The High Court has rejected an attempt to have a polygamous
marriage entered into in Lebanon
recognised under 
Irish law.
Ruling on the case, Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne, said that
while marriage was not defined in the 1995 Act, to interpret it as including
polygamous marriage “would be to give it an interpretation which is simply not
compatible with the constitutional understanding of marriage”.
As reported in The Irish Times, she said that to do so would
be rewriting the understanding of marriage in this jurisdiction. Therefore, it
was not possible to grant the declaration sought.
The case was taken by a man who is living in Ireland
but under Lebanese law is married to two women. He married the first woman in
1975 and the second in 1988. Under Lebanese law a Muslim man can have up to
four wives. The court ascertained that both women entered the married
consensually.
The applicant has been living here since 1998 and was
naturalised in 2000.
Ms Justice Dunne said the question in considering the case
was whether the recognition of this marriage was contrary to public policy, or
incompatible with the Constitution. The public policy of the State was informed
by the Constitution, by legislation and to an important extent by our culture
and tradition. These were outlined in a number of judgments describing marriage.
She ruled that while there was no doubt this marriage was
valid under Lebanese law, polygamous marriage was at odds with marriage as
understood in this country and protected by the Constitution.
Ms Justice Dunne previously ruled against Anne Louise
Gilligan and Katherine Zappone who are legally married under Canadian law and
wanted their legal status recognised in Irish law for tax and other purposes.
The ruling in the polygamy case was granted in April and
both it and the Gilligan/Zappone case bring up the question of whether marriage
should be restricted to two people and/or to opposite-sex couples.