Page:On the forfeiture of property by married women.djvu/16



Since the foregoing observations were penned a portion of the then future has been laid open to us, and two things then hidden have become revealed.

First, it is clear that the Government are so loaded with important business that they will not find time for official action in this matter. Secondly, Mr. Raikes and others have introduced into Parliament a Bill which may be taken as embodying the views of those who are at length persuaded of the necessity of a change in the law, but who cannot make up their minds to accept freedom with its consequences.

The distinctive character of this Bill is explained in the first seven sections, of which I will endeavour to give a brief exposition, without, I hope, any substantial sacrifice of accuracy, though for the sake of clearness some details are omitted.

The main principle is that a wife shall not, irrespectively of the question what she earns, be free to own property, but that her property shall, in the absence of contract, be placed under strict settlement.

For this purpose trustees must be provided. And it is Trustees, proposed, in the first instance, to make the husband himself the trustee. If, however, the wife chooses she may obtain from the County Court an order of the Judge making himself and a Vice-chancellor the trustees. And other persons interested in the property may apply to the judge to have other trustees appointed; an application which is to be litigated and adjudicated in due form.

Such being the trustees, the Bill goes on to declare the trusts. In the first place the husband-trustee is precluded from receiving any of the property without a written order by his wife, and from altering any investment without a judge's order