Offences Against the Person Act 1861

57 Bigamy. Offence may be dealt with where Offender shall be apprehended. Not to extend to Second Marriages, &c. herein stated.

Whosoever, being married, shall marry any other Person during the Life of the former Husband or Wife, whether the Second Marriage shall have taken place in England or Ireland or elsewhere, shall be guilty of Felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the Discretion of the Court, to be kept in Penal Servitude for any Term not exceeding Seven Years and not less than Three Years,—or to be imprisoned for any Term not exceeding Two Years, with or without Hard Labour; and any such Offence may be dealt with, inquired of, tried, determined, and punished in any County or Place in England or Ireland where the Offender shall be apprehended or be in Custody, in the same Manner in all respects as if the Offence had been actually committed in that County or Place: Provided that nothing in this Section contained shall extend to any Second Marriage contracted elsewhere than in England and Ireland by any other than a Subject of Her Majesty, or to any Person marrying a Second Time whose Husband or Wife shall have been continually absent from such Person for the Space of Seven Years then last past, and shall not have been known by such Person to be living within that Time, or shall extend to any Person who, at the Time of such Second Marriage, shall have been divorced from the Bond of the First Marriage, or to any Person whose former Marriage shall have been declared void by the Sentence of any Court of Competent Jurisdiction.