[2] Compiled from: Shanghai Legal News, Weibo
 
Case review
[3] On January 4, 2021, the Minhang District Court in Shanghai ruled for the first time on a special marriage annulment case under the newly implemented Civil Code.

 
 

[4] Li and Jiang met through a blind date, got engaged in November 2019, and then lived together. In April 2020, Li became pregnant, and the couple registered their marriage on June 28. That same day, they underwent premarital checkups at the hospital. The next day, the results revealed that Jiang had been diagnosed with AIDS for eight years. The doctor required Jiang to confess his condition to Li, or the doctor would inform her. On June 29, Jiang voluntarily confessed, and Li only then learned that her husband had concealed his AIDS diagnosis for years.
 
[5] Afterwards, Jiang stated that his AIDS was no longer in the infectious stage and thus would not infect Li or the child. However, Li could no longer accept him as her husband, so she decided not only to terminate the pregnancy but also to seek annulment of the marriage.
 
 
Relevant legal provisions
[6] Article 1053 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China
If one party suffers from a serious disease, they shall truthfully inform the other party before marriage registration; if they fail to do so, the other party may request the People's Court to annul the marriage.
 
A request for annulment of marriage shall be made within one year from the date the party knows or should have known the grounds for annulment.
 
 
[1] Court Opinion
After trial, the court held that in this case, the defendant failed to truthfully inform the plaintiff of his HIV infection before marriage registration. The plaintiff filed a lawsuit within one year of learning the truth, requesting annulment of the marriage, which should be supported. Therefore, the court legally ruled to annul the marriage between the plaintiff and defendant. After the marriage is annulled, the marital relationship has no legal effect from the beginning.

 

 
[1] The author's perspective
Before the official implementation of the Civil Code, AIDS was not a disease that rendered a marriage invalid. In this case, although the defendant had AIDS, it was no longer in the infectious period due to long-term medication control. Thus, if the plaintiff had sought a declaration of marriage invalidity, it would not have been supported. If the plaintiff had sought annulment of the marriage, it would not have met the revocable conditions under the Marriage Law at that time. This left the plaintiff, who was clearly the non-fault party, without effective legal remedy.
 
After the implementation of the Civil Code, not only is concealing a serious illness before marriage registration listed as a ground for the non-fault party to annul the marriage, but the non-fault party is also granted the right to claim damages. Thus, the plaintiff obtained the most effective means of protecting their rights.
 
In this case, although Jiang and Li registered their marriage before the implementation of the Civil Code, it was after the Civil Code was enacted, and their marital status has continued to the present. The revocable ground involved is a new provision of the Civil Code. To protect the interests of the non-fault party and following the principle of favorable retroactivity, the court ultimately rendered the above judgment based on the relevant provisions of the Civil Code.