Maybe its a nitpick, but strictly speaking Ukyo has the
strongest claim on Ranma, both legally and based on giri.
She has an actual Marriage pledge, and her dowery was
accepted as a gift. That places a big responsibility on
the Saotome's to make good, or lose big chunks of family
 honor.

Remember that Ukyou gambled off her dowry to the Gambling King, however...
I'm wondering how this affects the situation.  Judging how the way Ranma
gambled off the Tendou dojo, and that the Gambling King was able to claim
the dojo even though Ranma hadn't yet inherited it or recieved it as a
wedding gift, I would have to say that Ukyou has no real dowry, since the
okonomiyaki cart belongs to the Gambling King immediately upon her loss of
it, even if he didn't claim the cart immediately.  This is based on the way
things worked out with respect to the Tendou dojo, and doesn't try to take
any real laws or believablity into account.

So, Ukyou's dowry was given under false pretenses, that the dowry actually
belonged to either Ukyou or her father, which, from the way the situation
with the dojo was handled, doesn't seem to be the case.

Does anybody else have opinions on how this would work out?  Keep them with
respect to the way the dojo was handled, since reality doesn't apply and
there are no other standards.

Besides, the pledge between the Saotome's and Tendo's
was to unite the schools by blood. I honestly don't
remember them actually saying anywhere that that
 condition HAD to be met via marriage, it was merely assumed.

It was 'unite the schools', no mention of how was made, blood or otherwise.

However, back to topic... Ukyo does love Ranma, and
 she's shown in the manga that she'd throw away her
 okonoiyaka fetish, to be a good wife to Ranma.
(the whole "sauce" story in the manga showed this)
I think it's highly unreasonable to say that she'd
 become the dominant figure when she has so frequently
 shown her desire to drop the "tom boy" act that she had
 to put on when masquerading as a boy, and fill a more
 "womanly" role (at least as the Japanese see it), being
subordinate to Ranma, as his wife.

Didn't she give it up because she thought she had botched the sauce up, that
she wasn't good at making okonomiyaki after all?  It's been a while since I
read that particular arc...

Hey... thats an idea...
(Ranma several years later, on the road with his son)

Ranma:Son, stop whining so much I'm doing this for your own good. you do

want to be 'the best' right?

Ranma's son:*sniffle* Yeah dad, but they keep scratching me when I'm in

the pit.

Ranma:Stop acting like a girl...
Ukyo:(walks up) Whatcha doin Ranchan?
Ranma:Well... ya see...
Ukyo:You aren't trying to teach him the Neko-ken are you?
Ranma:Ummm.. well...
Ukyo:Raaaaannnn-chan. *clong* *clong* *spang*
Ranma's son:Wai! wai!.. daddy's making a funny face again, do it again

mommy!

There's a story that follows this idea, actually.  I think it's called
"Those Who Can't".  It's about how Ranma can't teach, he always acts like
Genma apparently did (it disregards the fact that Genma is shown to be an
effective teacher despite his methods) and because of that Akane ends up
running the dojo and teaching students.

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