Section 16-6-20. Bigamy

   (a) A person commits the offense of bigamy when he, being married and knowing that his lawful spouse is living, marries another person or carries on a bigamous cohabitation with another person.

(b) It shall be an affirmative defense that the prior spouse has been continually absent for a period of seven years, during which time the accused did not know the prior spouse to be alive, or that the accused reasonably believed he was eligible to remarry.

(c) A person convicted of the offense of bigamy shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years.

Laws 1833, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 814; Code 1863, §§ 4415, 4416; Code 1868, §§ 4456, 4457; Code 1873, §§ 4530, 4531; Code 1882, §§ 4530, 4531; Penal Code 1895, §§ 376, 377, 378; Ga. L. 1910, p. 61, § 1; Penal Code 1910, §§ 367, 368, 369; Code 1933, §§ 26-5601, 26-5602, 26-5603; Code 1933, § 26-2007, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.