Section 16-6-21. Marrying a bigamist

   (a) An unmarried man or woman commits the offense of marrying a bigamist when he marries a person whom he knows to be the wife or husband of another.

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

(c) A person convicted of the offense of marrying a bigamist 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, § 4417; Code 1868, § 4458; Code 1873, § 4532; Code 1882, § 4532; Penal Code 1895, § 379; Penal Code 1910, § 370; Code 1933, § 26-5604; Code 1933, § 26-2008, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.