§ 3.0 p.m.
Baroness WARD of NORTH TYNESIDEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether in operating the Community Land Act steps will be taken to ensure that, where financial arrangements approved by the court in divorce proceedings are based on real estate only, those arrangements will not be disturbed.
§ The LORD CHANCELLOR (Lord Elwyn-Jones)My Lords, an order in divorce proceedings for the transfer of real property only—which is the situation referred to in the noble Baroness's Question—would not be at all common except in the case when the parties' only asset was the matrimonial home, which I trust would be a rare event. The Community Land Act is primarily concerned with land which is needed for development and would not, I think, affect the situation which the noble Baroness may be envisaging.
Baroness WARD of NORTH TYNESIDEMy Lords, while thanking the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor for that Answer, I hope that he will excuse me for saying that he has not quite got this right. I know of cases in which the court has decided that real property should go to the husband and to the wife. In some cases, the wife has both land and a matrimonial house, so may I ask the noble and learned Lord to reconsider the matter? I feel it is terribly important to a few people in whom I understand both our Party and that of the noble and learned Lord are genuinely interested.
§ The LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, I am sorry I do not seem to have the Question right. I am bound to say that its purport has not come to me with a blinding flash of clarity, but the noble Baroness is absolutely right in indicating that more and more the law has adjusted itself in the matter of property towards a state of equality of treatment as 750 between husband and wife. However, if there is any aspect of the matter which concerns the noble Baroness, I shall be delighted to discuss it with her.