Bride price is central to marriage in most of Papua New Guinea and appears nowhere in the Marriage Act (Chapter 280) by name. Its legal treatment follows from the way the Act deals with custom.
Where bride price sits in the law
Section 3 makes a customary marriage one entered into in accordance with the custom prevailing in the tribe or group. Where that custom requires bride price, bride price is part of what makes the marriage.
Custom is part of the underlying law by Schedule 2 of the Constitution, applied through the Customs (Recognition) Act (Chapter 19) and the Underlying Law Act 2000.
Bride price is a transfer of value — money, pigs, shell money, garden produce, vehicles — from the man’s family or clan to the woman’s. It is characteristically:
- Between families or clans, not between the two individuals;
- Publicly made and witnessed, often with a formal counting or display;
- Negotiated in advance between the families;
- Contributed to by many people on the paying side, and distributed among many on the receiving side.
The last point matters: because a wide group contributes and a wide group receives, bride price creates obligations and expectations extending well beyond the couple.
Bride price and the validity of the marriage
There is no national rule that a marriage is invalid without bride price. Section 3 refers the question to the custom of the relevant tribe or group, and customs differ — on whether payment is required at all, on whether part payment suffices, and on whether the marriage takes effect on agreement or only on payment.
So in any dispute the questions are: what does this custom require, and was that done. Both are decided on evidence — see proving a marriage.
Even where custom does not make payment essential, evidence of a bride price transaction is among the strongest indicators that a customary marriage was made. It is public, witnessed, and involves both families — which is why it is the first thing a court looks for.
Bride price on dissolution
On annulling a customary marriage entered into in contravention of section 5, a Local Court may make further orders “whether to adjust property rights as though the marriage were dissolved in accordance with custom, or otherwise, as to it seems just”.
The Act assumes that dissolution in accordance with custom carries property consequences, and directs a court to apply them. In most customs those consequences centre on whether bride price is returned, in whole or in part.
Customs commonly take account of:
- Who was at fault in the breakdown;
- How long the marriage lasted;
- Whether there are children, and where they will live;
- What was consumed or distributed and cannot be returned.
Because the payment was made and received by families, a return obligation typically falls on the woman’s family rather than on her personally — which is a frequent source of pressure on a woman who wishes to leave a marriage. That is precisely the kind of circumstance section 5(1)(b) contemplates as a hardship to compel her to conform to custom.
The limits of bride price
1. It does not create ownership of the woman. The Constitution guarantees the right to freedom (s 32), freedom from inhuman treatment (s 36), freedom from forced labour (s 42) and equality of citizens (s 55). Custom that is inconsistent with those provisions is not applied.
2. It does not override consent. Section 5 allows a Local Court to forbid a marriage where the woman objects and excessive pressure has been brought to bear, whatever has been paid.
3. It cannot validate a child marriage. Section 86 of the Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015 creates an offence of child marriage, and section 80 addresses harmful customary practices. Payment does not answer either.
4. It does not defeat a maintenance claim. The obligations to maintain a child and, in matrimonial proceedings, a spouse, are statutory and independent of any customary payment.
Practical points
- Record the transaction. A written list of what was given, by whom, to whom, on what date and before which witnesses is invaluable years later — for proving the marriage and for resolving any return claim.
- Identify the custom. Where the families come from different groups, agree at the outset whose custom governs the payment and any return.
- Deal with return expressly on separation. A Local Court can adjust property rights on customary lines under section 5(3); in matrimonial proceedings the National Court has power under section 75 of the Matrimonial Causes Act to order a settlement of property.
- Keep children’s arrangements separate. Bride price disputes should not determine where children live — that is governed by the best interests of the child under the Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015.
Sources
- Marriage Act (Chapter 280) — ss 3, 5
- Lukautim Pikinini Act 2015 — ss 80, 86; Matrimonial Causes Act (Chapter 282) — s 75
- Constitution — ss 32, 36, 42, 55, Schedule 2; Customs (Recognition) Act (Chapter 19)
Before relying on anything here, read the current text of the Marriage Act (Chapter 280) and check for later amendments. If a decision matters to you, get advice — start with the Office of the Public Solicitor, or find a firm in the law firms directory.