The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

PROPERTY OF MARRIED WOMEN.

The following is the bill brought into the House
of Commons by Sir E. Perry to amend the law
with respect to the property of married women :
" Whereas the law of property with respect to
married women is unjust in principle, and presses
with peculiar severity upon the poorer classes of
the community, and ought, therefore, to be altered;
now be it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the
Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in
this present Parliament assembled, and by the
authority of the same, as follows :

"I. From and after the passing of this act a
married woman shall be capable of holding, acquir-
ing, alienating, devising, and bequeathing real and
personal estate, and of suing and being sued, as if
she were a femme sole. ' _

" 11. No marriage solemnised after the Ist day
of January, 1858, shall operate any change in or
effect any charge on the real and personal estate of
either husband or wife, except in so far as shall be
specified in any settlement or agreement for a
settlement made before the marriage.
"111. All real and personal estate hereafter
acquired by any married women, and which but
for the passing of this act would fall under the
control of, or :vest absolutely in, the husband,
shall vest absolutely in the wife, and be subject to
her sole disposition and control.
"IV. The earnings of a married woman, in
any occupation or trade carried on by her sepa-
rately from the occupation or trade of her husband,
shall be deemed to be her personal estate, and as
to all engagements or contracts entered into by
her with respect to such occupation or trade she
shall be solely liable, unless her husband interferes
in the management or participates in the profits of
such occupation or trade.
" V. Upon the death of a married woman in-
testate, her husband shall take the same distribu-
tive share in her personal estate as such married
woman would take in the personal estate of her
husband if he died intestate.

" TI. Subject to the last-mentioned provision,
the personal estate of such married woman shall, if
she leave any children, be distributed among them
equally, or if she leave only one child the same shall
go to such child ; but if she leave no child then the
said personal estate shall go to or be distributed
among such person or persons as would, under the
Statute of Distributions, be entitled thereto, bad
such married woman died a femme sole, and her
real estate shall descend to her next heirs.

" VII. A married woman shall be liable upon any
contract which she may have entered into before mar-
riage, 'or which she may enter into on her own ac-
count or•jointly with her husband after marriage,
and also for any pecuniary damage caused by her
own: wrong.

"VIII.— A husband shall not be liable for the
debts of his wife contracted before marriage, or for
any pecuniary damage caused by her own wrong,
either before or after the marriage, but in every
judgment obtained against -the wife, of whatsoever
nattire, it shall be lawful for the plaintiff to take in
execution the goods or other property of the hus-
band, but only to the extent of the amount or value
of such goads or property acquired by the husband
from or on behalf of his wife by ante-nuptial settle-
ment or otherwise.

" IX. In all possessory actions the joint posses-
sion of husband and wife shall be deemed to be the
po,session of the husband, and it shall not be ne-
cessary to join the wife in any such action ; and in
all claims by third patties against husband and
tr.ife -tr against the husband alone the title to per-
sona property in the apparent possession of the
husband shall be deemed to be in him until the
contrary be shown.

" X. In any question or Title as to property or
possession between husband and wife it shall be
competent to either party to apply by petition to
any judge of the superior courts of Westminster
Hall, or to the judge of the county court of the
district wherein the petitioner shall reside ; and
such judge shall thereupon, if he sees fit, order the
parties to attend before him, and shall proceed to
hear them (or either of them, if the othei party
after due novice fail to appear), and their witnesses,
viva voce and in a summary way, without any
pleadings touching the matter in dispute, and in his
private room if th e part ies so re quire, and shall there-
upon make such older as to the properly or pos-
session, or as to a further inquiry, as justice may
require ; and any breach of such order shall be
treated as the breach of an order of the Court of
Chancery, and be punished acco!
"XI. Upon any such application it shall be
competent to the_ judge to order an inventory of
any property which after due inquiry shall appear
to be the separate property of either husbaod or
wife, to be prepared at the expense of the appli-
cant, and to be filed for record In his court.
" XII. When a married woman having real or
personal estate has aPowed her husband to receive
the rents and profits., or to use and dispose of the
personality, the husband shall not be held liable to
account for such rents, profits, and personality for
any period during which he has so received and
disposed of them with such consent as afoiesaid ;
and iu the case of ber death be shall be held liable
to account only for such rents, profits, and perso-
nality as are in his hands or under his disposition
and control.

