Chains of Love in Law; Revisiting Plural Marriage Open Access
Goldfeder, Mark Aaron (2013)
Published
Abstract
This dissertation explores an area at the intersection of family law, religious liberty and criminal law: the issue of plural marriage. As American keeps moving in the direction of favoring consensual adult relationships regardless of their nature, polygamy has been slowly making a comeback in the national consciousness. Arguments include First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights to religious liberty, due process, and equality. The first part of this dissertation explores the issue of legalizing plural marriage from a legislative and administrative standpoint, while the second part argues that, regardless of whether or not the technicalities can be worked out on paper, from a public policy perspective, polygamy is a poor choice. It argues from experience, with detailed reference to the Jewish legal system's dramatic move away from the practice of plural marriage.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................................................... 1
PART I............................................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Chapter 1: What is Marriage? Privileging Function Over Form.................................................................... 7
A. Introduction............................................................................................................................................................. 7
B. The Value of Marriage as an Institution; Personal and Societal Benefits................................... 10
C. Formulating the Marriage Question Properly......................................................................................... 15
D. Why Get Married?................................................................................................................................................ 18
E. Legal and Social Recgonition of the Marital Entity.............................................................................. 27
F. It, and Nothing But It.......................................................................................................................................... 33
Chapter 2: Unbundling Marriage............................................................................................................................... 47
A. Modern Marriage; The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same......................... 47
B. Unbundling Marriage........................................................................................................................................ 52
C. The Term "Marriage" as an Essential Branch........................................................................................ 60
D. Unbundling Continued...................................................................................................................................... 68
E. Framing Plural Marriage................................................................................................................................. 75
Chapter 3: The Realities of Monogamy and the Push for Plural Marriage.......................................... 83
A. The Ideal Versus The Reality of Monogamy............................................................................................ 85
B. Plural Marriage as a Family System............................................................................................................ 95
C. Feminism and Plural Marriage: A Fuller Picture................................................................................. 101
Chapter 4: Children of Plural Marriages; A First Empirical Look......................................................... 107
A. Background Information............................................................................................................................... 107
B. Assumptions and Responses........................................................................................................................ 114
C. The Polyamorous Families Study............................................................................................................... 125
D. Children's Perceptions.................................................................................................................................... 128
E. Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................................... 135
Chapter 5: Legalizing Plural Marriage................................................................................................................ 140
A. Decriminalizing, Defining, and Structuring Plural Marriage........................................................ 141
B. The Solution to the Plural Marriage Problem: The Plural Prenup.............................................. 146
C. Common Polygamy Concerns and Their Solutions............................................................................. 156
Chapter 6: Plural Marriage, Revisited................................................................................................................. 163
A. Potential Plural Marriage Fraud................................................................................................................ 163
B. Private Ordering in Family Law and the Benefits of Choice........................................................... 167
C. Other Benefits of Legalization; Safety and Security........................................................................... 170
D. Plural Marriage, Revisited............................................................................................................................ 172
PART II.................................................................................................................................................................................... 178
Polygamy and Religion in Public Discourse....................................................................................................... 179
The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience................................................................. 179
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................... 179
Chapter 1: Polygamy in Jewish Law........................................................................................................................ 185
A. Background Information............................................................................................................................... 185
B. A Jewish Law Primer........................................................................................................................................ 186
Chapter 2: The Old Testament................................................................................................................................. 194
A. Biblical Instances and Precedents............................................................................................................. 194
B. Polygamy as a Religious Obligation......................................................................................................... 196
C. Polygamy's Benefits.......................................................................................................................................... 198
D. Polygamy as a Tolerated Practice............................................................................................................. 199
Chapter 3: Polygamy in the Post-Biblical Ancient Near East.................................................................. 204
A. The Second Temple Period........................................................................................................................... 204
B. The Tannaitic Period....................................................................................................................................... 208
C. Polygamy in Early Christian Sources........................................................................................................ 214
Chapter 4: The Amoraic and Gaonic Eras........................................................................................................... 219
A. The Jerusalem Tradition................................................................................................................................ 222
B. The Babylonian Tradition............................................................................................................................. 225
C. The Gaonim and Early Rishonim................................................................................................................ 236
Chapter 5: The Ban of Rabbeinu Gershom........................................................................................................... 241
A. A Summary of Judaism's Approach to Marriage................................................................................. 243
B. Rabbeinu Gershom's Inspirations and Influence................................................................................ 248
Chapter 6: The Limits and Contours of the Ban............................................................................................... 258
A. Issues of Authority, Authorship, and Scope........................................................................................... 258
B. Polygamy in Non-Christian Lands............................................................................................................. 263
C. Revisiting the Concubine................................................................................................................................ 267
D. The Story Behind the Story........................................................................................................................... 268
Chapter 7: Conclusion and Summary of Findings............................................................................................. 271
Table of Statutes..................................................................................................................................................... 277
TABLE OF CASES............................................................................................................................................................... 284
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................................. 289
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