Breach of promise is a former tort. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

From at least medieval times until the early 20th century, a man's promise of engagement to marry a woman was considered, in many jurisdictions, a legally binding contract. If the man were to subsequently change his mind, he would be said to be in "breach" of this promise and subject to litigation for damages. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A contract is any legally-enforceable promise or set of promises made by one party to another and, as such, reflects the policies represented by freedom of contract. ...

The converse of this was seldom true; the concept that "it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind" had at least some basis in law and unless an actual dowry of money or property had changed hands, a man was unlikely to recover in a "breach of promise" suit against a woman were he even to be allowed to file one, although there were certainly exceptions to this. A dowry (also known as trousseau) is a gift of money or valuables given by the brides family to that of the groom to permit their marriage. ...

Changing social mores have led to the decline of this sort of action. Most jurisdictions, at least in the English-speaking, common law world, have become increasingly reluctant to intervene in cases of personal relationships not involving the welfare of children or actual violence. Many have repealed all laws regarding such eventualities; whereas in others the statute allowing such an action may technically remain on the books but the action has become very rare and unlikely to be pursued with any probability of success. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

Much of the theory regarding this tort was based on the idea that a female would be more likely to give up her virginity if she had the promise of a man that he would be marrying her; if the man subsequently refused marriage it was considered that this lack of virginity would make her future search for a suitable mate more difficult or even impossible. However, the loss of virginity was not a requirement for recovery, perhaps because of the difficulty in obtaining actual proof of this, and also because of the perception of its likelihood alone was sufficient grounds for recovery. A virgin is most commonly seen as a person who has not engaged in sexual intercourse. ...