The Dilemma And The Inquiry Of The Restitution Of Betrothal Gifts:on The Article 10 Of Marriage Law Interpretation Ⅱ

Betrothal gifts is not only a kind of marriage customs in China and an important and indispensable content in Chinese traditional culture, but also still exists widely in modern society. With the development of the society and the growth of the economy, the form, scope and amount of betrothal gifts keeps changing all the way. Nowadays, people’s thoughts and ideas are constantly changing. To break off one’s engagement is not unusual and more and more disputes break out for the course of how to return the betrothal gifts. The supreme people’s court issued Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court about Several Problems Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China (II) (hereinafter it referred as the" Interpretation Ⅱ") on April 1,2004. The article 10 of InterpretationⅡis specific stipulation about how to return the betrothal gifts. Although the article 10 plays a certain role in handling this kind of disputes and makes up a certain legal vacancy about it, the article 10 is too simple and general, which lead the judges to use different standards in the trial of such cases.It is not easy to handle betrothal gifts restitution disputes. On the one hand, these kind of cases always involve complex parties and property but the legislation is so simple that the litigation parties have many difficulties to understand it.On the other hand, it empowers the judges so much discretionary space as to they always put forward different trial results, which lead the litigation parties to misunderstand or suspect the integrity of the judges. Only with detailed stipulations to guide the trail practice could these disputes and contradictions will not deepen, to make the society more harmonious.In this article, the author demonstrates the conflicts of applying InterpretationⅡin judicial practice at first, then expound the concept, characteristics and the related concepts of betrothal gifts. After the induction of the legislation process, the author analysis the deficiencies of the article 10 of Interpretation Ⅱ. Finally, the author proposes some ideas about how to overcome those deficiencies. He hopes to reduce social contradictions, to realize social justice and to promote social harmony.