The Ruijin Municipal People's Court in East China's Jiangxi Province decided a
case late last month, ruling that a house donated by a man surnamed Wang to his
mistress, surnamed Liu, was invalid, the People's Court Daily reported.
According to the court record, Wang met Liu, a divorced woman, in 2004. They
bought a house in which to live together.
Wang later donated the house to Liu.
However, Li, Wang's wife, demanded that Liu return the house. Liu refused, and
Li went to court.
The court ruled that since the house was bought while Wang and Li were still
married, the house was the joint property of the husband and wife, according to
law.
When Wang decided to donate the house to Liu without asking permission from Li,
the legal property rights of the wife were infringed and the donation was
judged invalid, according to court sources.
Yang Dawen, a law professor at Renmin University in Beijing, agreed with the
court's judgment.
"According to the Marriage Law, properties acquired during the time period of
continued existence of marriage are owned by husband and wife together unless
they have special agreements," he told China Daily.
"But I believe that the one who infringed the wife's legal property rights was
the husband, instead of the mistress."
Yang said the wife should sue the husband instead.
A second case, decided by the Gulou District People's Court in Nanjing of East
China's Jiangsu Province, agreed with Yang's view. The court rejected the
wife's claim against her husband's mistress.
Wu Haiyang gave his mistress Xiao Yun 210,000 yuan (US$25,900). Qian Ya, Wu's
wife, sued Xiao, Nanjing Daily reported.
In mid-December, the court ruled against Qian.
"Although the relation between Wu and Xiao is against social virtue standard,
no law forbids Xiao to receive property from a married man," the ruling stated.
Since it was Wu who gave Xiao the money, which was the joint property of the
family, the one who infringed Qian's rights was Wu, the court said.
Although the Marriage Law makes no provision for protecting the mistress's
property rights, Yang said it still depends.
"For example, I once heard about a case in Southwest China's Sichuan Province,"
Yang said. "A mistress accompanied her lover during his last days of his life,
and the wife did not fulfil her duties at all.
"The man left part of his money to the mistress in his will. However, the court
deprived the mistress of the right to receive the money.
"I believe the judgment was not appropriate according to the Inheritance Law.
Non-heirs who foster the deceased should receive an appropriate inheritance."
