Page:An introduction to Roman-Dutch law.djvu/135

 Rh MARRIAGE 95 feud.i until such time as all the creditors of their aforesaid husbands shall have been paid or satisfied; whom we will in this matter to be preferred before the aforesaid wives and widows, saving to the latter their right of preference, to which they are entitled by reason of their marriage portion, brought by them into the marriage or given to them or coming to them by succession from their friends and relatives.' ^ The effect of the Placaat is: (1) that no ante -nuptial Its effect. contract can secure to a wife any property of the hus- band in competition with creditors; but (2) that, if she is content, by ante-nuptial contract, to forgo aU advantage from the husband's estate, she may keep her own property secure and tmimpaired and further enjoy in respect of it a preference over creditors and a tacit hypothec over her husband's goods. But she cannot have it both ways. If she claims to benefit financially by the marriage, she must also take her full share in its burdens. In order to secure her property against creditors it is necessary that she should be content to keep her estate entirely distinct from that of her husband. It must be observed that though the Placaat speaks expressly of ' merchants ', it has never been held to be so limited in its application.^ If the practice before the passing of this measure operated in prejudice of creditors, the enactment has in modern times been thought to be undtily oppressive to married women.* Accordingly, the law has in many of Legisia- the Colonies been altered by legislation in the direction of *'°°?" •' ° T rn marriage securing the validity of settlements. Thus in the Cape settle- Province the sixth article of the Perpetual Edict has been ^g®"*^ '" repealed by Act 21 of 1875, which, in its place, enacts in Africa. effect: (1) That no ante-nuptial contract shall be valid against creditors imless registered (s. 2); (2) that a settle- ment made with intent to defraud creditors shall be of no force or effect against creditors whose debts existed at the ^ Al waer 't soo dat By ghe-erft oft beleent waren. ^ See In re Insolvent Estate ChAapplni (1869) Buch. 143. ' V. d. K. Th. 262. ^ Wessels, Hist. R.-D. L., p. 464.