In recent years, the amount of bride price has continued to soar in various places, forming a trend of comparison. This not only deviates from the original intention of the bride price, puts the payer of the bride price under heavy economic pressure, but also lays a hidden danger for the stability of the marriage, which is not conducive to the promotion of the new trend of social civilization. The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized the need to improve the level of civilization of the whole society. Since 2021, the "No. 1 Document" has put forward clear requirements for the governance of high bride prices and the change of customs for three consecutive years. Judging from judicial practice, the number of disputes involving bride price has increased year by year, and there have even been vicious criminal cases caused by the return of bride price.
In order to implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the requirements of the "No. 1 Document", and respond to the concerns of the people, the Supreme People's Court has comprehensively summarized the experience of judicial practice in recent years, and has carefully formulated the "Provisions" after in-depth research, repeated argumentation and extensive solicitation of opinions. This "Regulation" is of great significance, and changing customs is an important symbol of social civilization and progress. As a traditional wedding custom in China, bride price has a profound social and cultural foundation. However, the bride price in excess of the family's normal expenses has become a heavy burden for many families, resulting in a serious imbalance between the interests of both parties at a relatively short age of marriage, and the number of bride price disputes has also increased.
In this regard, the court should make appropriate adjustments in accordance with the principle of good faith to properly balance the interests of both parties. At the same time, we must be vigilant against those who commit fraud in the name of bride price, which seriously damages the legitimate rights and interests of the bride price payer, and the judicial department should resolutely crack down on this. The "Provisions" take a clear-cut stand against the extortion of property through marriage, and are of great significance to promoting a healthy, thrifty, and civilized new style of marriage and promoting the construction of civilized rural customs.
In August 2022, eight departments, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Civilization Office, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, jointly issued the "Special Governance Work Plan for Outstanding Problems in Key Areas of Rural Migration and Customs, such as Bride Prices and Large-scale Operations", which clearly put forward the goal of governance: to curb the spread of stereotypes and bad habits such as bride price in some areas, and to reduce the burden of bride price and other expenses on farmers in weddings and funerals. The "Provisions" provide behavioral guidance for relevant parties through clear adjudication rules, which will help guide the people to look at the issue of bride price more rationally, return the bride price to its essence of "rites", and further enhance the effect of the special management of high bride price.
The Supreme People's Court's Interpretation (I) on the Application of the Marriage and Family Section of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Interpretation (1) of the Civil Code on Marriage and Family) clearly stipulates the return of the bride price, including three situations: marriage registration has not been completed, marriage registration has been completed but the payer does not live together, and pre-marital payment causes the payer to have difficulties in life. However, in recent years, cases involving bride price have taken on new characteristics, which have brought challenges to trial practice. The above-mentioned judicial interpretations cannot be directly applied to cases where a marriage has already been registered and has been living together for a short period of time, as well as cases where the marriage is held only in accordance with local customs, but the marriage has not been registered. In response to these new circumstances, the "Provisions" have conducted an in-depth study on the issue of the return of the bride price, and further improved the relevant adjudication rules based on the purposeful gift characteristics of the bride price, taking into account factors such as living together, pregnancy, and the fault of both parties. This measure helps to unify the standards for the application of law in similar cases, more properly balance the interests of both parties, and reflects the fairness and justice of the law.
The "Provisions" have carefully regulated the difficult problems in judicial practice, such as the scope of the determination of the bride price, the principle of return, and the qualifications of the subject of the litigation. Combined with the Interpretation (1) of the Marriage and Family Section of the Civil Code, a complete set of rules for the application of law in bride price disputes has been formed, which protects the rights and interests of the parties. First, it is expressly forbidden to solicit property under the pretext of marriage. According to article 1042 of the Civil Code, the extortion of property under the pretext of marriage violates the principle of freedom of marriage and should be combated. The Provisions further clarify that if one party claims property in the name of bride price through marriage, the other party has the right to demand restitution, and the court should support it. The second is to distinguish between the bride price and the general gift during the relationship. Although the purpose and motive of the two are similar, the payment of the bride price is based on local customs and customs, and the direct purpose is to conclude the marriage relationship, which has its specific scope. The Provisions make it clear that when determining whether a payment is a bride price, a comprehensive judgment can be made based on factors such as the purpose of the payment, local customs, the time and method of payment, the value of the property, and the giver and recipient. For example, facts such as whether the time of payment is at the stage of marriage negotiation, whether there is negotiation between the parents or introducers of both parties, and the value of the property can be used as the basis for judgment. The "Provisions" also exclude property that is not a bride price, including: gifts of little value, gift money, and daily consumption expenses to express or enhance feelings given at special commemorative occasions such as festivals or birthdays. Such property or expenditure is of a small amount, mainly for the purpose of enhancing affection, and may not be returned in the event of dissolution of the marriage contract or divorce. 
The third is to clarify the subject of litigation involving bride price disputes. In disputes over the return of bride price, the main procedural issue is whether the parents of both parties to the marriage contract can be parties to the litigation. In traditional Chinese customs, the marriage of children is generally handled by the parents, and most of the bride price is also attended by both parents. The "Provisions" fully consider the above-mentioned customs and distinguish two situations: one is the property dispute of the marriage contract. In principle, the parties to the marriage contract are the subject of litigation in such cases, but considering that in practice, the giver and receiver of the bride price are not limited to the parties to the marriage contract, and the parents of both parties may also be involved, in order to respect customs, and at the same time, it is also conducive to ascertaining the facts of the case such as the amount of the bride price and the actual use of the bride price, and determining the subject of responsibility, the Provisions make it clear that in a marriage contract property dispute, one party to the marriage contract and the parents who actually paid the bride price can be the joint plaintiffs; The other party to the marriage contract and his or her parents who actually received the bride price may be co-defendants; The second is divorce disputes. Considering that the subject matter of the divorce dispute is mainly the dissolution of the marital relationship, and it is not appropriate to take other people outside the marriage as the parties, the Provisions make it clear that if one party files a claim for the return of the bride price in a divorce dispute, the parties are still the husband and wife.
