§ Order of the Day for the Second Beading, read.
THE EARL OF ROSEBERY, in moving that the Bill be now read the second time, said, the measure was a reproduction 1737 of one introduced in the other House of Parliament with the view of protecting the property of married women. Originally its provisions were somewhat more extensive than they were at present; but on the advice and with the consent of Her Majesty's Government they had been reduced to two clauses. The first protected the right of a married woman to the wages she earned herself. The second protected the husband, in return, from debts contracted by the wife before marriage except to the extent of any property which she might have brought him in marriage. These were the only two clauses of the Bill, and corresponded with the 1st and 12th clauses in the Married Women's Property Act, 1870, which was now the law in England and Wales.
§ Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.