Justices tighten restrictions on second marriages

The Council of Grand Justices (大法官會議) under the Judicial Yuan made its latest interpretation of the ROC Constitution yesterday morning, ruling that the spirit of monogamy be protected in Taiwan and that a marriage is only valid when the both parties involved wed each in good faith and are non-culpable, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.

According to the latest Interpretation of the Constitution, No.552, it's important to maintain a monogamous marriage system in Taiwan.

A bigamous marriage is therefore invalid if either of the two parties involved does not wed in good faith.

The latest interpretation has tightened the Council of Grand Justices' previous constitutional interpretation, No.362, which tolerated bigamy -- usually one man with two wives -- when either one of the two parties involved got married in good faith.

According to the new interpretation, however, such cases can be avoided since the both parties must wed each other in good faith.