Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology

The Validity of Polygamous Marriages in Ireland

by Michelle Flynn

Question(s) at stake

Whether Irish law requires or prohibits the recognition of polygamous marriages which are permissible according to the law of the third state in which such a marriage took place?

Outcome of the ruling

This involves the application of the rules relating to the conflict of laws and, in particular, the nature of Irish public policy in relation to foreign polygamous marriages.

Country:

Ireland

Official citation

H.A.H v S.A.A. & Ors [2017] IESC 40

Topic(s)

Keywords:

Conflict of laws Marriage and partnership Recognition Polygamous marriage

Tag(s):

Public policy Lex loci celebrationis

Bibliographic information

Flynn, Michelle (2026): The Validity of Polygamous Marriages in Ireland, Department of Law and Anthropology, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany, CUREDI021IE007, -.

About the authors

Michelle Flynn (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Department Law and Anthropology, Germany) ORCID logo

Portrait picture of Michelle Flynn

Michelle Flynn is a Research Fellow in the Department of Law and Anthropology. Prior to joining the Max Planck Institute in 2018, she gained over twelve years of experience working within domestic and international courts. Flynn has held judicial support roles at national and supranational levels with members of the judiciary of Ireland, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of Justice of the European Union. She also has significant practical experience as a barrister and as a Consultant Legal Advisor with Irish Rule of Law International, working on judicial capacity building projects in developing countries. She is also a former academic staff member at the Faculty of Law in KU Leuven, Belgium.

Flynn holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Legal Science from the National University of Ireland, Galway; a Barrister-at-Law Degree from the Honorable Society of King’s Inns, Dublin, Ireland; and an LL.M. in International and European Public Law from KU Leuven, Belgium.

Her current research examines the jurisprudence of the superior courts in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States concerning religious prescriptions and religious personal laws. Since January 2019, she has been a Visiting Researcher at Yale Law School, where she is carrying out research concerning the relationship between law and religion in the US.