Morning-gift, a Special Marital Legal Instrument
Morning-gift, a Special Marital Legal Instrument

Summary/Abstract: The morning-gift as an instrument must have been an integral part of the legal system of the era for decades or centuries. In the history of Hungarian law, the instrument of morning-gift existed until the time of the 19th century civil law codification efforts; even during the discussions on the civil law bill debates, its basic form was intended to be eliminated, whereas written morning-gift was wished to be kept.The first specific sum was determined in Werbőczy’s work. In periods before Werbőczy, the extent of this legal instrument was not provided; it was the social status and properties of the husband that were considered.However, in the second half of the 19th century, it was pointed out that whereas specific sums were favourable in former times, as the given sum was the amount payable to the wife as a minimum, the inflation caused the sums specified in the legislation to be ridiculously low.

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