Open AccessProperty Rights of Husband and Wife: A Brief Survey
Author(s) -
S. P. Khetarpal
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
alberta law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1925-8356
pISSN - 0002-4821
DOI - 10.29173/alr1928
Subject(s) - wife , discretion , legislature , economic justice , law , scope (computer science) , property (philosophy) , position (finance) , property rights , common law , law and economics , sociology , political science , economics , philosophy , epistemology , finance , computer science , programming language
Under the Common Law a wife on marriage endowed her husband with all her worldly goods, and she also renounced all rights of ownership of any property she then, or in the future, might possess. The author examines the legislative departures from this position in England, Canada, Singapore and India. After establishing that the courts will apply "palm tree justice" where no definite intention as to the manner of ownership of property is ascertainable, the author concludes that this uncertainty in scope of judicial discretion should be removed as far as possible from the law.