Research On The Return Rules Of Betrothal Gifts

Betrothal gift is originally one of the marriage customs,emphasizing the accountability and responsibility of marriage.However,in recent years,the high value betrothal gifts have been prevalent and repeatedly banned,and even resulted in marriage fraud and other social evils,which is in urgent need of legal governance and response.The Civil Code of our country stipulates that the sale of marriage and the extortion of property by marriage are prohibited,expressing the legislators’ legislative attitude of freedom of marriage,but it does not prohibit betrothal gifts.The Marriage and Family Section Interpretation I of the Civil Code promulgated in 2020 clarifies the return rules of betrothal gifts,but there are still some problems in judicial application.The 20 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed that the most arduous and onerous task of comprehensively building a socialist modern country still lies in the countryside.The perfection of the return rules is related to the reform of rural marriage customs,which can provide legal guarantee for the establishment of a new style of rural civilization in order to meet the requirements of the times.The purpose of this thesis is to explore solutions that it is difficult to control the high value betrothal gift and realize the unification of legal and social effect in related legal disputes.This thesis is divided into three parts: introduction,text and conclusion.The text is divided into the following four parts:In the first part,the betrothal gifts and related concepts are mainly explained and analyzed.The concept of betrothal gifts is expounded as a whole,and it is considered that the betrothal gifts have the characteristics of concluding a marriage,with economic value,coming from the social custom and having the special cultural significance,etc.And distinctions are made between betrothal gifts and related concepts.At the same time,the main theories of the legal nature of betrothal gifts in academic circles are analyzed,and the view has been put forward that the betrothal gifts should be regarded as a gift with conditions of dissolution in legal nature,but the conditions should reflect the fact that the marriage with the husband and wife living together has not been concluded,rather than the marriage registration has not been handled.Furthermore,the basis of the demand for the return of betrothal gift and the necessity of legal adjustment are focuses on,and the rationality of its existence and the relevant risks are positively analyzed,so as to adopt an objective and realistic attitude to regulate it.In the second part,the legislative and judicial situation of betrothal gifts return in our country is introduced.By sorting out the provisions on betrothal gifts return of traditional laws,the laws from modern times to the founding of New China and the laws from the founding of New China to the promulgation of the Civil Code,the historical experience is concluded that the basic attitude towards the regulation of betrothal gift is based on reasonable restrictions and injunction is hard to achieve.Moreover,come to a conclusion that the existing regulations need to be adjusted and improved in accordance with social development,by combing the legislation of the return of betrothal gift of our country,especially the provisions of the Civil Code and its relevant judicial interpretations.And practical materials are provided by making a quantitative analysis of the cases of disputes over the return of betrothal gift in 2021 in Hebei Province.In the third part,the problems existing in the return rules of betrothal gifts and the legal application are put forward.In general,the principle of the rules,with reasonable regulation and balancing the interests of both parties,has been established.But there are still some problems in detail,such as ambiguous scope of betrothal gift,imperfect circumstances under which the betrothal gift should be returned,unclear scope of return and subject of litigation.Meanwhile,these problems are preliminary analyzed in this part on the basis of the quantitative analysis in Chapter 3 and combining with other typical cases.In the fourth part,some suggestions on improving the return rules of betrothal gifts are put forward.The first is to define the identification standard of betrothal gifts,and specify the specific types,especially the new forms arising from the social development.Secondly,we should perfect the situation in which the betrothal gifts should be returned,including absorbing the reasonable elements in the betrothal gifts customs,clarifying the criteria for“living together”,considering the fault factors,and canceling the situation of “poverty caused by marriage”.Thirdly,we should improve the scope of the return of betrothal gifts,including defining the calculation standard of the proportion of return,and refining the factors that should be considered in the proportion of return.Finally,the litigation subject has been discussed.The parties to the marriage agreement or marriage should be confirmed and the judicial standard,“the actual payer or receiver of the betrothal gifts”,should also be clarified.