Polygamy - a legally or customarily recognised marriage involving three or more people - is currently illegal in Australia. However, new research suggests a way to legalise the practice without disrupting the foundations of Australian marriage law.
Michail Ivanov, a PhD candidate in the University of Adelaide's School of Humanities, says that polygamy has been documented throughout history around the world, including in Australia.
"Polygamy has been demonstrated throughout Australia's history amongst certain Indigenous Australian communities and certain Muslim migrants," Ivanov explains.
"The normalisation of monogamy across most parts of the world has been influenced by labour, class, religion - particularly Christianity - and the inheritance and transfer of property."
Polygamy is illegal in Australia for two main reasons: bigamy laws prohibit marrying another person while already married, and the legal definition of marriage specifies it as 'the union of two people to the exclusion of all others.'
Ivanov's new study, published in The University of Queensland Law Journal, is the first of its kind to analyse the history of polygamy and the potential for its legalisation in the Australian context.
He proposes a model that would maintain marriage as a union between two individuals while allowing a person to enter multiple legal marriages. This, he suggests, would ensure the fundamental structure of Australian marriage law remains intact.
Rather than adopting polygyny, where a man has multiple wives, or polyandry, where a woman has multiple husbands, Ivanov suggests legalising polyanthropy - a form of polygamy in which individuals can have multiple spouses, regardless of sex or sexuality.
"This approach keeps marriage legally structured around couples while allowing a person to enter multiple marriages. It avoids unnecessary complications in divorce or property settlements and ensures all spouses have equal rights," Ivanov says.
Two possible configurations of polygamy. Figure 2 is described as preferred and proposed for legalisation in Australia by Michail Ivanov
Ivanov suggests the offence of bigamy be removed while maintaining legal penalties for misleading a potential spouse about one's marital status. He argues that his proposed model of polygamy would also not be influenced by religious laws.
"The practice of polygamy clashes with traditional Christian values, which have underpinned much of Australia's marriage laws. But in a country with no state religion, we should question how much weight we place on that factor," he says.
"If Australia were to legalise polygamy in the way I propose, it would be the first society to do so in a manner not led or motivated by religious beliefs."
Ivanov also distinguishes his model from religiously motivated polygyny, such as that permitted under Sharia law, where men can have multiple wives but women cannot have multiple husbands.
"I have proposed a model that maintains marriage as a relationship between two people but allows individuals to enter multiple marriages, with all spouses having equal rights," he explains.
"This removes the gender-based discrimination often associated with polygamous practices in other countries."
Ivanov says while there is no significant push for polygamous marriages in to be legalised in Australia, the research is still relevant to contemporary Australia.
"There are people who currently engage in marital arrangements that are monogamous on paper but are polygamous in practice - a sort of de facto polygamy," he says.
"It is a fascinating area of research and one which might garner more attention in the future."
Ivanov's research was conducted through historical analysis and considered what existing models of polygamy would be most appropriate in Australia. While Ivanov's research presents a legal framework for polygamy in Australia, he emphasises its preliminary nature, and that further study is required to understand the potential social effects.
"There needs to be more research into how polygamy would impact families in Australia, as well as the number of people who would actually choose to practise it," he says.
Ivanov also notes that other areas of law, such as social security, estate law, and taxation, would be affected and need to be carefully examined before any serious law reform discussions take place.
