Article 809 of the Korean Civil Code (Korean: 민법 제809조) was the codification of a traditional rule prohibiting marriage between men and women who have the same surname resulting from belonging to the same clan and possessing the same genealogical patriline and sharing the same ancestral home (bon-gwan). On 16 July 1997, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled the article unconstitutional. The National Assembly of South Korea passed an amendment to the Article in March 2002, which came into force on 31 March 2005, and prohibited marriage only between men and women who are closely related. Rules restricting marriage In Korea, a child inherits his or her father’s surname. Traditionally, men and women who have the same surnames and "ancestral homes", called dongseong dongbon (Hangul: 동성동본, Hanja: 同姓同本), are not permitted to marry. The rule, called honinbeop (Hangul: 혼인법, Hanja: 婚姻法), originated in China, and can be traced back at least to the late Joseon Dynasty in Korea. In the context of Confucianism, the rule was a mechanism to maintain family identities and ensure the integrity of the family as a sociopolitical institution. The marriage rule was codified as Article 809 in 1957. It read as follows:Article 809 [Prohibition of marriage between parties whose surname and ancestral home are common] (1): A marriage may not be allowed between blood relatives, if both surname and its origin are common to the parties. Those surnamed Kim (Hangul: 김, Hanja: 金), for example, can be divided between 282 different blood ancestors, each of whom are identified with a different ancestral home. The two most populous branches of the Kim clans are Gimhae (with 4 million members) and Gyeongju (1.5 million members). As these two Kim clans descend from different patrilineages, a Gimhae Kim and a Gyeongju Kim can marry. Before the 1997 Constitutional Court decision, however, two members of the 4 million Gimhae Kim could not marry, regardless of the distance of their relationship. Because of population growth, greater mobility and increasing urbanisation in South Korea, the chance of meeting and falling in love with someone from one's own patrilineage was much greater. It was especially a problem for the three largest Korean clans, the Gimhae Kims, the Milyang Parks, and the Jeonju Lees. Despite Article 809, many men and women sharing the same patrilineage chose to live together as husband and wife. The common surname marriage ban was temporarily lifted by special