Matrimonial Causes Act 1864 Explained

Short Title:Matrimonial Causes Act 1864[1]
Type:Act
Parliament:Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long Title:An Act to amend the Act relating to Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in England, Twentieth and Twenty-first Victoria, Chapter Eighty-five.
Year:1864
Citation:27 & 28 Vict. c. 44
Territorial Extent:England and Wales
Royal Assent:14 July 1864
Repeal Date:23 March 1965
Amends:Matrimonial Causes Act 1857
Repealing Legislation:Administration of Justice Act 1965
Status:repealed

The Matrimonial Causes Act 1864 (27 & 28 Vict. c. 44) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act reduced the powers of women deserted by their husbands to protect their property and income from him or any of his creditors. The act received royal assent on 14 July 1864.[2]

Provisions

Women had been granted the ability to protect their property and earnings from a husband that had deserted them or his creditors in the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 by applying to a police magistrate, a justice in the petty sessions or the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Cases.

The provisions of the act included allowing husbands who had deserted their wives or creditors of those husbands to apply to a court to have an order that the wife had placed to protect her property or earnings from her husband and his creditors discharged.

Timeline

The act was revoked entirely by the Administration of Justice Act 1965.[3]

Notes and References

  1. The citation of this Act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule.  Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the Interpretation Act 1978.
  2. Book: A Collection of the Public General Statutes passed in the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria: Being the Sixth Session of the Eighteenth Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland . 1864 . George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode. 194.
  3. Web site: Administration of Justice Act 1965 . . 20 February 2020.