Re: why is polygamy illegal?
Agree with this. The state doesn’t care how many males or females you have a relationship with, one on one or all at once. It does care however where immigration law, tax laws, welfare etc. are concerned.
Someone previously mentioned how corporate law can get extremely complicated and if the gov’t can deal with that, surely we can regulate polygamous and polyandrous marriages. In theory, it sounds plausible. In reality, not really!
I have studied corporate law and it’s nowhere near as complicated as you make it sound. Yes, you can have potentially unlimited number of vertical or horizontal branches of parent-subsidiary or sister companies. In reality, though, no corporation would go too far simply because the cost of bookkeeping and managing such a complex structure would be enormous. You could have multiple small investors (~preferred shares), but most likely a small number of owners with voting rights (common shares) who control the decision making and decide the long-term direction of the company. So while in theory you can have 100 wives who can also have 100 husbands and the tree just keeps growing, in practice, that’s a messy scenario.
Someone (I think zafra) mentioned that if we take the financial aspect out of the picture, the state should then have no problem recognizing and giving legal status to all the spouses of one person. Well, first of all, immigration rules (and potentially estate planning) would still apply. Secondly, I think this is where religion comes in. Marriage is a sacred bond and with the exception of Islam (with its up to 4 wives at a time allowance under certain circumstances), most major religions worldwide agree that a marriage should be between one man and one woman at a given time. Should religion be a factor when laws are made, especially in today’s age? Perhaps not but it is still an influence. To completely disregard religion would be ridiculous.