A NEW TERROR ADDED TO MATRIMONY.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 777, 9 June 1877, Page 3

A NEW TERROR ADDED TO MATRIMONY.

Sir George Jeasel gave an interlocutory decision on Febuary 9, m a case which laises some every important points with regard to the liabilities of those unfortunate persons who happen to be the husbands of married women. It seems that a certain married lady is, among her separate property, possessod of a racehorse, upon which she fias given several-- mortgages. The horse is entered for various races ; the mortgagees are pressing for payment ; the trainer claims a lien of expeuces; and by way of settling all these conflicting claims, it has been suggested that the horse , should be sold, and the proceedings of the sale equitably divided among the claimants. Sir George Jessel, after observing that it was rather an extension of the modern doctrine of female rights for a lady to own racehorses and run them m her own name, went on to declare his conviction that he should make no order one way or the other. Upon this a learned counsel, tfho app<jare.d for

the. lady's husband, rose up to complain that his client had been made a party to the suit against his express >wish ; that he knew nothing about his wife's race horse, and cared less; and that he begged that the application as against himself might be dismissed with costs. The master of the Bolls replied, from the strict point of view of equity, that the unhappy gentleman was a necessary party, ; that he was responsible for his wife's acts, and that if the lacly sold the horse or otherwise parted with it, he would be liable constructively for her contempt of court, and would have to go to prison accordingly. The learned council protested, with some eloquence, and at some length, against what he designated as ' this new peril of matrimony,' but was summarily interrupted by the learned Judge, who told him that if a man chose to marry a lady who owns racehorses he must take the consequences. This may o(' may, not be the strictly 'legal view of the case (says the London 'Observer'),,, bub it cannot bs questioned that a new terror has been added to matrimony, and. it will perhaps m future- be as well that a clause should be inserted m every marriage settlement by which the trustees indemnify the husband against any liabilities which his wife may have contracted on the turf while still a spinster.