The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has overturned a 65-year-old rule that required judges to identify and give engagement rings to the wronged party in a break-up. “More than six decades ago, we recognized that an antenuptial ring generally is understood to be a conditional gift and determined that the donor may recover the ring

A woman must return a $70,000 engagement ring to her former fiance after a ruling Friday from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

That’s what the highest court in Massachusetts was asked to decide with a $70,000 ring at the center of the dispute. The court ultimately ruled Friday that an engagement ring must be returned to the person who purchased it, ending a six-decade state rule that required judges to try to identify who was to blame for the end of the relationship.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ultimately ruled Friday that an engagement ring must be returned to the person who purchased it.

Who gets to keep an engagement ring if a romance turns sour and the wedding is called off? That’s what the highest court in Massachusetts was asked to decide.

In a unanimous decision on Friday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that an engagement ring must be returned to the giver if the marriage never takes place, overturning the state’s long-held rule that the ring should go to whomever is not “at fault” for the breakup.