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To: Hugin; Citizen Zed; 2ndDivisionVet
That's not quite the case. Utah's bigamy law wasn't a broad-brush cohabitation ban for unmarried couples. The law prohibited a married person from purporting to marry or cohabitating with another person, or a single person from purporting to marry or cohabitating with a married person. Knowledge of the marital status was also required.

Utah Crim. Code 76-7-101:

76-7-101. Bigamy -- Defense.

(1) A person is guilty of bigamy when, knowing he has a husband or wife or knowing the other person has a husband or wife, the person purports to marry another person or cohabits with another person.

(2) Bigamy is a felony of the third degree.

(3) It shall be a defense to bigamy that the accused reasonably believed he and the other person were legally eligible to remarry.


14 posted on 10/10/2014 5:43:30 AM PDT by Scoutmaster (You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.)
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To: Scoutmaster

You’re wrong. As I said, Utah’s bigamy law is still in place. The law you cite is still the law in Utah, it wasn’t overturned, so you don’t need to refer to it in the past tense. What was overturned was a different law passed to prevent unofficial “marriages” beyond the first one, that banned unmarried couples from cohabitating. The court said adults have the right to cohabitate, but the second and later “marriages” are not recognized.


16 posted on 10/10/2014 12:52:01 PM PDT by Hugin ("Do yourself a favor--first thing, get a firearm!",)
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