Writ – Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874 (37 and 38 Vict. cap. 94), secs. 38 and 39 – Retrospective Effect.
Held (aff. judgment of Court of Session) that a writing dated in 1873, which consisted of two separate sheets of paper and seven pages, and was subscribed on the last page by the granters and witnesses, but merely initialed on those before it, was an improbative instrument under the Act 1696, c. 15.
Held (aff. judgment of Court of Session) that the provisions of the 38th and 39th sections of the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1874, the effect of which is to dispense with certain important solemnities which were previously required in the execution of written deeds, are not retrospective.
Opinion (per Lord Blackburn) that statutes introducing alterations in the law of evidence are, similarly with those which effect a change in forms of procedure, retrospective in their operations.
Judges:
Lord Chancellor, Lord Hatherley, Lord O’Hagan, Lord Blackburn, and Lord Gordon
Citations:
[1878] UKHL 740, 15 SLR 740
Links:
Jurisdiction:
Scotland
Land
Updated: 06 October 2022; Ref: scu.646301