There are many cases and social hotspots caused by high bride prices. On the Internet, even the opinions and opinions of netizens are not the same.
The background of the high bride price is that the marriage rate of China's school-age population is declining, and the age of marriage and childbearing is delayed, which in turn leads to the continuous decline in the number of births in China. Just today, a blogger broke the news that the population that can be born in 2023 is actually known as early as the end of May, that is, the community birth registration situation, and more importantly, according to statistics, the birth population this year is estimated to be less than 8 million. Statistics at the beginning of the year show that in 2022, the number of new births in the country fell below 10 million for the first time.
It is against this backdrop that the state is about to strike hard, first removing one obstacle to the postponement of the marriage age and the decline in the marriage and childbearing rate - the high bride price. On December 11, 2023, the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the All-China Women's Federation held a press conference on "Promoting the Change of Customs and Controlling High Bride Prices". At the press conference, the staff of the Supreme People's Court pointed out: Let marriage begin with love, and let the bride price return to the ceremony. The bride price ** has a long history as the "six rites" in China's ancient marriage Xi. As a traditional Xi in the field of marriage in China, it has a profound social and cultural foundation, and contains the good wishes of the two families for "suitable room home". However, in recent years, the amount of bride price has continued to rise, and some people ignore the family's economic situation and blindly regard the bride price as a measure of loveSome people think that the more the bride price, the more they appear to have face, and the wind of comparison quietly spreads. This not only deviates from the original intention of the bride price, but also lays a hidden danger to the stability of the marriage, which is not conducive to the promotion of social civilization and customs. Judging from the situation reflected in judicial practice, the number of cases involving bride price disputes has been on the rise in recent years, and there have even been vicious criminal cases caused by the return of bride price. From the handling of a large number of disputes, we can see that a high bride price is not the secret to ensuring family happiness, but may become the fuse of contradictions and disputes, which is not only not conducive to the establishment and long-term stability of marital relations, but also easy to cause confrontation, contradictions and conflicts between two families, affecting social harmony and stability.
In fact, the state has already begun to deal with high bride prices. Since 2021, the "No. 1 Document" has put forward work requirements for the governance of high bride prices and changing customs for three consecutive years. In August 2022, eight departments, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the ** Civilization Office, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, jointly issued the "Work Plan for Carrying out Special Governance Work Plans for Outstanding Problems in Key Areas of Rural Migration and Customs such as Dowry and Da Gongda", which put forward the goal of governance: the continuous spread of stereotypes and bad Xi such as high dowry in some areas has been effectively curbed, and the burden of dowry and other expenses on the peasant masses in weddings and funerals has been significantly reduced.
On the same day, the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Bride Price Disputes (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)" was released to the public for comments. In fact, on the issue of the return of the bride price, the Interpretation (I) of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China on Marriage and Family has already made provisions, and there are three circumstances under which it can be returned:Marriage registration has not been filedMarriage registration but not living togetherandThe payment of the bride price makes life difficult for the payer。However, in real life, there are a large number of cases in which the marriage is held in accordance with local Xi customs without marriage registration and lives together, and the marriage registration is completed but the life together is short, and the above-mentioned judicial interpretation cannot be applied, and whether and how to return the bride price has become difficult. In this regard, the Supreme People's Court will formulate a special judicial interpretation on bride price disputes. The Consultation Paper clearly proposes a principled provision prohibiting the extortion of property through marriage. The bride price is then defined and the reverse is defined for matters that are not bride price. In this regard, we welcome your valuable comments!
Article 5 [Conditions for the return of the bride price when the marriage is registered and living together].
Where both parties have registered their marriage and live together, and at the time of divorce one party requests the return of the bride price paid in accordance with Xi customs, the people's court will generally not support it. However, if the period of living together is relatively short and the amount of the bride price is too high, the people's court may consider it comprehensively based on the specific circumstances of the caseFacts such as the amount of the bride price, the length of time they have lived together, the actual use of the bride price and the dowry, whether there are children conceived, and the fault of both parties, combined with local Xi, determine whether to return and the specific proportion of return.
To determine whether the amount of the bride price is too high, it may be determined by referring to facts such as the per capita disposable income of residents in the place where the bride price payer is located, the economic situation of the family of the payer, and local Xi.
Article 6 [Conditions for the return of the bride price when living together without marriage registration].
Where the marriage has not been registered but the parties have lived together, and one party requests the return of the bride price paid in accordance with Xi customs, the people's court shall do soFacts such as the length of living together, the actual use of the bride price and the dowry, whether there are children, and the fault of both parties, combined with local Xi, determine whether to return and the specific proportion of return.
Judging from Article 5 of the Draft for Comments, marriage registration is generally not returned, but if the bride price is high during the marriage period, it may be returned. Judging from Article 6, where a marriage has not been registered but lives together, there is no dominant idea, and the judge shall determine whether to return it and the specific proportion. The feeling to the author is that it is too general and it is necessary to be detailed!
As an aside, the population problem is not only caused by the postponement or non-marriage of the working-age population, but also the lack of income and huge expenses. The postponement of the age of marriage and childbearing or not to marry, some of which are voluntary, and some of which are also helpless, is it possible that family planning leads to the belief that sex selection leads to an imbalance in the ratio of men and women?