Índice
Within society there is a large number of rules and laws that allow us to keep our work regulated, one of this is the crimes of illegal marriage. This is a crime that has prison sentences and penalties for people.
The illegal marriage crimes They can be perpetrated in different ways, this time, we will be talking about everything about this crime, starting from the ways in which the articles that penalize it are commented and much more.
Stay with us and learn everything we have for you.
which are the illegal marriage crimes?
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within the illegal marriage crimes There are different ways to commit it, among these we can mention:
crime of bigamy
This is considered one of the best known, this crime occurs because one of the parties to the marriage contracts another marriage without the completion of the current one.
It is found in the law in the article 217, which dictates that:
"Anyone who contracts a second or subsequent marriage, knowing that the previous one subsists legally, will be punished with imprisonment from six months to one year."
As we can see, he has a prison sentence, which is not short at all. This crime is based on taking advantage of the benefits of marriage, which can occur in different circumstances.

Typical behavior:
As its name says, this is the most common way to commit illegal marriage crimes, in which the person remarries, knowing that the previous one is not dissolved. In order for this crime to be sentenced, the person must have direct intent, which means that they must be aware of the validity of the current marriage and contract a new one.
In the same way, there are many parties involved in this crime, one of these is the "active subject". This is nothing more than the person in charge of carrying out the crime, who is aware of everything.
Likewise, within the crime there may be a participating person, who is unaware of the nature of the crime or may also have the role of cooperator. In the latter case, the other party to the illegal marriage is aware of the crime that is being perpetuated.
Illegal marriage in which it seeks to harm the spouse.
Within our penal code, in article 218, we have:
"1. Whoever, to harm the other contracting party, celebrates an invalid marriage will be punished with imprisonment from six months to two years.
"2. The person responsible will be exempt from penalty if the marriage is subsequently validated.
As we already mentioned, within these crimes the active subject is the one who is aware of the crime, therefore, in this case he is aware that the marriage is invalid. What are the most common causes for which a marriage is invalid? We can mention a minority, a person already married or the so-called flawed consent.
Inside of the illegal marriage crimes, the situation directly affects the contracting party, since the legal act is invalid. Likewise, we must mention that the active subject can be released from any charge, if the marriage becomes valid later.
Authorization of illegal marriages
People who perform an illegal marriage are sentenced by law, however, those who authorize this marriage must also be apprehended, let's see what the law says about this:
"1. Anyone who authorizes a marriage in which there is any cause of nullity known or denounced in the file, will be punished with the penalty of prison from six months to two years and special disqualification for employment or public office from two to six years.”
"2. If the cause of annulment is dispensable, the penalty will be suspension of employment or public office from six months to two years."
For this situation, the active subject becomes the person who is in charge of authorizing the marriage, knowing that it is illegal. However, the contracting parties become taxpayers, however, this does not take away the responsibility and the penalty that they must comply with.
Now, who can authorize these illegal marriages? Any person who has the power by the state to marry 2 individuals, is either called mayor or judge.
What is the difference between bigamy and polygamy?
Polygamy is also punishable in Spain, regardless of the country where the person comes from or where the first marriage took place. Now, to know this difference, we have to start by knowing the etymology of each word, therefore, "gamia" comes to mean marriage and "poly" many.
Now, if we see bigamy it is different, since "bi" comes to mean that there are 2. Polygamy is legal in many countries, which are mostly from the African continent.
In Spain, polygamy exists, but in secret, since nothing allows a man to have several women in his home, however, what is not allowed is that each one of them is presented as his wife.
If there is a divorce proceeding, can you marry again?
This is quite an interesting question, to which the answer is no, the only way for the person to remarry is for the previous marriage to be totally invalidated. There is no type of management that can allow the marriage during a divorce process.
As we can see, illegal marriages have a fairly harsh legal penalty that can lead to future labor problems.