Research On The Dispute Focus And Judgment Rules Of The Betrothal Gift Return Dispute

The bride price,as one of the old marriage customs in China,is not explicitly recognized by the current laws,but still has a strong social inertia and a wide mass base in China’s folklore.There are two main theories of marriage property in academic circles:the "marriage payment theory" believes that the bride price paid by the man is a kind of material compensation for the woman’s family;the "marriage support theory" believes that the bride price paid by the man is not only a subsidy for the woman’s family,but also a material support for the new family formed by the man and the woman.The "marriage support theory" believes that the bride price is not only a subsidy for the woman’s family,but also a material support for the new family formed by the man and woman.In the past,because of the material poverty and the simplicity of thought,disputes over the return of the bride price were not very likely to occur.With the improvement of living conditions in China and the growing disproportion between men and women,disputes over the return of the bride price have become an urgent issue in the field of civil law.However,China’s current legislation is insufficient,and the "Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court on the Application of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China to the Marriage and Family Part(I)" only stipulates three circumstances for the return of the bride price,which is obviously inadequate to respond to the practice,resulting in the phenomenon that the bride price return disputes are to a certain extent impossible to follow,and the judges have too much discretionary space in individual cases,resulting in the existence of the bride price return disputes."This article examines the recent 10 years of the courts in Liaoning Province.Through the empirical analysis of 153 judgments of bride price return disputes in Liaoning Provincial Court in the past 10 years,this paper finds that at the present stage,the scope of bride price return disputes,the proportion of return,the subject of litigation is not clear,the rules of adjudication lack fault mechanism,"living together","living difficulties The abstract terms such as "living together" and "living difficulties" are vaguely defined.In response to the above problems,the rules of bride price return adjudication can be improved from the following aspects: firstly,when adjudicating such cases,the basic guiding principle should be to protect women’s rights and interests and respect local virtuous customs;secondly,in terms of improving the specific adjudication rules,a distinction should be made between bride price and premarital general gift,while different bride price return ratios should be clarified according to the types of bride price return disputes,the subjects of litigation should be appropriately expanded,and fault liability should be introduced The mechanism should protect the no-fault party,and clarify the vague terms such as "living together" and "living difficulties".