Editing Breach of promise (section)

==Cause of action==
A breach of promise suit required a legally valid marriage engagement.<ref name=Reform>{{cite web |title=The Law Relating to Breach of Promise of Marriage |url=https://www.lawreform.ie/_fileupload/consultation%20papers/wpBreachofPromise.htm |website=Law Reform Commission |access-date=20 November 2021 |date=1978}}</ref>  Under [[Nevada]] law, this need not be in writing (as a prenuptial agreement is required to be), but may have been made orally by both parties.  All that is required is that each have promised the other to marry the other at some future time (no date certain is required). Generally, promises made by—but not to—people who had not reached the [[age of majority]] could be broken at any time, without penalty, as could the promise made by a married person (e.g., conditional upon the death of the current spouse), so long as the other party knew that the person was married at the time.  Similarly, an engagement between people who were not legally permitted to marry (e.g., because of [[consanguinity]] laws) was invalid.<ref name=Reform />

Valid engagements could be broken without penalty by either party upon discovery of significant and material facts, such as previously unknown financial state (if completely concealed, rather than partially revealed; the Shell case in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] in 2008 permitted a jury award to the woman of $150,000 although the man breaking the engagement stated that he did so after paying $30,000 of her debts when he discovered she still owed more),<ref name=ShellCase>{{cite news|title=Ga. Business Owner Ordered to Pay $150K for Broken Engagement|author=Neil, Martha|date=July 29, 2008|work=ABA Journal|url=https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ga_business_owner_ordered_to_pay_150k_for_broken_engagement}}</ref> bad character, fraud, too-close blood relations, or the absolute physical or mental incapacity of the betrothed.<ref name=Reform />  In [[South Africa]], engagements could be dissolved by mutual agreement. Impotence, sterility, criminality, and [[alcoholism]] also formed valid reasons to end an engagement.  Additionally, the person refusing to marry was unable to sue for breach of promise.

Some of the original theory behind this tort was based on the idea that a woman would be more likely to give up her [[virginity]] to a man if she had his promise to marry her.  If he seduced her and subsequently refused marriage, her lack of virginity would make her future search for a suitable husband more difficult or even impossible.<ref name=Brinig>{{cite journal |last1=Brinig |first1=Margaret F. |title=Rings and Promises |journal=Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization |date=Spring 1990 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=203–215}}</ref>

However, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the main factors were compensation for the denial of the woman's expectations of becoming "established" in a household (supported by her husband's wealth) and possible damage to her social reputation, since there were a number of ways that the reputation of a young never-married woman of the genteel classes could be damaged by a broken engagement, or an apparent period of intimacy which did not end in a publicly announced engagement, even if few people seriously thought that she had lost her virginity.  She might be viewed as having broken the code of maidenly modesty of the period by imprudently offering up her affections without having had a firm assurance of future marriage.

During the early 20th century, social standards changed so that a woman who had pre-marital sex was no longer considered to be "ruined". During that time, half of American women lost their virginity during their marriage engagements.<ref name=Brinig/>  Compensation was based on emotional distress and the woman's reduced opportunity for a future marriage.  Damages were greatly increased if the couple had engaged in pre-marital sexual intercourse.<ref name=Brinig />