In ancient times, there was no clear and unified strict format requirement for the format of divorce papers, and the divorce papers of past dynasties had their own characteristics in both format and content. However, no matter how the content and format of divorce papers change, they basically include the following basic parts: the reasons for writing divorce papers, when they were written, by whom and to whom.

The appearance of divorce certificate originated from the unreasonable social legal system in ancient feudal society, but divorce certificate was recognized and legal in ancient times. The role of divorce in ancient times is equivalent to that of divorce law in modern society. But in ancient society, divorce documents were generally written by men to women, that is, when men and their wives divorced.

In ancient China, marriage was a great event. When two people get married, they not only have parents' orders and matchmakers' words, but also need an engagement marriage certificate, that is, a marriage promise. In this way, after they get married, their marriage is legal and valid because of the existence of the marriage certificate.

After marriage, if two people are not in harmony and want to separate, then the man needs to write a divorce certificate or a divorce certificate. However, if the wedding has not been held yet and only an engagement letter is issued, one party will unilaterally break the contract and bear the legal consequences stipulated by the society at that time.

China Since the Han Dynasty, although women have the freedom to choose divorce, men have greater privileges in divorcing their wives. Men don't need to go through any legal means, just write a divorce letter to dissolve the relationship between husband and wife.

Since the Han dynasty, the "seven-out" rule of divorcing a wife has been formed. If the woman meets any of these conditions, such as "infertile, disobedient to women, not filial to parents, gossiping, stealing, jealous and seriously ill", the man can order his wife to leave with a piece of paper.

However, the rules of divorcing wives in the past dynasties will change according to the characteristics of the times, but no matter how the times change, the divorce documents in the past dynasties are generally written by men who divorced their wives, and the contents will specify the reasons for divorcing their wives, the names of the two people who want to divorce and the time when they wrote the divorce documents.