Fourth, improve the rules for the return of bride price. In recent years, new situations and new problems have emerged in disputes involving bride price. Although the Interpretation (1) of the Marriage and Family Section of the Civil Code stipulates the issue of the return of the bride price, in terms of legal logic, there are still two situations that have not been stipulated, and the relevant rules need to be improved: first, they are married and live together; The second is that they have not registered their marriage but have lived together. In the first case, where the parties have already completed the marriage registration formalities and are living together, and at the time of divorce one party requests the return of the bride price paid in accordance with custom, the people's court should generally not support it. However, it should also be noted that in addition to the legal formal requirement of marriage registration, the purpose of paying the bride price is more important than the long-term living together of both parties. 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 the case of "flash departure", if the litigation request for the return of the bride price is not supported at all, especially if the high bride price paid by the whole family will cause a clear imbalance between the interests of both parties, the judiciary shall make appropriate adjustments, and determine whether to return the bride price and the specific proportion of the return based on the actual use of the bride price and the dowry, comprehensively considering the amount of the bride price, the circumstances of living together and the circumstances of pregnancy, and the fault of both parties; In the second case, if the parties have not registered their marriage, the bride price shall, in principle, be returned. However, we should not ignore the "reality of husband and wife" living together. On the one hand, the fact of living together carries the important purpose of the party who pays the bride price, and on the other hand, it will have a certain degree of impact on the physical and mental health of the woman, especially if she has had a pregnancy or given birth to a child. If the party receiving the bride price is required to return all of the bride price only because the marriage registration has not been completed, it violates the principle of fairness and is not conducive to protecting the lawful rights and interests of women, and the actual use of the bride price and the dowry, comprehensively considering facts such as living together and the circumstances of pregnancy, and the fault of both parties, to determine whether to return it and the specific proportion of the return. The "Provisions" stipulate this in two articles.
In order to widely listen to the opinions of all sectors of society and better respond to the concerns of the people, the Supreme People's Court solicited opinions from the public on the Provisions on December 11, 2023, and received more than 200 feedbacks. We attach great importance to this feedback, and we have carefully combed and carefully studied each one. With regard to the expansion of the scope of litigation, we believe that it is in line with traditional customs to expand the scope of litigation from the parties to the marriage contract to their parents. However, if it is extended to other relatives, it will lead to too many people being involved in litigation, which will seriously affect the efficiency of litigation and easily exacerbate conflicts. We have paid special attention to the drafting of the Provisions in the process of drafting the Provisions for those parents who are raised by other relatives and who act as parents in the process of receiving the bride price. However, in view of the wide variety of individual cases and the lack of a clear concept of law or custom to define such persons, we have not expanded the expression in order to ensure the accuracy and clarity of the judicial interpretation. In practice, if such special circumstances arise, they can be handled based on custom and by reference to the application of these Provisions.
People who read a lot can have more temperament As for the rules for the handling of dowry, this marriage custom, which goes hand in hand with the bride price, is still common in modern society. However, there are significant differences in this area between households and regions. Articles 5 and 6 of the Provisions clearly state that the dowry shall be taken into account in the matter of the return of the bride price, i.e., the amount of the dowry that has been jointly consumed or added to the man's property shall be deducted. Conventional wisdom holds that in the event of divorce, the remaining dowry should go to the woman. From the perspective of judicial practice, disputes arising solely from the return of dowry are extremely rare, so the "Provisions" do not set a separate clause for this, but theoretically can be handled with reference to these provisions.
As for the determination of the specific form of extortion of property through marriage, we do not believe that the distinction between extortion of property through marriage and bride price should be based solely on the criterion of whether or not there is a willingness to marry. Sometimes, even if the parties wish to get married, they may take the opportunity to claim property. If there is evidence showing that there is a situation of absconding after accepting the bride price, or unreasonably repenting of the marriage after receiving a high bride price in the name of marriage for many times in a short period of time, according to Article 2 of the Provisions, if one party requests the other party to return it, the court shall support it. If the circumstances are serious, if a criminal offense is suspected, the court should resolutely crack down.
With regard to the determination of living together, it was suggested that it should be clarified how long they could live together without returning the bride price. Considering that the proportion of the bride price to be returned is not only related to the time spent together, but also involves many factors such as the pregnancy situation and the fault of both parties, it may harm the interests of one party if a specific time is stipulated. Therefore, the "Provisions" do not set a specific time for this. In practice, a comprehensive judgment should be made based on the specific circumstances of each case. At the same time, conception should not be considered as a factor in the return of the bride price. The Supreme People's Court has always attached great importance to the protection of women's rights and interests, and the Provisions clearly consider this as a factor to reduce or even not return the bride price as appropriate, so as to better protect women's rights and interests. For example, in a typical case involving bride price previously released by our court, although the two parties have not registered their marriage, they have held a wedding in accordance with local customs, lived together, and had children, and the court ruled not to return the bride price.
In addition, we've refined the content based on feedback. For example, in Articles 5 and 6 of the Consultation Paper, "pregnancy of a child" is amended to "pregnancy" to cover circumstances such as termination of pregnancy; In Articles 5 and 6 of the Draft for Comments, "time spent together" is amended to "living together", reminding judges that when judging the facts of living together, judges should not only look at the length of time, but also comprehensively consider factors such as whether they actually lived together and the reasons for not actually living together. Feedback has played an important role in improving the content of the Provisions.