id. 470 (ISSJ); Central Pacific K. Co. v. Creed, 70 Cal. 501 (1886); Babcock V. Canfield, 88 Kan. 439 (1887). 2L. L. bigamia: bi for Gk. di, double; gamia, for Gk. gdmos, marriage. Gk. di'samia,

— Skeat. s 1 Bishop, Mar. & Div. § 296. < Gise V. Commonwealth, 81 Pa. 482, 430 (1876), Paxson, J. See also 4 Bl. Com. 163; 2 Steph. Hist. Cr. L. ond wife, so called, may be, for she is not a wife at all; and so, vice verm, as to the second husband, so called.' The first marriage may be proved by the admissions of the prisoner.'* In a criminal prosecution strict proof of an actual marriage is necessary; but in a civil suit an admission, or reputation and cohabitation, suf Boes.' The act of Congress of July 1, 1862, isrovided that every person having a husband or wife living, who married another, whether married or single, in a Territory, or other place ov^r which the United States had exclusive jurisdiction, was guilty of bigamy — And should be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five years.* That act was amended by act of March 23, 1882, to read as follows: Section 1. "Every person who has a husband or wife living who, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, hereafter mari'ies another, whether married or single, and any man who hereafter simultaneously, or on the same day, marries more than one woman, in a Territory or other place over which the United States have exclusive jurisdiction, is guilty of polygamy, and shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; but this section [R. S. § 5352, as amended] shall not extend to any person by reason of any former marriage whose husband or wife by such marriage shall have been absent for five years, and is not known to such person to be living, and is believed by such person to be dead, not to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been dissolved by a valid decree of a competent court, nor to any person by reason of any former marriage which shall have been pronounced void by a valid decree of a competent court, on the ground of nulhtj of the marriage contract." Sec. 2. If any male person cohabits with more than one woman, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and by imprisonment for not more than six months, or by both. Sec. 5. Cause for challenge of a jm-or is: living or having lived in the practice of bigamy, polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation with more than one woman; or believmg in the practice of bigamy, polygamy, etc... An answer shall not be given in evidence in any criminal prosecution under the act. Declining to answer as a witness renders the person incompetent. Sec. 6. The President may grant amnesty for offenses committed before the passage of the act. Sec. 7. The issue of Mormon marriages, born before January 1, 1883, ai-e legitimated. ' 1 4 Bl. Com. 164. 2 Miles V. United States, 103 U. S. 304, 311 (1880), cases. » The Gaines Cases, 24 How. 605 (1860); 13 id. 472; 6 id. 597; States. Johnson, 12 Minn. 476 (1867), cases: 93 Am. Deo. 241, 251-57, cases; 63 Pa. 132; 14 Tex. 468, 471; 2 See. 8. " No polygamist, bigamist, or any person cohabiting with more than one woman, and no woman cohabiting with any of the persons described as aforesaid.. shall be- entitled to vote at any election.. or be eligible for election or appointment to or be entitled to hold any oi Hce or place of public trust, honor, or emolument in, under, or for any such Territory or place, or under the United States." Sec. 9. Declares all registration and election offices vacant, and provides for their being filled by a board of five persons, appointed by the President, until provision be made by the legislative assembly of tbe Territory as further directed by this section.^ Any man is a polygamist or bigamist, within the meaning of the last recited act, who having previously married one wife, still living, and having another at the time when he presents himself to claim registration as a voter, still maintains that relation to a plurality of wives, although from March 22, 1882, until the day he offers to register, he may not in fact have cohabited with more than one woman... The crime, under the acts of Congress, consists in entering into a bigamous or polygamous miarriage, and is complete when the relation begins. ^ See Religion. The offense of cohabiting with more than one woman, created by § 8 of the act of March 22, 1882, is committed by a man who lives in the same house with two women, and eats at tbeir tables one-third of his time, or thereabouts, and holds them out to the world, by his language or conduct, as his wives. It is not necessary that he and the women, or either of them, shall sleep together. ^ See Cohabit, 2. The uniform current of authority is, that for the purposes of prosecution the offense of bigamy or polygamy can be committed but once prior to the time the prosecution is instituted.* See further Act of March 3, 1888, under-PoLYOAMY. > 22 St. L. 30-32. See 116 tl. S. 66-S7; US id. 350. 2 Murphy v. Eamsey, 114 U. S. 15, 36, 41 (1885), Matthews, J. Approved, 116 id. 72, infra. s Cannon v. United States, 116 U. S. 55 (1885), Blatchford, J. Afterward, May 10, 1886, the court decided that it had no jurisdiction under the writ of error in the case, as see 118 U. S. 854-55. *Mxp. Snow, 120 U. S. 274, 281-86 (1887), cases, Blatchford, J. Snow was convicted of polygamy upon three indictments, exactly alike except that they covered different periods of time, and three sentences were imposed. He complied with the first sentence — paid a fine of $300, and remained in prison six months; and then demanded his release, claiming that his offense had been a continuing one, and that he could not be punished more than once for it. The Supreme Court held that under the theory of the lower court Snow might have been punished under an indictment en-