As a traditional Xi in the field of marriage in China, bride price has a profound social and cultural foundation. However, in recent years, the amount of bride price has continued to rise, and the number of cases involving bride price disputes has been on the rise, and even vicious criminal cases caused by the return of bride price have emerged. In order to unify the standards for the application of law in similar dispute cases, the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the All-China Women's Federation jointly held a press conference today to release typical cases of people's courts involving bride price disputes.
According to the Supreme People's Court, the Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Marriage and Family Part provides three circumstances for the return of the bride price, including:Failure to register a marriage, a marriage registered but not living together, and the payment of a bride price lead to hardship for the payer。However, in real life, there are a large number of cases in which the marriage is held and lived together in accordance with local Xi without marriage registration, as well as those who have registered their marriage but live together for a short time, and the above-mentioned judicial interpretation cannot be applied, and whether and how to return the bride price has become difficult.
This batch of typical cases focuses on common issues in trial practice, and clarifies three principles for handling disputes involving bride price: First, it clarifies the basic principle that it is strictly forbidden to solicit property under the pretext of marriage. The second is to fully respect folk Xi and reasonably determine the scope of bride price on the basis of the general recognition of the local people. The third is to adhere to the problem-oriented, give full consideration to the purposeful characteristics of the bride price, and consider the proportion of different factors such as living together, marriage registration, and childbearing in the realization of the fundamental purpose of marriage, so as to reasonably balance the rights and interests of both parties.
According to reports, at present, there are two kinds of disputes involving the return of bride price: one is the situation of "flashing";There is also the case of a marriage that has not been registered but is already living together. In these two cases, what are the main considerations as to whether the party paying the bride price can ask the other party to return the bride price?The relevant responsible person of the Supreme People's Court answered the question in combination with typical cases.
In Case 1, the judgment further clarified that the purpose of the bride price is not only to obtain marriage registration, which is a legal formal requirement, but also to allow the parties to live together for a long time. Therefore, the length of time spent together should be an important consideration in determining whether and what percentage of the bride price will be returned. In this case, the parties had only lived together for more than a year, and the paying party was not obviously at fault, the amount of the bride price was too high relative to their family income, and the payment of the bride price had caused a heavy burden on the family, and at the same time, considering the fact that the termination of the pregnancy had also caused a certain degree of damage to the woman's health, the judgment returned part of the bride price as appropriate, which better balanced the interests of the parties.
Another example is the second case, although the parties have not registered their marriage, they have held a wedding in accordance with local Xi customs and lived together as husband and wife for more than three years, and have already given birth to a son. When dealing with disputes involving the return of the bride price, emphasis should be placed on the fact of living together and having children. The judgment in this case comprehensively considered the above facts and did not support the litigation request for the return of the bride price, which fully protected the legitimate rights and interests of women.
In disputes involving the return of bride price, there is also a vague understanding of the boundary between bride price and general gift, and how to determine "living together". Case 3 is typical in these two respects. The judgment of the case found that the "hardware" money involved in the case of 260,000 yuan conformed to the general understanding of the people's bride price and could be determined to be a bride price. At the same time, it is clarified that after the marriage has been registered, the parties are still working and residing in the two places, and in the process of preparing for the wedding, they have not formed a consistent plan for their subsequent life and have not formed a stable living state, so it is not appropriate to find that they have lived together, but considering the fact that the marriage has been registered, the impact of the short-term cohabitation experience on the woman, and the existence of joint consumption, the judgment has appropriately returned most of the bride price, properly balancing the interests of both parties. Both bride price and dowry are traditional Xi customs in the field of marriage in China, and although they are expressed in different forms, they have a common purpose and should be applied in accordance with local Xi customs.
The dowry should also be taken into account when determining the amount of the bride price to be returned, for example, in Case 4, the amount of the dowry placed at the man's place was deducted when determining the amount of the bride price returned. There is also the issue of the qualification of the subject of litigation in disputes involving the return of bride price. According to traditional Chinese Xi customs, the marriage contract and the payment of the bride price are generally the participation of both parents of the man and the woman, so the Xi practice should also be taken into account when determining the parties to the litigation in the marriage contract property dispute. If the parents of one of the parties to the marriage contract pay or receive a bride price, the inclusion of them as joint parties is not only in line with Xi practice, but also helps to clarify the facts of the case.
According to reports, after the release of this typical case, the Supreme People's Court will solicit opinions from the public on the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Cases Involving Bride Price", which emphasizes the principle of prohibiting the use of marriage to solicit property in the name of bride price, and regulates the scope of the bride price, the conditions for return, and the determination of the parties, so as to further unify the adjudication standards.
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