The Married Women’s Property (Scotland) Act 1881 permits parties married before July 18, 1881, to declare by mutual deed that the wife’s whole estate, including such as may have previously come to the husband in right of his wife, shall be regulated by the Act; and provides that upon registration and advertisement of this deed as specified, the said estate shall be vested in the wife, and subject to the provisions of the Act.
A woman who possessed the stock and plenishing of a farm and the furnishings of an inn was married in February 1881. The spouses voluntarily separated in November 1882, and the husband allowed his wife to retain possession of the stock and plenishings of the farm and inn. He made no allowance for aliment. In 1888 the spouses were mutually divorced.
Held that the stock and furnishings which had passed to the husband jure mariti remained his property, as no mutual deed under sec. 4 of the Married Women’s Property Act of 1881 had been executed, and as there was no evidence of intention on the husband’s part between 1882 and 1888 to re-transfer this property to his wife.
[1889] SLR 27 – 23
Bailii
Scotland
Family
Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.614250
