A married daughter is like spilled water? Court: Men and women are equal!

Compiled from: Laixi Court
 
Case review
On October 11, 1999, Zhou signed a land contract with the village committee, contracting 5.5 mu of land named "Daguai" and 5.6 mu of land named "Hexiya" to Zhou's family for operation, with family members including Zhou, his remarried wife Wu, and their children Zhou Da, Zhou Hong, Zhou Xia, totaling 8 people. Among them, Zhou Hong and Zhou Xia married into other villages in 2003 and 2009 respectively, and their household registrations were also moved out, but neither obtained contracted land in the places where their registrations were transferred.

 
 

On January 1, 2005, Zhou Da separated from his parents under the auspices of the village committee, signing a support agreement, and stipulating that the 5.6 mu of "Hexiya" land would be cultivated by Zhou Da, while the remaining land would be cultivated by the parents. After Zhou's death, Wu entrusted Zhou Da to cultivate 2.5 mu of the "Daguai" land on her behalf. Later, a dispute arose over the land contract management rights, and Wu, Zhou Hong, and Zhou Xia, as plaintiffs, sued Zhou Da in court.
 
 
Relevant legal provisions
Article 6 of the Rural Land Contract Law
In rural land contracting, women and men enjoy equal rights. The legitimate rights and interests of women shall be protected during contracting, and no organization or individual may deprive or infringe upon the land contract management rights that women should enjoy.
 
Article 31 of the Rural Land Contract Law
During the contract period, if a woman marries and has not obtained contracted land in her new place of residence, the contracting party shall not take back her original contracted land; if a woman divorces or becomes widowed and still lives in her original place of residence, or does not live in her original place of residence but has not obtained contracted land in her new place of residence, the contracting party shall not take back her original contracted land.
 
Article 30 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests
The state guarantees that women enjoy equal property rights with men.

 

 
[1] Court Opinion
After trial, the court held that Zhou Mouhong and Zhou Mouxia, having married out and not been allocated contracted land in the villages they married into, should have their land contract rights in their original villages protected. According to the support agreement submitted by Zhou Mouda, Wu and Zhou Mouda reached a consensus in 2005 on the distribution of contracted land among family members, and this distribution plan was also recognized by the village committee, so both parties should execute it accordingly. Under this agreement, Zhou Mouda could manage 5.6 mu of land at "Heixi Cliff," but for 2.5 mu of the 5.5 mu at "Daguai," he did not submit evidence to prove he could manage it. Considering the membership of Zhou's family contracted household, the original contracted household now has six members. The three plaintiffs' claim for the contract rights to the 5.5 mu of land at "Daguai" is reasonable, and this court supports it. Zhou Mouda should return the 2.5 mu of land he occupies to Wu, Zhou Mouhong, and Zhou Mouxia.
 
 
[1] The author's perspective
Nowadays, traditional village customs and folk agreements still exist to varying degrees, neglecting women's rights. Coupled with imperfect policies and frequent population mobility, this leads to many issues regarding the confirmation of collective economic rights for married-out women in rural areas.
 
In fact, the law has long stipulated whether married-out women still enjoy the contract rights to collective economic land in their original villages after their household registration is moved out. In this case, Zhou Mouhong and Zhou Mouxia, as women who have married out, should not have their original contracted land forcibly taken back by their natal village committee before obtaining contracted land in the villages they married into, nor should their siblings encroach on their land shares. The rights granted to rural women by law cannot be illegally deprived by any organization or individual.