Legalizing polygamy in Canada.....

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Get with the times.

People arrange their lives in multiple ways now, marriage is no longer dominant. People live together and raise children without being married. The laws should reflects this, thus marriage should be removed from the laws and replaced by new ones determining how people can share property.

Oh, and I'm a socialist, I have no respect for Locke

You are talking against yourself. You say that marriages should be removed from the law system because the state has no right to interfere into peoples love lives. However, you support the state interfering into how people can share their property?

[The Stranger]

You are talking against yourself. You say that marriages should be removed from the law system because the state has no right to interfere into peoples love lives. However, you support the state interfering into how people can share their property?

yes! go read locke!!

[HoreTore]

You are talking against yourself. You say that marriages should be removed from the law system because the state has no right to interfere into peoples love lives. However, you support the state interfering into how people can share their property?

Uhm..... Yes?

How does "interfere love" equal "interfere with property"...? I see no reason for the government to control who I freely choose to have sex with. I do, however, see a need for the law to regulate the status of ownership of things bought with other people, just like there is a need to regulate what owning stock in a company allows people to do.

@lars: indeed it does! Which is why there won't be any property issues if we remove the word "marriage" from the books.

[The Stranger]

if there is no issue why bother. its just a word brother nothing changes. because people actually make a fuss bout things like this the goverment is so damn ineffective XD

[HoreTore]

if there is no issue why bother. its just a word brother nothing changes. because people actually make a fuss bout things like this the goverment is so damn ineffective XD

Uhm.... Because the law is it currently is prohibits marriage between more than two people....?

[The Stranger]

but law doesnt forbid more than 2 people living together, screwing around (i mean loving each other) and having kids.

you say marriage is about love, i say its about property. im right, and since we both agreed that property is a government issue, nothing should change.

i have spoken.

[HoreTore]

but law doesnt forbid more than 2 people living together, screwing around (i mean loving each other) and having kids.

It doesn't forbid it, but it does discriminate against it, since being married gives benefits. Not just financial, but also because it won't allow having multiple partners all listed as "next of kin", which has a very real consequence in case one of them gets hospitalized.

All the arguments for gay marriage applies here. Sure, two men could live together before gay marriage, but they nissed out on the benefits an official relationship(marriage) gets.

[The Stranger]

too be honest i do not care if it gets legalised or not. though i do foresee alot of fraude potential. not that is a reason to not pass the law.

[Skullheadhq]

but law doesnt forbid more than 2 people living together, screwing around (i mean loving each other) and having kids.

you say marriage is about love, i say its about property. im right, and since we both agreed that property is a government issue, nothing should change.

i have spoken.

How is it a government issue?

[Dîn-Heru]

First of all the issues of abuse and so on in a polygamous marriage are not a result of the relationship form, but of power-hungry individuals. As Papewaio said there are already laws in place to deal with these issues.

As long as we are talking about consenting adults they are free to engage in any contract they want (for the most part, and I'm assuming this is the case in Canada as well), marriage is a form of standardized contract and as such there should not be any significant limitations when it comes to extra content of this contract.

As for property rights I can't speak of Canadian law, but in Norwegian law each partner in the marriage retains the ownership and user rights of everything they have before the marriage is made and whatever they buy with their own money during. (there are some exceptions, like one party not being able to sell the family home without the agreement of the other party) There is also a law concerning two or more people owning something together.
My point is that property issues in a polygamous relationship should not be too difficult to find a solution to as the issues have probably already been addressed in other laws.

When it comes to end of the relationship the principal rule is equal sharing of the value of the possessions, but not if you have a pre-nup. To prevent a messy division of possessions if a polygamous marriage ends because one party leaves it one could make the pre-nup the standard and not 50-50 division.

Children, might be better to have more "parents" to nurture and support. And kids are more resilient to things that differ from the norm as long as it is explained to them. (ie not telling them it is weird or disgusting, if people are actually mature and reasonable enough to not do so is a different issue entirely)

Before this gets too drawn out, my belief is that seeing as marriage is a societal construct, there is no reason for it to maintain a specific form just because it has been so for a long time. The so-called issues are not insurmountable obstacles, but rather issues that are already resolved in other laws than marriage law and can be incorporated into it or be clarified in other laws.

[The Stranger]

How is it a government issue?

In total agreement with you here the whole idea is so 19th century all tied up with property and sucession rites etc.

he answered your question.