§ MR. EUGENE WASON (Clackmanan and Kinross)To ask Mr. Attorney General whether the attention of the Government has been drawn to the decision of Mr. Justice North, in the case of Harkness v. Allsopps Contract (1896, 2 Chancery Division, p. 358), that The Mairied Women's Property Act, 1862, does not enable a woman married since the commencement of the Act, being a trustee of real estate for sale, to convey to a purchaser, except with the concurrence of her husband, and by a deed acknowledged by her; and whether the Government intend to propose such an Amendment of the Act as will enable a married woman trustee to convey property of all kinds without the concurrence of her husband.
(Answer.) My attention, has been directed to this case, and to the later cases of Brooks v. Fremlin's Contract (L, R, 1898, 1 Ch., 647) and Howgate v. Osborn's Contract (1902, 1 Ch., 451). The point may deserve consideration in any future Bill on the Law as to trustees, but it does not appear to me, at all events in the present state of the authorities, that special legislation on this point is expendient.—(Mr. Attorney General.)