§ The Attorney-GeneralI beg to move Amendment No. 9, in page 14, line 35, at end insert:
(3) Subsection (1) of this section does not affect the operation of the said Acts of 1882 and 1880 in relation to a policy effected before the coming into force of that subsection; and subsection (2) of this section does not affect the operation of the said Act of 1965 in relation to a member of a registered society who dies before the coming into force of the said subsection (2).This is a drafting Amendment arising from a point which was raised in Committee and which I undertook to consider. The Amendment prevents the Clause from affecting retrospectively any existing policy of life assurance, or the operation of Section 25(2) of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1965, in respect of a person dying before its commencement.In Committee the hon. Baronet the Member for Hendon, South (Sir H. Lucas-Tooth) asked whether subsection (1) would affect existing policies. I undertook to consider the question. As to the construction of an existing policy, subsection (1) cannot have any effect. Clause 15, which embodies the new rule of construction, does not affect existing dispositions and any reference in an existing policy to children will be prima facie construed as a reference to legitimate children.
Moreover, since Section 11 of the 1882 Act and its Scottish counterpart, as they now stand, operate on policies for the benefit of legitimate children, any reference in an existing policy to either of these enactments will be the strongest possible evidence that the prima facie construction is the construction intended. I hope that what I have said will reassure the hon. Baronet.
§ Amendment agreed to.