Wreath money
In Germany, wreath money was a financial compensation that an " innocent " woman (see below) could claim from her former fiancé if she had sexual intercourse with him on the basis of a marriage promise and he subsequently broke the engagement . The same was true for newly engaged widows .
Word origin
There are two explanations of the origin of the word: A no longer virginal bride, the straw maid, had to wear a straw wreath at the wedding according to old custom . The innocent bride, however, was allowed to present herself in a myrtle wreath . The other version is that the virgin bride wore a closed wreath and the no longer virgin bride or widow an open one.
Original regulation in the BGB
Under German private law , pecuniary damage can normally only be compensated for within the scope of compensation (cf. § 253 Paragraph 1 BGB ). The “dishonor” of the virgin is, however, an ideal damage. The entitlement to wreath money, similar to the entitlement to compensation for pain and suffering, which still exists today , was an exception to this principle. The claim was regulated in Section 1300 of Book Four ( Family Law ) of the Civil Code of 1896 and came into force with it on January 1, 1900.
Section 1300 BGB read:
- (1) If an innocent fiancé has allowed her fiancé to live next door, then, if the requirements of Section 1298 or Section 1299 are met, she can also demand cheap monetary compensation because of the damage that is not pecuniary damage.
- (2) The claim is not transferable and does not pass to the heirs, unless it has been recognized by contract or has become pending.
The claim for damages was justified by the fact that the single woman had fewer chances of a proper marriage with another man because of the loss of her virginity . If, on the other hand, the single or widow was no longer “innocent” before the apartment , she was also not entitled to wreath payments, whereby the term “disreputable” referred not only to unchastity , but also to other issues, such as B. Prison stays.
Judgments
In 1966, the Bamberg Higher Regional Court ruled that a woman could no longer be considered innocent if she had had sexual intercourse just once, and that she was therefore not entitled to wreath money. In 1967 the Düsseldorf District Court ruled that a “mature” woman in professional life was not entitled to wreath money from her considerably younger Italian fiancé. In 1968, a woman successfully sued the Cologne Higher Regional Court for a wreath payment, in 1972 the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court dismissed a corresponding claim for unconstitutionality.
The last documented conviction for a wreath payment according to § 1300 BGB (here: 1000 DM) took place in 1980 at the Korbach District Court . In 1993, the Münster District Court dismissed a corresponding action in the amount of DM 1,000 on the grounds that Section 1300 BGB violated the principle of equality of the Basic Law ( Art. 3 GG) because of the changed morals and was therefore no longer applicable.
A constitutional complaint against this decision was not accepted by the Federal Constitutional Court . At that time, the regulation was no longer of great practical importance. It was pre-constitutional law, with the result that the courts could easily classify it as unconstitutional and ignore it; a submission to the Federal Constitutional Court was not required.
abolition
In the German Democratic Republic , the Supreme Court declared the regulation unconstitutional as early as 1952.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, Section 1300 of the German Civil Code was only deleted without replacement by the law on the reorganization of marriage law from May 4, 1998 to July 1, 1998.
The other paragraphs between § 1297 to § 1302 BGB continue to exist. According to § 1297 , § 1298 , whoever withdraws from the engagement or culpably causes the withdrawal of the other has to reimburse the other to a reasonable extent for expenses as well as damage from entering into obligations and other measures in anticipation of the marriage . According to Section 1301 , engagement gifts can be requested back if the marriage does not take place.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Law: Decisions . The mirror . September 4, 1967. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ↑ Law: Decisions . The mirror . January 8, 1968. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ↑ The "Kranzgeld" is not unconstitutional. Abandoned bride is entitled to compensation. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. August 14, 1968. Retrieved September 22, 2015 .
- ↑ Defloration: Not a penny . The mirror . October 30, 1972. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ Korbach District Court, Journal for Damage Law , 1981, pp. 65–66.
- ^ AG Münster, judgment of December 8, 1992, Az. 50 C 628/92, NJW 1993, 1720 .; Spiegel report on this
- ↑ BVerfG, Chamber decision of February 5, 1993, Az. 1 BvR 39/93, FamRZ 1993, 662. iurado.de
