民国妇女嫁妆所有权的法律规定及实施效果

Legal Regulations and Implementation Effects of Women’s Dowry Ownership in the Republic of China

嫁妆是女子出嫁时带至新家庭的财物。20世纪初以来,在精英人士保障妇女权益呼声下,民国政府相继出台一系列涉及保障女子嫁妆所有权的法律。虽然民初法律及法院判例对妇女嫁妆的所有权界定不一,但随着时间推移,法律、判例的总趋势是支持妇女拥有其嫁妆的所有权。在此基础上,民国嫁妆法律对彼时妇女在家庭及社会中的地位产生一定的影响。

Dowry is the property that a woman brings to her new family when she gets married.Since the early 20th century, under the voice of elites to protect women’s rights and interests, the government of the Republic of China successively issued a series of laws related to the protection of women’s dowry ownership. Although laws and court precedents in the early Republic of China had different definitions of women’s dowry ownership, but over time, the general trend of laws and precedents is to support women’s ownership of their dowry. On this basis, dowry law of the Republic of China had a certain impact on the status of women in family and society at that time.