10
Legal Issues Regarding Engagement Rings
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Diamond engagement ring is worn by a ladies to indicate betrothal, and are historically given as gifts by their would-be fiancée on the occasion of a proposal. The acknowledgment of one is widely viewed as an agreement to marry. This custom raises interesting legal issues in cases where the engagement is broken off. In some jurisdictions inside the United States, engagement rings, while recognized as gifts, are thought to be conditional gifts and so subject to conditions specifically, the contract to enter into wedding. Legal theory sometimes holds that gifts can’t be revoked once given, but being a conditional present means that there’s a duty to return such items on request.
The problem can be much more complicated when an engagement is broken off by the man, practically always the party to offer engagement rings. Some courts will reason that fault is unimportant to the undeniable fact that the condition of engagement underlying the giving no longer exists, while other jurisdictions like to tell the difference between various details,eg the very timing of the giving; for example, rings offered at Christmastime have a higher likelihood of being viewed simply as common gifts, regardless of the stated purpose. Still other authorities may decide that such rings are the total gifts of the fiancée.
Another entrancing, though less bothersome, aspect to engagement ring lore concerns their demeanour of wear. In Anglo-Saxon cultures, it is usual for the ring to be worn on the left hand, whereas it is far more commonly found on the right hand in continental countries such as Germany, Poland, and the Ukraine. And it is increasingly in the case in the United States and Canada for well-off upper-class women to buy man-gagement rings for their fiancée. There are presently even such things as pre-engagement rings, called promise rings, which a pair may choose together!
