The Jurisprudential-Legal Feasibility of Increasing Mahr After the Formation of a Permanent Marriage Contract: A Review of Judicial Practice
Keywords:
permanent marriage, dowry, the amount of dowry, dowry increasingJudicial ProcedureAbstract
The views of Imamiyyah jurists regarding the amount of mahr are divided into two categories. A small number of jurists maintain that the amount of mahr should not exceed five hundred dirhams. However, the predominant opinion among Imamiyyah jurists is that mahr has no minimum or maximum quantitative limit, and that the determining criterion is the mutual intention and agreement of the spouses in this regard. Regarding the maximum amount of mahr, Sunni jurists unanimously agree that mahr has no fixed upper limit; nevertheless, they differ concerning the minimum amount of mahr. In Iranian positive law, Article 1080 of the Civil Code, following the predominant opinion of Imamiyyah jurists, considers the determination of mahr to be subject to the mutual consent of the contracting parties and does not prescribe any minimum or maximum limit for it. Increasing the amount of mahr after the marriage contract is among the agreements that are currently common in social custom and practice. Concerning the legal nature of such agreements, jurists and legal scholars have expressed two different views. One view holds that an increase in mahr after the marriage contract, even if binding and enforceable, does not constitute mahr. The other view considers the agreed additional amount to be part of the mahr itself. Judicial practice has likewise not adopted a uniform position regarding the validity of such agreements. In the authors’ opinion, increasing mahr after the marriage contract possesses both legal and Sharīʿa legitimacy, and the parties may, based on the principle of freedom of contract and autonomy of will, increase the amount of mahr after the realization of the marriage.
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