In case you were ever wondering about this, engagement rings are treated as “conditional gifts” under Pennsylvania law. As a legal matter, the purchaser/giver of the ring is entitled to recovery of the ring, if the engagement is called off.
In case you were further curious, the law views a broken engagement as a “no fault” situation. In other words, the giver is entitled to have the ring back no matter who breaks off the engagement. This was the decision in the 1999 case of Lindh v. Surman. This case, incidentally, made it all of the way to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
We do not necessarily endorse the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision, and, whatever your opinion is on the subject, we agree with you.
–BBC&B