Women had property rights in the Song Dynasty
2022-04-25
Women in the Song Dynasty had the right to inherit property In the Southern Song Dynasty, in Baling county (now Yueyang, Hunan Province), there was an unmarried woman, surnamed Shi, known as "a Shi". Ashi is married, but not yet married. Her fiance's name is Liao WANYING. Ashi's parents died and left her no legacy. Her uncle Shi Juyi pitied the niece and gave her a piece of land. Ashi entrusted her brother Shi Hui to sell the property and exchange it for cash to buy a wedding dowry. But Shi Hui, who owed a lot of debt because of eating, drinking and having fun, actually took the 400 yuan from land sales as his own and used it to pay off his debt. Ah Shi's fiance Liao WANYING was very angry when he heard the news. He ran to the door and asked his brother-in-law Shi Hui for 400 yuan. Shi Hui refused, but Liao WANYING took him to court. According to the law of the Song Dynasty, the judge held that Liao WANYING had the right to ask Shi Hui to return his fiancee's dowry field. Shi Hui must redeem the field and return it to his sister and brother-in-law. The judgment of this property dispute case tells us that women in the Song Dynasty had property rights. Generally speaking, for unmarried girls, her property rights appear in the form of dowry. The unmarried woman received a dowry as the property she inherited from her mother's family, which was clearly stipulated in the law of the Song Dynasty. We should not underestimate the dowry of people in the Song Dynasty, because it was popular in the Song Dynasty. The dowry of girls was very rich, not just some gold and silver jewelry, but several acres, more than ten acres or even dozens of acres of land, or one or several sets of real estate. "Women get half as much as men" In the Southern Song Dynasty, the law stipulated the share of property that the daughter could inherit: "the parents are dead, the children divide the property, and the women get half of the men." That is, when brothers and sisters separate, the property shared by sisters is half that of their brothers. You know, no matter before or after the Song Dynasty, the law did not give women the right to inherit property "half of men". "Women get half as much as men", which is the share of property that girls can inherit when they have brothers. In another case, a family has only daughters and no men. According to the people of the Song Dynasty, this is called "hujue", because according to the ancient concept, only men can inherit incense. Without men, it means that incense should be cut off. The law of the Song Dynasty stipulates that in the case of "household extinction", a daughter can inherit all the inheritance of her parents. The daughter here refers to the unmarried daughter. If the family has both unmarried and married daughters, how can the inheritance be divided? The law stipulates that unmarried daughters inherit two-thirds and married women inherit one-third. The property inherited by a girl is usually kept in the form of "dowry". When she gets married, she can take it to her husband's house and be jointly owned by the young husband and wife. Her mother's house can't occupy this property, and the husband's house can't occupy the dowry brought by her daughter-in-law, because the law of the Song Dynasty stipulates that "there is no limit to the wealth of the wife's house". That is, when the extended family is separated, this private wealth does not need to be divided. Because the law has such a provision that some young men are greedy for small and cheap and buy houses and land with the common property of the extended family. However, it is written on the property right certificate that it is the dowry of their wife. In this way, when they are separated, these properties do not have to be taken out and fall into their own pockets. It's a duty for a wife not to take out her dowry. It's a virtue to take it out Since the wife's dowry belongs to the young couple, does the husband have the right to control the wife's dowry? not always. Because the power of dowry is usually firmly in the hands of the wife. That is to say, how to keep and handle their dowry, the wife has the final say. If the husband uses his wife's dowry, he will be looked down upon by others. Others will point out that this man is really worthless and even his wife's dowry will be misappropriated. Of course, a wife often takes out her dowry and gives it to her husband. When a wife does this, she is usually praised as a good person and written into her deeds. This also shows that it is a duty for a wife not to take out her dowry, and it is a virtue to take it out. As the dowry is actually at the disposal of the wife, in case of divorce in the future, the wife can take her personal property back to her mother's house or remarry. Therefore, the parents of some big families in the Song Dynasty would warn their sons not to secretly change the common property of the big family into your wife's dowry. Although this can take a small advantage, if your wife remarries in the future, these properties will be taken away by her. A wedding note is a property certificate In the Song Dynasty, two families formed an in laws family. Before the bride and groom got married, the two sides had to exchange wedding invitations. Among them, the woman's wedding invitation will state: which little woman is married in our family, ranking, name, birth date, and a very important column, which clearly lists the dowry for dowry. Why list the dowry for dowry? Is it to show off your wealth? no This is a prenuptial property certificate. In the future, if the young couple divorce or the wife remarries for other reasons, the wife can take away the dowry on the wedding invitation. The wedding note is the property certificate. However, after the Song Dynasty, the laws of the Ming and Qing Dynasties rarely mentioned women's right to inherit property, but according to folk customs, girls can generally inherit part of their property from their parents in the name of dowry. Please note that this is a folk custom, not a legal requirement. Rights not established by law are unstable after all. There may be such habits in some places and not in others. Moreover, according to the laws of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when a woman enters her husband's house with a dowry, the property will also belong to her husband's house. In the future, she can't go back to her mother's house after divorce or remarry. There is only one case of women's property rights explicitly recognized in the laws of the Ming and Qing Dynasties: a daughter can inherit her parents' inheritance without a son inheriting incense. But the law also stipulates that if the father dies without a son, the people have the obligation to choose a stepson for him, and the property is also inherited by the stepson, but there is still no daughter's share. Compared with the Song Dynasty, the property rights of women in the Ming and Qing dynasties can be said to have regressed. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
Source：
Special statement: if the pictures and texts reproduced or quoted on this site infringe your legitimate rights and interests, please contact this site, and this site will correct and delete them in time. For copyright issues and website cooperation, please contact through outlook new era email：lwxsd@liaowanghn.com
Recommended Reading Change it 
Home
