The fact that the criminal law in England and Wales continues to afford protection to spouses who conspire together to commit crime is considered by many to be an anachronism. That a person cannot be guilty of conspiracy if the only other person with whom he or she agrees is his or her spouse, is to be found in section 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1977. The origins of the rule are said to be based on biblical principles pertaining to marriage. The difficulty with that is that the concept of marriage has changed significantly over time, which raises the question of whether or not the existence of the exemption can today be justified. In R v Yilkyes Finok Bala and Others [2016] EWCA Crim 560, the Court of Appeal was faced with the question of whether or not the legislative exemption applied to those who were party to a polygamous marriage. While acknowledging that there are arguments in support of the proposition that the exemption is outmoded, the Court of Appeal nevertheless interpreted the statutory provision in such a way so as to encompass parties to a polygamous marriage recognised under English law as valid. By virtue of the Civil Partnership Act 2004, the exemption was extended to cover civil partners. The expansion of the exemption is curious in the light of prevailing attitudes towards the applicability of the exemption at all in modern times. Furthermore, other statutory provisions (relating to analogous matters) have either been enacted or repealed to reflect present-day understandings of how the issue of marriage interacts with the criminal law. Yet, for reasons which are not altogether clear, the spousal exemption vis-à-vis the criminal offence of conspiracy remains in force.

中文翻译：

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婚姻、一夫多妻制和串谋刑法

许多人认为英格兰和威尔士的刑法继续为合谋犯罪的配偶提供保护这一事实已不合时宜。1977 年刑法法令第 2 条规定，如果一个人唯一同意的另一人是他或她的配偶，则该人不能犯共谋罪。据说该规则的起源是基于关于婚姻的圣经原则。困难在于婚姻的概念随着时间的推移发生了重大变化，这就提出了今天是否可以证明豁免的存在的问题。在R v Yilkyes Finok Bala 等人[2016] EWCA Crim 560，上诉法院面临立法豁免是否适用于一夫多妻制婚姻当事人的问题。虽然承认有论据支持豁免已过时的主张，但上诉法院仍然以这样一种方式解释了法定条款，以便将英国法律承认的一夫多妻婚姻的当事方包括为有效的。根据 2004 年《民事合伙法》，豁免范围扩大到包括民事合伙人。鉴于现代对豁免适用性的普遍态度，豁免的扩大是奇怪的。此外，其他法律规定（与类似事项有关）已经颁布或废除，以反映当今对婚姻问题如何与刑法相互作用的理解。然而，出于不完全清楚的原因，对共谋刑事犯罪的配偶豁免仍然有效。