Image: Kelly Sikkema
A lawyer from Ghana has created a buzz on the internet after explaining that legally, you can sue your ex-boyfriend if he promised you marriage but at the end of the day he canceled his promise to you.
Ernestina Obboh Botchwey explained that legally, as soon as a person proposes to his lover and the lover accepts, that is enough of a contract that should not be violated in any way.
Canceling the engagement is the same as violating a part of the law and you can be accused by the lover of breaking the contract.
He said that the affronted lover can sue for damages and even want to be compensated for the damage caused to them by false promises about marriage.
"In the law, we see that the promise of marriage is like a contract. If someone says that he will marry you and you say I agree, then that is a covenant. It is an agreement that someone has agreed to marry you. Therefore, the exchange of marriage promises between the two is the interpretation of a covenant or contract. So if someone tells you he will marry you and later says he doesn't want to marry you, then the contract will be broken and that's why we say it's breaking the marriage covenant."
The lawyer, however, emphasized that a person must show evidence in court that their ex-lover really promised them marriage in order to also give the defendant a chance to defend themself and the reasons why they canceled the promise to marry their partner.
He continued to say that, however, the court does not have any authority to compel the person who violated the promise to marry or to be married to do so because their decisions are independent.
What will probably happen is that if the defendant is found guilty, they might be required to give compensation for wasting time and causing inconvenience to the plaintiff.
Some people agreed with the lawyer's explanation while others said that it will be a relief, especially for the men who promise to marry a rich woman but leave after using those women.
