Page 67 - The Circle of Life

returned and if not the third party can sue you under the Roman law principle of

condictio causa data causa non secuta. Many times this may be a cash amount
or furniture or whatever as long as it is not so small that de minimis enters the
fray.

My advice to you is to take your engagement seriously. Once you make the

commitment you need to see it through unless something happens or you
become aware of one of the defenses as mentioned above which gives you good

cause in law to break the engagement. When that happens return the gifts (it
will anyway just bring bad luck and bad memories) and carry on with your life. A

broken engagement is sad enough. You don't need further agro. To forgive is to
forget.

Lastly the aggrieved party may sue for loss of face which is under the law of

delict or torts as they say in England. This where the marriage was only a few
days (hours) away and now it is called off. You must be inhumane not to

understand the feelings of shame and humiliation for the innocent party and the
courts do look at such cases with much sympathy. Likewise there may have

been (always are) huge costs involved for the reception and so forth. That may
also be claimed with legal costs and interest from you under special damages.

The court will definitely take into account the amount of publicity involved and
when the breach took place and how it was done. You will pay dearly for any

humiliation you caused the innocent party.

All couples have pre-marriage jitters and a nice argument the days before for
the wedding for it is a stressful time. Every girl dreams of her wedding and us
men don't really understand how important that day is for we concentrate on the

wedding night and honeymoon arrangements. We just don't think about

weddings the same way! So be nice and supportive to your fiancée. She is worth
it.

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