MARRIED WOMEN (DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY) ORDINANCE

MARRIED WOMEN (DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY) ORDINANCE

CHAPTER 182.

MARRIED WOMEN (DISPOSITION OF PROPERTY).

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.

2. In this Ordinance-
'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;
'land' includes land, messuages, and tenements of any
tenure situate within the Colony and any undivided share
thereof;
'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 by 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 froni 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 conse-
quence 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 same or afterwards, be produced and acknowledged by
her as her act and deed before a commissioner, to be
appointed is hereinafter provided.

5. The commissioner, before he shall receive such
acknowledgment, 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 acknow-
ledge 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 pleasure 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 wornan 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 margin 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 identificatio] was this day produced before me and
acknowledged by therein nanied, to be her act and deed,
previous to which acknowledgement 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 same 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 to 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 of Property) Ordinance, (Chapter 182 of the Revised
Edition) appeared personally
the wife of and produced a certain indenture
marked [here add the mark] bearing date the day of
19 , and made between [insert the navies of
the parties] and acknowledged the same to be her act and deed;
and I 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 touching her knowledge of the contents of the
said deed, and that she freely and voluntarily consented to the
same.'

. 8. Every such certificate, within three months of its
being signed, shall be 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 acknow-
ledged, so far as regards the disposition, disclaimer, release,
surrender, or exti ngu ish ment 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 refers.

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 may, 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 done,
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 12 of 1885. Fraser 5 of 1885. Short title. Interpretation. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 1. Right of married woman, with her husband's concurrence, by deed acknowledged, of land. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, ss. 77, 78. [s. 3 cont.] 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. Filling 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. [s. 11 cont.]

Originally 12 of 1885. Fraser 5 of 1885. Short title. Interpretation. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, s. 1. Right of married woman, with her husband's concurrence, by deed acknowledged, of land. 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 74, ss. 77, 78. [s. 3 cont.] 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. Filling 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. [s. 11 cont.]

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