§ MR. WATT (Glasgow, College)To ask the Lord - Advocate whether his attention has been called to the fact that the decision in Gunning's case, 44 S. L. R., page 514, is being used in Scotland by the finance authorities, under the Finance Act of 1894, to the detriment of the people of Scotland as compared with the other countries of the United Kingdom; whether he is aware that the estates of widows which have been unrevoked donations between husband and wife are being called upon to pay double estate duty, whereas in England such estates would be called upon to pay only one estate duty under the Finauce Act; and whether he will take steps to advise the Exchequer to have this inequality removed.
(Answered by Mr. Thomas Shaw.) The inequality to which the question refers is a natural and proper consequence of the fact that the law of Scotland, unlike the law of England, gives a husband power to revoke at any time a donation made 52 by him to his wife. It is by reason of this power of revocation that in Scotland the donation forms part of the property of which the husband is at the time of his death competent to dispose within the meaning of the Finance Act, 1894, and is accordingly chargeable with estate duty on his death.