The highest court in Massachusetts was asked to decide who gets to keep a $70,000 ring at the center of the dispute.

Massachusetts' top court on Friday ruled that a would-be bride must return a $70,000 engagement ring from Tiffany & Co to her former fiancé in a decision that ended 65 years of courts in the New England state trying to sort through who is to blame when a relationship falls apart.

The ruling marks a departure from a decades-old state rule requiring courts to assess who was responsible for a breakup.

Massachusetts’ highest court reversed a longstanding ruling, saying an engagement ring must be returned if the wedding falls through. After a year of dating that included trips to the US Virgin Islands and Italy,

When a Massachusetts man sued his ex-fiancée for a $70,000 engagement ring, the state's Supreme Court ruled that the ring should be returned to the buyer if the marriage is called off.

The ruling puts a definitive end to a six-decade-old state rule that required judges to try to identify who was to blame for the end of the relationship.