LAW REFORM

Evening Post, Issue 28, 1 August 1936, Page 11

LAW REFORM

BILL INTRODUCED

OVERCOMING INJUSTICES

OLD RULES TO GO

Old rules of law which were in the way of justice would be abolished by the Law Reform Bill, said the AttorneyGeneral (the Hon. H. G. R. Mason) when the measure was introduced in ihe House of Representatives by Gov-ernor-General's Message yesterday afternoon. . The Minister said that when injustices occurred in the courts, the legal profession was often blamed, but the profession was just as anxious as anyone else that the causes of injustices should be removed. The Bill dealt with the survival of causes of action after death, and, in effect, abrogated, subject to certain expressed provisions, the rule, expressed in the maxim, "actio personalis moritur cum persona," that the personal representative of a deceased person cannot sue or be sued in respect of a wrong committed against or by the deceased during his lifetime. The Minister referred to the case of an accident which occurred on the highways where the driver of the vehicle causing the accident was killed and others were injured. Under the existing law, he said, the persons, injured could not obtain any remedy as there was no one who could be sued, and the insurance pool was not liable to pay damages. The lawyers of the country, said the Minister, were very anxious that this rule should be abolished. So glaring was the injustice that in a number of cases he believed the insurance pools made ex gratia payments though the law did not compel them to pay out anything. The rights conferred by the Bill are in addition to any rights conferred by the Deaths by Accidents Compensation Act, 1908, and one result will be that where both the wrongdoer and the,person whose dependants have -a right of action die, a Cause of action under the Deaths by Accidents Compensation Act will survive against the estate of the wrong-doer. • The Deaths by Accidents Compensation Act is amended by the Bill, and the definition of the term "child" is extended to include illegitimate and adopted children. The rule that moneys payable under an insurance policy accruing to defendants by reason of the death' of the person on whom the claimants depend must be taken into account so as to reduce the amount of damages allowed, is abolished. The Minister stated that v a similar provision in respect of insurance moneys had been in force in England since 1908. INSURANCE MONEYS. The Bill creates a charge on all insurance moneys payable as indemnity for- liability to pay damages or compensation. Similar provisions are already contained in the Workers Compensation Act, 1922, and in the Motorvehicles (Third-party Hisks) Insurance Act, 1928, but under these provisions no charge on insurance moneys is created unless the insured is insolvent or becomes bankrupt. Clause 10 of the Bill repeals these existing ' provisions. . ' Capacity, property, and .liabilities of married women, and liabilities of husbands are dealt, with in Part IV. This part, in effect, states that so far as the capacity to contract, to hold property, and to sue and be sued is concerned a married woman shall be in exactly the same position as an unmarried woman. A married woman will also be subject to the law relating to the enforcement of judgments, and a husband will not be liable for his wife's torts and antenuptial debts. The exemptions which will remain are:—(l) A husband will be liable in respect of contracts entered into by his wife after marriage to the.same extent that he is now liable; (2) a husband and wife while living together will not be able to sue each other in tort except in order to protect their property; Part V deals with the liability of tort-feasers. This part supersedes Section 94 of the Judicature Act in so far as it relates to actions in tort, and provides both for the_ liability of and contribution between joint wrongdoers. It also provides machinery for assessing the amount of contributions. The defence of common employment is abolished in the .Bill. This defence depended on a rule that, damages could npt.be recovered from an employer in respect of the negligence <of a fellowservant. "