On the morning of May 8, the official account of the Hunan Provincial High People's Court opened a live broadcast on the "return of the bride price", and law enforcement officers took a car to the door to enforce the refund. The live broadcast attracted many netizens to watch, and the data showed that the live broadcast once reached 2.74 million popularity.
Video screenshot (Image source: Hunan High Court)
During the live broadcast, law enforcement officers acted as anchors and broadcast live broadcasts for the audience through commentary. The law enforcement officer said they would broadcast live all day and carry out a total of five cases.
According to the Xiaoxiang Morning News, the live broadcast showed that the court carried out on-site enforcement of a divorce dispute and marriage contract property dispute:
When Che was traveling in Changsha, he fell in love with Wang after meeting Wang at night, and successively paid Wang 200,000 dowries, gold and silver jewelry, and luxury bags, and the two parties only met twice after they got married and did not live together. After Che got married, he found that Wang and his ex-boyfriend had a child, and Wang was unwilling to live in Shanghai with Che, and after Che sued for divorce, the court ruled that Wang should return more than 250,000 yuan in bride price and a LV bag.
After the case was filed, the presiding judge summoned the woman to appear in court for interrogation, and learned that Wang lived in a community in Furong District, had no fixed occupation, and basically rested at home during the day. Under the coordination of the presiding judge, Wang has returned the LV bag, but does not return the bride price on the grounds that there is no income. Che revealed that during the litigation mediation stage of this case, Wang asked for remarriage, Che agreed and paid him more than 100,000 dowries, Wang regretted it, and the follow-up 100,000 dowries were about to form a new lawsuit.
At the execution site, Wang said that the bride price had been spent, and she had no job.
Court officials said that if Wang was unwilling to return the bride price, she would be placed under compulsory detention.
At present, Wang has been taken away by the bailiff on the spot.
In response to questions from netizens, law enforcement officers also said that if the court does not enforce the judgment after returning the bride price, they will come to the door to carry out centralized enforcement to ensure that the court judgment can take effect. If you encounter something similar, you can defend your rights through legal procedures.
It is understood that the live broadcast was conducted by the People's Court of Ningxiang City, Hunan Province with the help of the account of the Hunan High Court. Some netizens commented: It looks as good as "Guarding the Liberation West" (another TV feature film).
Video screenshot (Image source: Hunan High Court)
In fact, this is not the first time that such a case has occurred.
According to the WeChat public account of the Ziyang County Court, in January 2020, Jia Yingjun (the characters in the article are pseudonyms) of Yanmen Town, Langao County and Zhen Meili of Huishui Town, Ziyang County, began to date after being introduced to each other. In November 2020, the parties discussed their engagement and registered their marriage in the same month. In December 2020, the two held a marriage ceremony in accordance with rural customs. Later, due to the discord between the husband and wife, Jia Yingjun sued the Ziyang County People's Court, asking for a divorce from Zhen Meili and asking Zhen Meili to return the bride price.
In September 2023, the Ziyang County People's Court ruled to grant Jia Yingjun and Zhen Meili a divorce, and Zhen Meili must return a bride price of 50,000 yuan to Jia Yingjun. Later, because Zhen Meili failed to perform the payment obligations determined in the effective judgment on time, Jia Yingjun applied to the Ziyang County People's Court for compulsory enforcement.
The case entered the enforcement procedure, and the enforcement judge only found a deposit of a few dozen yuan in Zhen Meimei's name through the online investigation and control system, and the court froze her WeChat, Alipay, and bank accounts in accordance with the law. Later, she contacted Zhen Meili, the person subject to enforcement, and Zhen Meili promised to fulfill her legal obligations, but she needed time to raise money, but she did not perform it for a long time, and refused to answer the phone and evade enforcement. The executive judge went to Zhen Meimei's parents' house many times, but all of them were empty. Because Zhen Meimei, the person subject to enforcement, has been working outside for a long time, her whereabouts cannot be grasped, and progress cannot be made in the enforcement work.
