c. 39, s. 7.

45 & 46 Vict. applying for the same; and every such office copy shall be received as evidence of the acknowledgment of the deed to which the certificate refers.

Sect. 7 (4).

Rules as to acknowledgments.

SCHEDULE.

REPEALS.

3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74... | The Fines and Recoveries Act - in part; namely,—
in part.
Section eighty-four, from and including the
words and the same judge," to the end
of that section.

Sections eighty-five to eighty-eight, inclusive.

4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 92... The Fines and Recoveries in part; namely,— (Ireland) Act

in part.

Section seventy-five, from and including the words "and the same judge," to the end of that section.

Sections seventy-six to seventy-nine, inclusive.

17 & 18 Vict. c. 75... An Act to remove doubts concerning the due acknowledgments of deeds by married women in certain cases.

41 & 42 Vict. c. 23...

The Acknowledgment of Deeds by Married Women (Ireland) Act, 1878.

Under the above section and sect. 89 of 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, the following rules have been made:

RULES UNDER THE ACT FOR THE ABOLITION OF FINES AND RECOVERIES,
AND SECTION 7 OF THE CONVEYANCING ACT, 1882.

1. No person authorised or appointed under the act 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74 (in these rules referred to as the Fines and Recoveries Act) to take the acknowledgments of deeds by married women shall take any such acknowledgment if he is interested or concerned either as a party or as solicitor or clerk to the solicitor for one of the parties or otherwise in the transaction giving occasion for the acknowledgment.

2. Before a commissioner shall receive an acknowledgment, he shall inquire of the married woman separately and apart from her husband and from the solicitor concerned in the transaction whether she intends to give up her interest in the estate to be passed by the deed without having any provision made for her; and where the married woman answers in the affirmative and the commissioner shall have no reason to doubt the truth of her answer, he shall proceed to receive the acknowledgment (a); but if it shall appear to him that it is intended that provision is to be made for the married woman, then the commissioner shall not take her acknowledgment until he is satisfied that such provision has been actually made by some deed or writing produced to him; or if such provision shall not have been actually made before, then the commissioner shall require the terms of the intended provision to be shortly reduced into writing, and shall verify the same by his signature in the margin, at the foot, or at the back thereof.

(a) If the married woman answers in the affirmative, the purchase-money becomes the absolute property of the husband, even though it is never reduced into possession by him, but remains outstanding for any purpose (Tennant v. Welch, 37 Ch. D. 622). The examination of a married woman was taken into consideration on a question affecting her equity to a settlement (Roberts v. Cooper, 1891, 2 Ch. 335).

The following cases were decided on the old rule for which the above has been substituted, viz., Re Foster (7 C. B. 120); Ex parte Webber (5 C. B. 179); Re Dowling (18 C. B. N. S. 223); Re Dixon (4 C. B. 631);_Re Dallas (10 C. B. N. S. 346). See the statement of these cases in Shelf. R. P. Stat. 8th ed. 401.

3. The memorandum to be indorsed on or written at the foot or in the margin of a deed acknowledged by a married woman shall be in the following form in lieu of the form set forth in section 84 of the Fines and Recoveries Act:

This deed was this day produced before me and acknowledged by therein named to be her act and deed [or their several acts and deeds] previous to which acknowledgment [or acknowledgments] the said was [or were] examined by me separately and apart from her husband [or their respective husbands] touching her [or their] knowledge of the contents of the said deed and her [or their] consent thereto and [each of them] declared the same to be freely and voluntarily executed by her.

4. When an acknowledgment is taken by any person other than a judge, the following declaration shall be added to the memorandum of acknowledgment:

And I declare that I am not interested or concerned either as a party or as a solicitor or clerk to the solicitor for one of the parties or otherwise in the transaction giving occasion for the said acknowledg

ment.

5. A memorandum of acknowledgment purporting to be signed according to any of the following forms shall be deemed to be a memorandum purporting to be signed by a person authorised to take the acknowledgment:

(Signed) A. B.

