Polygamy in Thailand could be freely practiced before 1 October 1935.
Polygamy
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...
was recognised under
civil law.
[Law of Husband and Wives B.E. 1904] The old family law assigned wives to three categories in accordance with how they became wives:
*The first was called ''mia klang muang'' (เมียกลางเมือง), the 'official wife', whom the husband's parents had "acquired for him".
* The second was known as ''mia klang nok'' (เมียกลางนอก), the 'minor wife', whom the man acquired after his first marriage.
* The third was ''mia klang thasi'' (เมียกลางทาสี), the title given to slave wives who were purchased from the mother and father of their prior owners.
[
Children of these unions were recognised as legitimate.
While polygamy has since been abolished, it is still alive in Thailand and, according to some, widely accepted. The ]King of Thailand
The monarchy of Thailand (whose monarch is referred to as the king of Thailand; th, พระมหากษัตริย์ไทย, or historically, king of Siam; th, พระมหากษัตริย์สยาม) refers to the c ...
may, for example, still designate "consorts" other than the Queen. Such unions are not recognised under Thai law
The laws of Thailand are based on the civil law, but have been influenced by common law (see also world legal systems).
Sources of law
The Rattanakosin Kingdom and the four traditionally counted preceding kingdoms, collectively called Siam ...
, which states, "A man or a woman cannot marry each other while one of them has a spouse."
Even after legally recognized polygamy was abolished, double standards relating to marital behaviors continued, both in law and in practice. For example, until 2007, only men could divorce based on adultery; wives had to prove that the husband "supported and honored another woman as his wife." The 2007 legal reforms gave women and men the same legal rights with regard to divorce grounds and were part of a legal overhaul, which also included enacting laws against domestic violence, criminalizing marital rape, and removing other discriminatory legal provisions. Thailand also withdrew its reservation to Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which guarantees the rights of women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations.
See also
* Thai marriage
*Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi
Niramon Ounprom ( th, นิรมล อุ่นพรม, ; nicknamed ''Koi''; th, ก้อย, born 26 January 1985) is an army officer, member of the Thai royal court, and a former Thai nurse. She was named concubine and a long-time mist ...
References
{{Polygamous marriage
Thai culture
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...