Bridal price, one of the ancient wedding procedures in China, is also called bride price, betrothal gift and betrothal money. Generally, it is money or things that the man gives to the woman at the time of marriage. Since the marriage was concluded in China since ancient times, it has been the custom for the man to give the bride price and dowry to the woman when a preliminary marriage agreement is reached. This kind of bride price and dowry is commonly known as "bride price".
The "six rites" marriage system established in the Western Zhou Dynasty and followed by successive generations is the source of the custom of "bride price". This form of marriage continued until the Republic of China. In some places, the custom is called taking the sign, which means success, that is, after giving the bride price, the marriage contract is formally concluded, and it is generally not allowed to go back on our word. If there is remorse, if the woman repents, the bride price will be returned to the man; If the man goes back on his word, the bride price is generally not refunded. In buying and selling marriage, the bride price represents a woman's value, which is directly called the value bride price in some regions and ethnic groups. How much bride price the man's family sends to the woman's family depends on the requirements of the woman's family and the economic situation of the man's family.
In today's Internet, bride price also refers to an act of exchanging lottery tickets and blessings, such as sending several lottery tickets and an illustrated blessing to friends.
More and more attention has been paid to the social contradictions caused by the bride price problem, and various rectification actions have been carried out in some areas. Chapter I General Provisions Article 3 of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China: "Arranging, buying and selling marriages and other acts that interfere with the freedom of marriage are prohibited. It is forbidden to ask for property by marriage. " It is forbidden to ask for property through marriage.
In some places, the custom is called taking the sign, which means success, that is, after giving the bride price, the marriage contract is formally concluded, and it is generally not allowed to go back on our word. If there is remorse, if the woman repents, the bride price will be returned to the man; If the man goes back on his word, the bride price is generally not refunded.
In buying and selling marriage, the bride price represents a woman's value, which is directly called the value bride price in some regions and ethnic groups. How much bride price the man's family sends to the woman's family depends on the requirements of the woman's family and the economic situation of the man's family. But it is not legally established.
legal provision
The expression of "bride price" is not a standard legal term, and the causes of cases of bride price disputes tried by the people's courts belong to "marriage property disputes" according to relevant regulations. The phenomenon of paying bride price before marriage [1] is still quite common in China, and it has become an established local habit.
This form of marriage continued until the Republic of China, but the Marriage Law of the Chinese Soviet Union promulgated by the Central Soviet Area1April 8, 934 at that time stipulated the abolition of bride price, dowry and dowry. After the founding of New China, China's 1950, 1980 marriage law and the revised marriage law of 200 1 did not stipulate engagement and dowry, but both stipulated the contents of prohibiting the sale of marriage and prohibiting the acquisition of property through marriage. But at present, there are still many places in China that regard engagement as the pre-procedure of marriage, especially in rural areas. With the development of economy and the improvement of living standards, the bride price is constantly improving, ranging from gold and silver jewelry to tens of thousands of yuan in cash, cars and housing. Once the two parties finally fail to get married, the disposal of bride price will often lead to disputes, and the number of cases going to court will gradually increase.
Article 10 of Interpretation II of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China, which was implemented on April 1 2004, stipulates: "If the parties request to return the bride price paid according to the custom, the people's court shall support it if it is found that it belongs to one of the following circumstances: (1) Both parties have not gone through the marriage registration procedures; (2) Both parties have gone through the marriage registration formalities, but they have not lived together; (3) premarital payment, causing difficulties to the payer. The application of items (2) and (3) of the preceding paragraph is conditional on the divorce of both parties. " The stipulation of this condition marks that the people's court has formally made clear provisions on how to deal with bride price disputes in the form of judicial interpretation.
Article 10 of Interpretation II on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China also stipulates the conditions for returning the bride price after divorce, among which item (3) stipulates that "paying before marriage causes difficulties to the payer" is the condition for returning the bride price. So how do you understand "life difficulties"? Article 27 of Interpretation (1) explains the meaning of "living difficulties" in this way: The "living difficulties" mentioned in Article 42 of the Marriage Law refers to the inability to maintain the local basic living standard by relying on personal property and property distributed during divorce. Accordingly, "living difficulties" should refer to absolute difficulties, not relative difficulties. The understanding of "life difficulties" in Article 10 of Interpretation 2 should also be consistent with the above explanation. That is to say, the so-called absolute difficulty is a real difficulty, because after paying the bride price, you can't maintain the most basic living standard in the local area on your own, rather than the loss of property before paying the bride price, which is more difficult than the original living conditions.
Return the bride price
1. If the engagement is dissolved due to the payment of the bride price, the amount of the bride price returned may be reduced as appropriate according to the degree of fault and the economic situation of both parties. "
2. If a man and a woman have lived together for more than one year but less than two years without going through the marriage registration formalities, and one party requests the other party to return the bride price, the amount of return shall generally not exceed 30% of the total bride price; * * * If they have lived together for less than one year and three months, the return amount will generally not exceed 50% of the total bride price; * * * If they have lived together for less than three months, the return amount will generally not exceed 70% of the total bride price; If the cohabitation relationship is dissolved due to the reason of the party paying the bride price, and the woman is pregnant or miscarried during the same life, it can generally be reduced by 5% to 20% on the basis of the preceding paragraph.
References:
1, a complete collection of bride price knowledge. [20 14-8- 14]
2. A heavy bride price. [20 16- 1-2 1]