A Judge of the High Court of Justice in England,
or A Judge of the County Court of

or A perpetual Commissioner for taking acknowledg-
ments of deeds by married women,

or The special Commissioner appointed to take the
aforesaid acknowledgment.

But this rule is not to derogate from the effect of any memorandum purporting to be signed by a person authorised to take the acknowledgment, though not signed in accordance with any of the above forms.

6. Nothing in the five preceding rules contained shall make invalid any acknowledgment which would have been valid if these rules had not been enacted.

7. Every commission appointing a special commissioner to take an acknowledgment by a married woman shall be returned to the office of the registrar of certificates of acknowledgments of deeds by married women, and shall be there filed. An index shall be prepared and kept in the said office, giving the names and addresses of the married women named in all such commissions filed in the said office after the 31st December, 1882. The same rules shall apply to searches in the index so to be prepared as to searches in the other indexes and registers kept in the Central Office.

8. The costs to be allowed to solicitors in respect of the matters hereinafter mentioned, when not otherwise regulated by the general orders in force for the time being under the Solicitors' Remuneration Act, 1881, or by special agreement, shall be as follows; anything in the Rules of the Supreme Court as to costs, dated the 12th August, 1875, to the contrary notwithstanding :

Charges under the Act 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74 (The Fines and Recoveries Act).

For the endorsements on deeds required by the Fines and £
Recoveries Act, to be entered on the court rolls of manors
of the memorandum of production and memorandum of
entry on court rolls, to be signed by the lord steward or
deputy steward, each indorsement of memorandum 58.,
together -

For the entries on the court rolls of deeds and the indorsements thereon, at per folio of 72 words

8. d.

0 10 0

- 0 0 6

Rules.

Rules.

Order as to court fees.

For taking the consent of each protector of settlement of £ s. d. lands

0 13 4

0 13 4

006

For taking the surrender by each tenant in tail of lands
For entries of such surrenders or the memorandums thereof
in the court rolls, at per folio of 72 words

9. The following rules and orders are hereby repealed, except as to certificates not lodged before the 1st January, 1883, of acknowledgments by married women of deeds executed before the 1st January, 1883, and the affidavits relating thereto :

The General Rules of the Court of Common Pleas, Hil. Term, 1834.
The General Rules of the Court of Common Pleas, Trin. Term, 1834.
The General Order of the Court of Common Pleas, dated the 24th

November, 1862.

The General Order of the Court of Common Pleas, dated the 13th
January, 1863.

10. These rules shall take effect from and after the 31st December, 1882.

For the old rules and the practice cases decided upon them, see Shelf. R. Stat. 8th ed. 400 et seq.

The following order as to court fees was made in January, 1883.
ORDER AS TO COURT FEES.

1. The following portion of the schedule to the order as to Court Fees made on the 28th October, 1875, is hereby repealed, that is to say:

woman

On taking acknowledgment of a deed by a married £ s. d. £ s. d. 1 0 0 60 0 And instead thereof the following fees shall henceforth be chargeable in respect of the matters hereinafter mentioned (namely):

Fees under the Act 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74 (the Fines and Recoveries Act). For taking the acknowledgment of a married woman by a £ s. d. judge of the High Court of Justice

To a perpetual commissioner for taking the acknowledgment
of a married woman when not required to go further than a
mile from his residence

100

To a perpetual commissioner when required to go more than
one mile, but not more than three miles, besides his reason-
able travelling expenses
To a perpetual commissioner where the distance exceeds three
miles, besides his reasonable travelling expenses
Where more than one married woman at the same time
acknowledges the same deed respecting the same property,
these fees are to be taken for the first acknowledgment
only, and the fees to be taken for the other acknowledg-
ment or acknowledgments, how many soever the same
may be, shall be one half of the original fees, and so also
where the same married woman shall at the same time
acknowledge more than one deed respecting the same
property.

