\n“Bigamy is prohibited. No one who has a spouse may cohabit with another person.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Simple enough, but its application, particularly the de jure \/ de facto distinction, often catches Common Law practitioners off guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two Forms of Bigamy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Legal (de jure) bigamy<\/strong> occurs when a married person registers a second marriage with the civil affairs bureau, often through fraud or administrative error. That second marriage is void from the outset.\u00b9<\/p>\n\n\n\nFactual (de facto) bigamy<\/strong> (\u4e8b\u5b9e\u91cd\u5a5a \/ shishi chonghun) is what the phrase “cohabit with another person” targets. No second marriage certificate is needed. A married person who lives with a third party in a stable, continuous relationship, holding themselves out publicly as husband and wife, commits factual bigamy.\u00b2<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow Courts Identify It<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
When assessing factual bigamy Chinese law requires that the cohabitation be stable, continuous, and public. Courts look for a “marriage-like” state, not merely a sexual relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Evidence typically includes third-party testimony from neighbours or colleagues who addressed the pair as spouses, social documentation such as wedding photos or shared anniversary posts, and joint domestic arrangements like a shared lease or common finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consequences<\/h4>\n\n\n\nCivil<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Bigamy is a statutory ground for divorce and entitles the innocent spouse to claim damages.\u00b3<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Criminal<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Article 258 of the Criminal Law provides for up to two years’ imprisonment or criminal detention.\u2074<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The default path is private prosecution. The innocent spouse files directly with the court, bearing their own evidentiary burden without police support.\u2075 Standalone criminal prosecution is rare. Public prosecution becomes viable only where bigamy is accompanied by other offences, such as document forgery or fraud.\u2076<\/p>\n\n\n
Notes<\/em><\/h6>\n\u00b9 Civil Code, Arts. 1051 & 1054.
\u00b2 Civil Code, Art. 1042; per Supreme People’s Court guidance.
\u00b3 Civil Code, Art. 1091.
\u2074 Criminal Law, Art. 258.
\u2075 Per Supreme People’s Court interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Law.
\u2076 Public prosecution requires concurrent offences carrying a sentence exceeding three years.<\/p>\n\n
Disclaimer<\/em><\/h6>\nThe information in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or professional advice of any kind. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the content is provided “as is” without any warranties. Reading or acting upon this information does not create a solicitor-client relationship or any other professional relationship between you and Righteous Law Limited or its lawyers. The author and publisher expressly disclaim all liability for any loss or damage arising from reliance on this content. Laws and regulations are subject to change. You are strongly advised to seek independent legal counsel tailored to your specific circumstances before making any decisions.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article 1042 of the Chinese Civil Code prohibits bigamy in two forms. Legal bigamy involves a fraudulent second marriage registration. Factual bigamy targets stable cohabitation held out publicly as marriage. Righteous Law explains the distinction and its civil and criminal consequences.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,63],"tags":[106,105,109,110,108,107],"class_list":["post-8010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-commercial","tag-bigamy","tag-chinese-law","tag-civil-code-of-china","tag-criminal-law","tag-cross-border-legal","tag-family-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8010"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8018,"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010\/revisions\/8018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/righteouslaw.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}