The meaning of the terms “bride price” and “dowry” Before I proceed with the legal arguments advanced by both counsel in their submissions, I consider it necessary to determine the meaning of the terms ‘bride price’ and ‘dowry’ if you are to avoid confusion. This is because the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, which is not correct. The two terms are different. The research carried out from the dictionaries, text books in those countries where the practices exist, the terms bride price and dowry, were described as stated bellow: Firstly, the terms ‘bride price’ and ‘dowry’ refer to payments made at the time of marriage in many cultures, in Asia and Africa. Bride price is typically paid by the groom or the groom’s family to the bride’s family. Dowry is typically paid by the bride’s family to the bride or to the wedded couple. Thus bride price and dowry are not necessarily the converse of each other. However, in the twentieth century, dowry payments in South Asia have increasingly been demanded by and paid to the groom’s family (and not just to the bride or the wedded couple). This suggests a usage of the term dowry to mean a groom price, the reverse of a bride price. Bride price and dowry need not be mutually exclusive. Marriage transfers in both directions can occur simultaneously. A complex set of norms may then govern the nature and the magnitude of payments in either direction. Secondly, in Wikipedia, the term bride price sometimes known as bride wealth is described as “an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom or his family to the parents of a woman upon the marriage of their daughter to the groom. On the other hand, dowry is paid to the groom, or used by the bride to help establish the new household, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage.) In the anthropological literature, bride price has often been explained in market terms; as payment made in exchange for loss to the family of the bride of the bride’s labor and fertility within her kin group. The agreed bride price is generally intended to reflect the perceived value of the girl or young woman. The same culture may simultaneously practice both dowry and bride price. Most traditional marriage ceremonies, to be valid, depend on the payment of the bride price. Issues: Submissions by counsel for the parties The petitioners first argue that the demand for a bride price by parents of the bride from prospective sons-in-law as a condition precedent to a valid customary marriage perpetuates conditions of inequality between the husband and wife. Article 31 of the Constitution mandates that “women shall have the right to equal treatment with men...” As equals, the petitioners 5