"XIII. Nothing in this act contained shall in-
terfere with any settlement, or agreement for a set-
tlement, made in consideration of marriage.
"XIV. In the construction of this act the words
`real estate' shall extend to manors, advowsous,
roessuages, lauds, tithes, rent-charges in lieu of
tithes, rents and hereditaments, whether free-
hold, customary freehold, tenant right, cus-
tomary or copyhold, or of any other tenure,
and whether corporeal, incorporeal, or personal,
and whether the same shall be in possession, re-
version, remainder, or contingency, and to any
undivided share thereof, and to any estate, right,
or iuterest (other than a chattel interest) therein ;
awl the words "personal estate" shall extend to
leasehold estates and other chattels real, and also
to monies, shares of government and other funds,
securities for money (not being real estates), debts,
choses in action, rights, credits, goods, and all
other property' whatsovever which by law devolves
upon the executor or administrator, and whether
the Fame be in reversion, remainder or contingency,
and to any share or interest therein.
" XV. This act shall not extend to Scotland or
Ireiand.

" XVI. This act may be citel as the "Married
Woman's Property Act, 1857."

THE STOPPAGE OF MESSRS. LAWE AND

COMPANY'S BANK.

PRESTON, MAT 20.

Considerable astonishment was on Tuesday excited in
Preston, by an article in the columns of a metropolitan
newspaper, stating that this town wac in a complete
state of confusion, &c. This is totally incorrect, as no
loss is expected by the stoppage to the depositors. Mrs.
Law© has already taken the necessary steps to obtain the
probate of her deceased husband's will, and the clerks
are all busily engaged in balancing the accounts and
making all necessary preparations to wind up the estate
i. e., as soon as the legal preliminaries are completed.
On Tuesday a rumour was widely circulved to the
effect that Messrs. Pedder (of the old bank) had-under-
taken to arrange the affairs of Messrs. Lawe and
but it is utterly unfounded.

On 'Saturday' Messrs. Pedder supplied the money to
meet the claims falling duo at the savings bank, and the
Messrs. Pedder are also undertaking to remit the customs
dues until a receiver is appointed from London ; but no
arrangement has been made by these gentlemen to cover
the responsibilities of the late bank.
Messrs. L-twe kept the account of the overseers, and
Mr. Lawe was also treasurer to the B ►ard of Guardians,
but we are informed that the latter body have overdrawn
their account about 2001. If the bank bad been open on
Saturday last, between 3,0001. and 4,000./. would have
been transferred to their account by the overseers. The
overseers were, in consequence of the stoppage, com-
pelled to find the guardians money for their present
wants from some extraneous source, and it is stated that
the Lancaster Banking Company advanced the sum re-
quired on Tuetday. The blowing is a copy of a circu-
lar issued :

" Bank, Preston, May 16, 1857.
"In consequence of the death of the late Itober.t
Lawe, Esq., and of his having made no provision in his
will for carrying on the bank, it has been found neces-
sary to close it. This step is taken with great reluct-
ance, on account of the inconvenience which will be
caused thereby to the various depositors, and every
exertion will be made to render the delay in the payment
of the claims as short as possible.—l am, your obedient
servant,

" GIRALD GIINDY, Agent."

DETERMINED SUICIDE OF A MERCHANT'S CLERK
Yesterday Mr. Payne held an Insuestgat the school-
house, St. Mary•axe, on the body of William Csbron
aged 55, who committed suicide on Sunday last. The
deceased was in the employment of Mr. George elm,.
Hitchcock, general merchant, of No. 45, Lime-street,
City, but he resided at No. 58, St. Mary-axe. gis
employer had noticed a litile despondency about him
fur some time, and had spoken to him about it, and
he said that he was suffering from a disease of the heart,
but that he should be wed in a very short time. A
femals going into the cellar of the house where ho lived,
between 9 and 10 o'clock on Sunday'night, saw the do.
ceased banging by the neck by a rope fastened to a post,
being in a kneeling position. Ile was quite dead. His
feet were on the ground and his knees were bent. Mr.
Horatio Cabron, of Upper Gower-street, Bedford-square,
uncle of the deceased, said he had been for some years
in business in Paris as a merchant, where he was once
well off, but he had lost all his property, and that bad
caused him to return to this country, His employer had
found all his accounts to be perfectly correct. The jury
returned a verdict of "Temporary Insanity."