On April 28, the enforcement judge received a call from Jia Yingjun, the applicant for execution, saying that "Zhen Meili was ...... at her parents' house" and immediately rushed to the door, and sure enough, it was Zhen Meili who came to open the door. During the search, it was found that Zhen Meili could not use her WeChat account normally because her WeChat account was frozen by the court, so she used her sister's ID number to re-register a new WeChat account to evade enforcement. The executive judge reprimanded Zhen Meili on the spot for this behavior and explained to Zhen Meili the legal consequences of refusing to perform the obligations set forth in the effective legal documents, and asked her to pay the bride price to the applicant Jia Yingjun as soon as possible, but Zhen Meili still had a stubborn attitude and did not have the slightest intention to fulfill it, and even said that she would rather be judicially detained than give money. In view of Zhen Meili's ability to perform but refusing to perform and evading enforcement, the enforcement judge punished Zhen Meili for 15 days of judicial detention in accordance with the law.
"Judge, I'll find a way to raise money immediately, I don't want to stay in the detention center for a moment, it's too torturous to stay inside......" After being detained for 3 days, Zhen Meili took the initiative to contact the executive judge, saying that he recognized the wrongness and seriousness of his previous behavior and expressed his willingness to actively repay the money. Subsequently, Zhen Meili contacted her relatives to send 20,000 yuan to repay Jia Yingjun, and asked her sister to guarantee her, promising to repay the remaining 30,000 yuan in installments on time. In accordance with relevant laws and regulations, the court released Zhen Meili from judicial detention ahead of schedule.
According to the data, on February 1, 2024, the "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Bride Price" came into effect, which further clarified the adjudication standards and curbed high bride prices in accordance with the law.
A search for the term "bride price" on the China Judgment Document Network shows more than 170,000 search results, of which 1,263 search results are displayed for the entry "bride price refund".
Screenshot of China Judgments Network
According to Jimu News, recently, the judge of the Wangjiahe People's Court of the Huangpi District People's Court of Wuhan City introduced that the bride price, as part of the marriage custom, exists in many areas when carrying out legal popularization publicity around issues such as bride price and anti-domestic violence in marriage. However, the bride price is not a necessary condition of marriage, nor is it the basis of the marriage relationship. Therefore, when dealing with bride price disputes, judges will emphasise the voluntary and non-mandatory nature of the bride price. When adjudicating disputes over marital property, they are to be analyzed according to the specific circumstances. This includes whether the parties have gone through the marriage registration formalities, whether they live together, and whether the payment of the bride price has caused hardship to the payor. According to different situations, the conditions and proportion of the return of the bride price are analyzed. For example, if the parties have not completed the marriage registration formalities or have completed the marriage registration formalities but have not lived together, the bride price should be returned in principle, while if the parties have completed the marriage registration formalities and live together, it is less likely that the bride price will be refunded in full, but a partial refund of the bride price may be requested based on special circumstances such as a short period of living together.
"The significance of properly handling marital property disputes is not only to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the parties and avoid excessive pursuit of economic interests and damage the harmony and stability of the marital relationship, but also to form a good judicial orientation through fair and reasonable adjudication results, provide correct value guidance for the public, and create positive social public order and good customs." Judge of the Wangjiahe Court of the Huangpi District People's Court said.
Article 1042 of the Civil Code stipulates that "arranged marriages, buying and selling marriages and other acts that interfere with the freedom of marriage are prohibited." It is forbidden to solicit money or property under the pretext of marriage. The "Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases Involving Disputes over Bride Prices", which came into effect in February this year, not only once again emphasizes that "it is forbidden to solicit property through marriage", but also further clearly stipulates the scope of the determination of the bride price, the rules for returning, and the subject of litigation. The judicial department's unification of adjudication standards and clarification of adjudication rules undoubtedly has a positive significance in tackling unhealthy trends in the field of marriage customs. In the past few months, Beijing, Xiantao, Hubei, and Fuping, Shaanxi have continuously announced cases of applying the "new rules on bride price", focusing on all kinds of improper acts of extorting property through marriage, using cases to explain the law and reasoning, and sending a clear signal that high-priced bride prices should be governed in accordance with the law.
Source: National Business Daily, Jimu News, Hebei Youth Daily, China Court Network, China Judgment Network, Economic Daily, Xiaoxiang Morning News