search every

To the clerk of the peace or his deputy for
To the same for every copy of a list of commissioners, pro-
vided such list shall not exceed the number of 100 names 050
To the same for every further complete number of 50 names,
an additional

For every official copy of a list of commissioners, provided
such list shall not exceed the number of 100 names

026

- 0 5 0

For every further complete number of 50 names, additional
For preparing every special commission

For examining the certificate and affidavit, and filing, and indexing the same

Upon the return of a special commission to the central office- 0 5 0
For every search in the registry of certificates of acknowledg-
ments of deeds by married women

01 0

For enrolling recognizances, deeds, and other instruments,
per folio of 72 words, including the certificate of enrolment
endorsed on the instrument, but not including maps, plans,
and drawings, which are to be charged at their actual cost- 0 1 0
For endorsing a certificate of enrolment on a duplicate of any
enrolled instrument, for each folio of the instrument if it
does not exceed 24 folios

0

606

020

For the like certificate if the instrument exceeds 24 folios
For office copies of enrolled instruments, per folio of 72 words 0
For examining copies of enrolled instruments and marking
them as office copies, per folio of 72 words

0 12

0 0 2

Order as to
Fees.

c. 43, s. 1.

MARRIAGE SETTLEMENTS BY INFANTS.

18 & 19 VICTORIÆ, CAP. 43.

An Act to enable Infants, with the Approbation of the Court of Chancery, to make binding Settlements of their Real and Personal Estate on Marriage.

[2nd July, 1855.]

18 & 19 Vict. WHEREAS great inconveniences and disadvantages arise in consequence of persons who marry during minority being incapable of making binding settlements of their property (a); for remedy whereof it is enacted as follows:

Infants may, with the approbation of the Court

of Chancery,

make valid settlements or

their real and

1. From and after the passing of this act it shall be lawful for every infant upon or in contemplation of his or her marriage, with the sanction of the Court of Chancery, to make a valid and binding settlement or contract for a settlement of all or any part of his or her property, or property over which he or she has contracts for any power of appointment, whether real or personal, and whether settlements of in possession, reversion, remainder, or expectancy; and every conveyance, appointment, and assignment of such real or personal estate, or contract to make a conveyance, appointment, or assignment thereof, executed by such infant, with the approbation of the said court, for the purpose of giving effect to such settlement, shall be as valid and effectual as if the person executing the same were of the full age of twenty-one years: provided always, that this enactment shall not extend to powers of which it is expressly declared that they shall not be exercised by an infant (b).

personal estate upon marriage.

Law inde

the act.

Male infant.

(a) Independently of this act a male infant could not enter into a pendently of binding contract to settle either his own real estate (Trowell v. Shenton, 8 Ch. Div. 325), or his own personal estate (Nelson v. Stocker, 4 De G. & J. 458), or his wife's personal estate (Kingsman v. Kingsman, 6 Q. B. Div. 122). But he could, when adult, confirm such contract (Trowell v. Shenton, sup.), or repudiate it within a reasonable time (Carter v. Silber, 1891, 3 Ch. 553). The reasonableness of the time depends on the circumstances of each case (1b. 563; see S. C., 1892, 2 Ch. 285).

Female infant.

Nor, independently of this act, could a female infant enter into a binding contract to settle her non-separate property whether real (Milner v. Harewood, 18 Ves. 275; see Mills v. Fox, 37 Ch. D. 162), or personal (Cunningham v. Antrobus, 16 Sim. 436). She might, however, when adult, confirm such contract (See as to real estate, Cooke v. Cooke, 38 Ch. D. 202; Field v. Moore, 7 D. M. & G. 691; Barrow v. Barrow, 4 K. & J. 409; and as to personal estate, Davies v. Davies, 9 Eq. 468).

Further, if the settlement contained a covenant by an adult husband to settle his wife's property, such covenant bound the wife's personal estate