Interesting. Is a marriage proposition (engagement) a verbal contract?

Kramodlog · Dec 6, 2013

Seems that for this guy it was, since has to pay 50k.

Scorpio616 · Dec 7, 2013

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Breach+of+Marriage+Promise

Kramodlog · Dec 7, 2013

Scorpio616 said:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Breach+of+Marriage+Promise

And no one thought of showing that to the judge!? /gasp

Jan van Leyden · Dec 7, 2013

For a very long tijme (I think until the eighties or nineties) we had a curious pragraf in German civil law: the Kränzchen-Paragraph. A woman who lost her virginity to a man after he had proposed marriage to her, could sue fo indemnity. Äpparently her value on the open market was diminished. :hmm:

NewJeffCT · Dec 7, 2013

goldomark said:
Seems that for this guy it was, since has to pay 50k.

My initial response would be that the contract is worth the paper it's printed on...however, a quick look-up shows that while it's been repealed in most states, some states (like Georgia) still have it on the books, though it's rarely enforced.

http://quizlet.com/12829945/ga-family-law-flash-cards/

Edited to add - the guy seems like a moron as well, "Even though I gave her a $10,000 engagement ring, I never really intended to marry her..." And, despite sleeping with at least two other women, you never really intended to cheat on her, either...

MarkB · Dec 7, 2013

goldomark said:
And no one thought of showing that to the judge!? /gasp

Why would they? It appears to align pretty well with the ruling given.

sabrinathecat · Dec 8, 2013

Jan van Leyden said:
For a very long time (I think until the eighties or nineties) we had a curious pragraph in German civil law: the Kränzchen-Paragraph. A woman who lost her virginity to a man after he had proposed marriage to her, could sue for indemnity. Äpparently her value on the open market was diminished.

Ah yes. That sounds like a law written for a different culture--based on attitudes out of the dark ages.
Really, an experienced woman is far better.
(OK, enough of being a sexist pig).
There are embarrassing laws in just about every culture.

Clearly the person here was an idiot. You don't ask if you don't plan on going through with it. On the other hand, she's better off for finding out now, and so is her family. (Is it still traditional that the Bride's family has to pay for the wedding?)

Zombie_Babies · Dec 9, 2013

NewJeffCT said:
Edited to add - the guy seems like a moron as well, "Even though I gave her a $10,000 engagement ring, I never really intended to marry her..." And, despite sleeping with at least two other women, you never really intended to cheat on her, either...

Happens all the time. They do it to shut the broad up. It works, as this guy found out, for a time. Not a foolproof fix, of course, but it does silence the noise for a while. Aside from that, his defense argued that it was a relationship in the vein of prostitution - not love. He paid her for sex. A $10k ring could buy a decent amount of sex.

NewJeffCT · Dec 9, 2013

Zombie_Babies said:
Happens all the time. They do it to shut the broad up. It works, as this guy found out, for a time. Not a foolproof fix, of course, but it does silence the noise for a while. Aside from that, his defense argued that it was a relationship in the vein of prostitution - not love. He paid her for sex. A $10k ring could buy a decent amount of sex.

He may have viewed it that way, but she did not. And, if he really viewed it like prostitution, why give her a symbol of eternal love? Why not just $10,000 cash? Or, give her $10,000 towards a car?

Homicidal_Squirrel · Dec 9, 2013

NewJeffCT said:
He may have viewed it that way, but she did not. And, if he really viewed it like prostitution, why give her a symbol of eternal love? Why not just $10,000 cash? Or, give her $10,000 towards a car?

He could have been hoping to get the ring back later on. Had he given her money, she would have spent it by now.