and the woman's reduced opportunity for a future marriage. Damages were greatly increased if the couple had engaged in pre-marital sexual intercourse. Laws in different countries England and Wales In England and Wales until 1970 a woman whose fiancé broke off their engagement could sue him for breach of promise, whilst a woman, was permitted to change her mind without penalty. The last prominent case was in 1969, when Eva Haraldsted sued George Best, a prominent footballer, for breach of promise. England and Wales undertook legal reforms in 1970 that generally made property disputes related to engagements to be handled like property disputes between married couples. On 1 January 1971 the tort was abolished in England and Wales by section 1 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1970. Asia In Hong Kong, similar to the situation in England, engagements to marry are not enforceable at law by legislation, damages for distress caused and reliance on the breach of promise are claimable, if the plaintiff suffers sufficiently serious consequences in light of the specific circumstances, for instance in Cheung Suk Man v So Shek Keung [1965] HKLR 485. In 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled that sex on false promise of marriage constitutes rape. North America In Canada, the common law action has been abolished in some provinces by legislation. For example, in Saskatchewan, the action for breach of promise was formally abolished by legislation in 2010. The first known lawsuit for breach of promise in colonial America and the first in which the defendant was a woman was Cecily Jordan Farrar. This case was tried in the chambers of the Virginia Company, and never went to a civil court, as the plaintiff withdrew his complaint. The first successful case was Stretch v Parker in 1639. In 1915, Louis A. Merrilat, an American football end and military officer active in the early 20th century, was sued by Helen Van Ness for breach of promise after breaking off an engagement. Merrilat hired the noted Chicago attorney Clarence Darrow to defend him against the charges, which were eventually dismissed. In the United States, most states repealed breach-of-promise laws or limited them, beginning in 1935. Partly as a result, expensive diamond engagement rings, previously uncommon, began to become commonplace, and formed a sort of financial security for the woman. South Carolina is one of the states that still recognizes a breach of