The Short Title of this Act is “The Married Women’s Property Protection Act, 1880.”

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

A wife may at any time after the happening of any of the events hereinafter mentioned apply to a Court for an order to protect any property she may acquire by her own lawful industry, and property which she may become possessed of, after the happening of any such event, against her husband or his creditors or any person claiming under him, in any of the following cases:—

Where she is deserted by her husband without reasonable cause;

When she is subjected by her husband to cruelty without adultery;

Where her husband is guilty of living in open adultery;

Where her husband is guilty of habitual drunkenness;

Where her husband habitually fails to provide a maintenance for his wife and children, without such failure being caused by sickness or other unavoidable cause.

The Court, if satisfied of the facts in any such case, and that the wife is maintaining herself by her own industry or property, may make and give to the wife an order protecting her earnings and property from her husband and all creditors and persons claiming under him.

Every such order shall, within ten days after the making thereof, be entered with the Clerk to the Court making the order.

The husband and any creditor or other person claiming under him may apply to the Court to discharge, vary, or reverse any order so made.

If the husband or any creditor of or person claiming under the husband shall seize or continue to hold any property of the wife after notice of the order, he shall be liable at the suit of the wife (which she is hereby empowered to bring) to restore the specific property, and also to pay a sum equal to double the value of the property so seized or held after such notice as aforesaid.

The Court, in any case in which the wife may desire the same, may, by the same or by any separate order, direct that the wife shall have the exclusive custody of any infant child or children of the marriage until such child or children, if male, shall attain the age of ten years, and if female the age of eighteen years or marriage.

The Court may, either at the time of making any such order as aforesaid or at any time thereafter, on the application of the wife, and upon proof by the wife that her separate earnings are insufficient for the maintenance of the children then lawfully in her custody, make an order that the husband shall pay to the wife towards the support of such of the children as shall be under the age of ten years such weekly sum of money not exceeding one pound per week for each such child as such Court thinks fit.

The Court shall in such order define the day or time on and from which such order shall take effect.

All the provisions of “The Destitute Persons Act, 1877,” relating to the enforcement of orders for the payment of moneys for the support of deserted children shall extend and apply to the orders made under the provisions of the ninth section of this Act.

The provisions of this Act shall be deemed to extend to property to which the wife has become or shall become entitled as executrix, administratrix, or trustee, since the date of the event in respect of which an order of protection has been granted; and the death of the testator or intestate shall be deemed to be the time when the wife became entitled as executrix or administratrix.

The order shall, until reversed or discharged, so far as necessary for the protection of any person or corporation who shall deal with the wife, be deemed valid and effectual.

No discharge, variation, or reversal thereof shall prejudice or affect any rights or remedies which any person would have had in case the same had not been so reversed, varied, or discharged, in respect of any debts, contracts, or acts of the wife incurred, entered into, or done between the times of the making of the order and of the discharge, variation, or reversal thereof.

Property of or to which the wife is possessed or entitled for an estate in remainder or reversion at the date of the event in respect of which the order is made shall be deemed to be included in the protection given by it.

Every order shall state as nearly as may be the date at which the event happened in consequence whereof the same is made; and shall, as regards all persons dealing with the wife in reliance thereon, be conclusive as to the time when such event happened.

The Court sitting at any place where an order was originally made under any of the Acts hereby repealed or under this Act shall have jurisdiction to discharge, vary, or reverse an order for protection made as aforesaid, or to make any other order authorized under this Act, although such Court may not be composed of the person or persons originally making any such order.

The wife shall, during the continuance of the order, be considered during such desertion as a feme sole with respect to property of every description which she may acquire, or which may come to or devolve upon her; and such property may be disposed of by her in all respects as a feme sole; and on her decease the same shall, in case she shall die intestate, go as the same would have gone if her husband had been then dead.

But if the order shall be reversed or discharged, and the wife shall again cohabit with her husband, all such property as she may be entitled to when such cohabitation shall take place shall be held to her separate use, subject, however, to any agreement in writing made between herself and her husband before such renewed cohabitation.

In every case in which a wife has obtained such order as aforesaid she shall, until the same shall be reversed or discharged, be considered as a feme sole for the purposes of contract, and wrongs and injuries, and suing and being sued in any civil proceedings.

And her husband shall not be liable in respect of any engagement or contract she may have entered into, or for any wrongful act or omission by her, or for any costs she may incur as plaintiff or defendant during such period.

Where alimony has been ordered to be paid to the wife under any Act regulating the procedure in divorce and matrimonial causes, and if the same shall not be duly paid by the husband, he shall be liable for necessaries supplied for her use; but nothing shall prevent the wife from joining at any time in the exercise of any joint power given to herself and her husband.

All persons and corporations who shall, in reliance on any order, make any payment to or permit any transfer or act to be made or done by the wife who has obtained the same, shall, notwithstanding the order may then have been discharged, reversed, or varied, be protected and indemnified in the same way in all respects as if, at the time of such payment, transfer, or other act, the order were valid and still subsisting without variation in full force and effect, unless at the time of such payment, transfer, or other act such persons or corporations had notice of the discharge, reversal, or variation of the order.

The Acts mentioned in the Schedule hereto are hereby repealed.

But all acts done, proceedings taken, and orders made under the said repealed acts, and subsisting at the time of the passing hereof, shall have the same effect as if done, taken, or made under this Act.