(i) Above, p. 825; and see note (f), above.

(/) See 1 Black. Comm. Ch. 15; 3 Black. Comm. 92 - 94; Burn's Eccl. Law, ii. 500, 9th ed.; stat. 20 & 21 Vict. c. 85, ss. 6, 22; Cavell v. Prince, 35 L. J. Ex. 162; A. v. B., L. R. 1 P. & M. 559.

{1) Dormer v. Ward, 1901, P. 20. The Court has nevertheless power to vary the settlements; S. C.; see above, n. (f).

(m) 1 Black. Comm. 435 sq.

(n) Birt v. Boutinez, L. R. 1

P. & M. 487.

(o) This was made a legal disability by stat. 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 54, s. 2; see 1 Black. Comm. 434; R. v. Chadwick, 11 Q. B. 173; Brook v. Brook, 9 H. L. C. 193.

(p) See Expte. Naden, L. R. 9 Ch. 670. This case and those cited in the previous note relate to pretended marriage with a deceased wife's sister. As to settlements executed in consideration of such marriages, see Pawson v. Brown, 13 Ch. D. 202; Phillips v. Probyn, 1899, 1 Ch. 811; and compare Ayerst v. Jenkins, L. R. 16 Eq. 275.

11 (2)

Since the Vendor and Purchaser Act, 1874 (r), now replaced in this respect by the Trustee Act, 1893 (s), when any freehold or copyhold hereditament is vested in a married woman as a bare trustee (t) she may convey or surrender it as if she were a feme sole.

Married woman 1 are trustee.

By the Married Women's Property Act, 1882 (u), which came into operation on the 1st of January, 1883 (x), a married woman is capable of acquiring, holding and disposing, by will or otherwise, of any real or personal property, in the same manner as if she were a, feme sole, without the intervention of any trustee. Every woman married after the commencement of the Act is entitled to hold and dispose of, as her separate property, all real and personal property which belonged to her at the time of marriage, or shall be acquired by or devolve upon her after marriage (y). And every woman married before the commencement of the Act is entitled to hold and dispose of, as her separate property, all real and personal property, to which her title, whether vested or contingent and whether in possession, reversion or remainder, has accrued after the commencement of the Act (z). But the Act is not to interfere with any settlement made or to be made respecting the property of any married woman, or to interfere with or render inoperative any restriction against anticipation attached or to be attached to the enjoyment by a married woman of any property or income (a).

Married Women's Property Act, 18S2.

{q) Birl v. Boutinez, L. E. 1 P. & M. 487.

(/) Stat. 37 & 38 Vict. c. 78, 8. 6, passed 7th Aug. 1874.

(s) Stat. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 53, s. 16.

(t) See above, p. 181, n. (z), as to the meaning of this term.

(u) Stat. 45 & 46 Vict. c. 75, s. 1, sub-s. 1.

(x) Sect. 25.

(y) Sect. 2.

(z) Sect. 5.

Under this Act, it has been decided, with respect to women married before the year 1883, that where they were before that year entitled to any property, either contingently or in reversion or remainder, it does not become their separate property by reason of their interests vesting or falling into possession after the commencement of the Act (b). As regards such property and any property to which they were entitled in possession before that year, they remain subject to the law in force before the Act. But any property given since the commencement of the Act to any married woman beneficially, and not as a trustee or an executrix (c), belongs to her as her separate property, although not expressly limited for her separate use (d). It has, however, been held, upon the construction of the proviso that the Act shall not interfere with or affect any settlement made or to be made respecting the property of any married woman (e), that a covenant by a husband alone contained in a settlement made before the Act to settle his wife's after-acquired property will bind property to which she may become entitled after the Act, to the same extent as such property would have been bound by the husband's covenant at common law, unless the property were expressly given for her separate use (f). And it appears that the same construction may be placed upon a similar covenant contained in a settlement made since the Act; for it has been further decided that an ante-nuptial settlement made after the Act by an intended husband and infant wife of her personal property has the same effect now as it would have had at common law, and is therefore completely binding on the wife as regards any interest therein of which the husband could by virtue of his marital rights at common law have made a valid disposition (g). Where under this Act a married woman becomes entitled to any estate or interest in any lands or hereditaments as her separate property, she takes the whole legal or other estate or interest limited to her in the same manner as if she were a single woman; and her husband does not acquire the rights and interest therein during his wife's lifetime which he would have had if she had been entitled independently of the Act, either at common law or in equity but not for her separate use (h). But he may succeed after her death, if she die intestate, to her freehold or copyhold estate in fee simple as tenant by the curtesy (i), and to her leaseholds for years in virtue of his marital right to take the same by survivorship (k). The wife can dispose of any estate or interest, to which she so becomes entitled as her separate property, in the same manner as if she were single, without the necessity of her husband's concurrence in or her own acknowledgment of the deed of conveyance or of any other formality not required in the case of an assurance by a single woman (l).

Construction of the Married Women's Property-Act, 1882.

(a) Sect. 19.

(b) Reid v. reid, 31 Ch. D. 402, overruling Baynton v. Collins, 27 Ch. D. 604; and Re Thompson and Curzon, 29 Ch. D. 177.

(c) Re Harkness and Allsopp's Contract, 1896, 2 Ch. 358.