Does a previous invalid marriage and a current valid marriage constitute the crime of bigamy?1

• Time：2021-07-09
• counter：2420

To reflect the intervention and sanction on invalid marriages, if an invalid marriage is verified, even if the plaintiff refuses to appear in court or withdraws from court halfway after being summoned without any justifiable reason, the case cannot be handled as withdrawn. A decree declaring the marriage invalid shall be made in accordance with the law.
According to Article 13 of Interpretation 1 of Marriage Law, invalid or revocable marriages are not protected by law and will be treated void ab initi when they are declared invalid or revoked according to law. Therefore, if before the previous marriage is officially annulled, a party gets married to another person, it constitutes bigamy.
The court shall uphold application for annulment of marriage on the grounds of bigamy, even if the parties concerned have already completed the divorce registration process or one of the spouses of that annullable marriage has died, which results in the disappearance of bigamy.