MARRIED WOMEN (DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY) ORDINANCE, 1885

MARRIED WOMEN (DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY) ORDINANCE, 1885

No. 5 of 1885.
An Ordinance to make provision with respect to the disposition
of Property by married women.

[20th May, 1885.]

1. This Ordinance may be cited as the Married Women
(Disposition of Property) Ordinance, 1885.

2. In this Ordinance,

(a) ' Estate ' includes an estate in equity as well as at law,
and also includes any interest, charge, lien, or incumbrance
in, upon, or affecting land, either at law or in equity, and
also any interest, charge, lien, or incumbrance in, upon, or
affecting money subject to. be invested in the purchase of land.

(b) ' Land ' includes land, messuages, and tenements of
any tenure situate within the Colony and any undivided share
thereof.

(c) - Money subject to be invested in the purchase of land
includes money, whether raised or to be raised, and whether
the amount thereof is or is not ascertained, and extends to stocks
and funds and real and other securities the produce of which is
directed to be invested in the purchase of land.

3. A married woman may by deed dispose of any land and
money subject to be invested in the purchase of land, and also
dispose of, disclaim, release, surrender, or extinguish any estate
which she alone, or she and her husband in her right, may
have in any land or in any such money, and also release or
extinguish any power which may be vested in, or limited or
reserved to, her in regard to any land or to any such money,
or in regard to any estate in any land or in any such money,
as fully and effectually as she could do if she were a feme sole,
but no such disposition, disclaimer, release, surrender, or
extinguishment shall be valid and effectual unless her husband
concurs in the deed bv which the same is effected, and unless
the deed is acknowledged by her as hereinafter directed :
Provided that the powers of disposition given to a married
woman by this Ordinance shall not interfere with any power





which, independently of this Ordinance, . may be vested in, or
limited or reserved to, her, so as to prevent her from exercising
such power in any case, except so far as, by any disposition
made by her under this Ordinance, she may be prevented from
so doing in consequence of such power having been suspended
or extinguished by such disposition.

4. Every deed to be executed by a married woman for any
of the purposes of this Ordinance shall, on her executing the
.~qme or afterwards, be produced and acknowledged by her as
her act and deed before a commissioner, to be appointed as
hereinafter provided.

5. The commissioner, before he shall receive such acknow-
ledgment, shall examine the woman apart from her husband
touching her knowledge of such deed, and shall ascertain
whether she freely and voluntarily consents to such deed, and,
unless she does so, shall not permit her to acknowledge the
same, and in such case such deed shall, so far as relates to the
execution thereof by such married woman, be void.

6.-(1) The Chief justice may, whenever it seems desirable
to him to do so, appoint one or more commissioners for taking
acknowledgments by married women of the deeds to be executed
by them as aforesaid, and such commissioners shall be removable
by and at the pleasur6 of the Chief justice.

(2) The Chief justice may also, as occasion may require,
appoint a special commissioner to take the acknowledgment of
any particular married woman in England or in any other place
out of the Colony.

7.--(1) When a married woman acknowledges any such
deed, the commissioner taking such acknowledgment shall sign
a memorandum to be indorsed on, or written at the foot or
in the margi ' n of, such deed, which memorandum shall be to the
following effect :-
' This deed marked [here add some letter or other mark for the
purpose of identification] was this day produced before me' and
acknowledged by therein named, to be her act and deed,
previous to which acknowledgment the said was examined
by me separately and apart from her husband touching her knowledge
of the contents of the said deed and her consent thereto, and
declared the Borne to be freely and voluntarily executed by her.---





(2) The same commissioner shall also sign a certificate of the
taking of such acknowledgment, which shall be tb the following effect
:

' This is to certify that on the day of

19 , before me, the undersigned A.B., a commissioner appointed for
the Colony of Hong Kong for taking the acknowledgments of deeds
by married women pursuant to the Married Women (Disposition
ofProperty) Ordinance, 1885, appeared personally

the wife ofand produced a certain indenture
mark-ed [here add the mark.] bearing date the day of

1 19 and made between [insert the names of

the parlies] and acknowledged the same to be her act and deed;
and 1 do hereby certify that the saidwas, at the
time of her acknowledging the said deed, of apparent full age and
competent understanding, and that she was examined by me apart
from her husband touchinher knowled-e of the contents of the
said deed, and that she freely and voluntadly consented to the
same.

8. Every such certificate, within three months of its being signed,
shall he lodged with the Land Officer, who shall examine the
certificate and see that it is in due form and is duly signed by the
commissioner, and, if the requisites in this Ordinance in that respect
have been complied with, shall cause the same to be filed as of
record in the Land Office.

9. When the certificate is so filed, the deed so acknowledged, so
far as regards the disposition, disclaimer, release, surrender, or
extinguishment thereby made, shall take effect from the time of its
being acknowledged, and the filing of the certificate shall have
relation to such acknowledgment.

10. The Land Officer shall at any time deliver a copy, signed by
him-, of any such certificate to any person applying for such copy,
and every such copy shall be received as evidence of the
acknowledgment of the deed to which such certificate refees.

11. If a husband is, in consequence of unsound mind or from any
other cause, incapable of executing a deed., or if his residence is. not
known, or he is in prison, or is living apart from his wife, either by
mutual consent, or by sentence of divorce, or from any other cause
whatsoever, the Chief justice rnav, by an order to be made in a
summary way on the application of the wife and on such evidence as
to him may seem meet, dispense

with the concurrence of the husband in. any case in which his
concurrence is required by. this Ordinance or otherwise; and
all acts and deeds to be jone, executed, or made by the wife
.in pursuance of such order, in regard to any land or in regard
to money subject to be invested in the purchase of land, shall
be as good and valid as they would have been if the husband
had concurred, but without prejudice to the rights of the husband
as then existing independently of this Ordinance.

[Originally No. 12 of 1885.] Short title. Interpretation. 3 & 4 Will. 4, o. 74, s. 1. Right of married woman, with her husband's concurrence, by deed acknowledged, to dispose of land. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, ss. 77, 78. Acknowledgment of deed by married woman. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 79. Examination of married woman apart from her husband. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 80. Appointment of commissioners to take acknowledgments. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 81. Signing of memorandum on deed by commissioner taking acknowledgment. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 84. Filing of certificate to be lodged in Land Office. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 85. Deed to take effect from time of acknowledgment 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 86. Use of copy of certificate as evidence. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 88. Cases in which husband's concurrence may be dispensed with. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 91.

[Originally No. 12 of 1885.] Short title. Interpretation. 3 & 4 Will. 4, o. 74, s. 1. Right of married woman, with her husband's concurrence, by deed acknowledged, to dispose of land. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, ss. 77, 78. Acknowledgment of deed by married woman. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 79. Examination of married woman apart from her husband. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 80. Appointment of commissioners to take acknowledgments. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 81. Signing of memorandum on deed by commissioner taking acknowledgment. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 84. Filing of certificate to be lodged in Land Office. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 85. Deed to take effect from time of acknowledgment 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 86. Use of copy of certificate as evidence. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 88. Cases in which husband's concurrence may be dispensed with. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 91.

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