Polygamy in New Zealand

Polygamy existed in traditional Māori society to a limited extent, mostly practised by rangatira (tribal chiefs).

where the law of the country in which each of the parties is domiciled at the time of the union then permits polygamySmall libertarian organisations and some individual members of non-Christian religious faiths have advocated for the full legalisation of polygamy in New Zealand.

In 2008, Social Development Minister Ruth Dyson was alleged to have given a speech supporting diverse family structures, including "triples".

[9] Supporters of the bill responded that they were opposed to any such recognition of polygamy, and cited the British Columbia Supreme Court's Bountiful case from November 2011) as an example of recent British Commonwealth case law which upheld Section 293 of the Canadian Criminal Code and still prohibits polygamy in Canada.

They argued that given this recent Commonwealth case law, any pro-polygamy litigation would face opposition for legal recognition [10][11]