CHAPTER II. OTHER STATUTES AFFECTING OWNERSHIP, AND (iv) THE BILLS OF SALE ACTS. By the Bills of Sale Act, 1878, it is enacted that the expression "bill of sale" shall include bills of sale, assignments, transfers, declarations of trust without transfer, inventories of goods with receipt thereto attached, or receipts for purchase-moneys of goods, and other assurances of personal chattels, and also powers of attorney, authorities, or licences to take possession of personal chattels as security for any debt, and also any agreement, whether intended or not to be followed by the execution of any other instrument, by which a right in equity to any personal chattels, or to any charge or security thereon shall be conferred, but shall not include the following documents: that is to say, assignments for the benefit of the creditors of the person making or giving the same, marriage settlements, transfers or assignments of any ship or vessel or any share thereof, transfers of goods in the ordinary course of business of any trade or calling, bills of sale of goods in foreign parts or at sea, bills of lading, India warrants, warehouse keepers' certificates, warrants or orders for the delivery of goods, or any other documents used in the ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorizing or purporting to authorize, either by indorsement or by delivery, the possessor of such document to transfer or receive goods thereby represented. The expression "personal chattels" shall mean goods, furniture, and other articles capable of complete transfer by delivery, and (when separately assigned or charged) fixtures and growing crops; but shall not include chattel interests in real estate, nor fixtures (except trade machinery as hereinafter defined) when assigned together with a freehold or leasehold interest in any land or building to which they are affixed, nor growing crops when assigned together with any interest in the land on which they grow, nor shares or interests in the stock, funds, or securities of any government, or in the capital or property of incorporated or joint stock companies, nor choses in action, nor any stock or produce upon any farm or lands which, by virtue of any covenant or agreement or of the custom of the country, ought not to be removed from any farm where the same are at the time of making or giving such bill of sale (a). The Bills of Sale Act (1878) Amendment Act, 1882, does not affect bills of sale or other documents given otherwise than by way of security for the payment of money (b). But although all choses in action are excluded from the operation of the Bills of Sale Acts, may not a bill of sale itself be a chose in action? As to whether a document is a bill of sale or not, see references below (c). (a) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 31, s. 4. See also s. 3. See also Colonial Bank v. Whinney, 30 Ch. D. 261; Re Bainbridge, Ex parte Fletcher, 47 L. J. Bank. 70; 8 Ch. D. 218; Re Davis, Ex parte Rawlings, 22 Q. B. D. 193; Re Isaacson, Ex parte Mason, (1895) 1 Q. B. 333; Re Tritton, Ex parte Singleton, 6 Mor. 250; 61 L. T. 301. (b) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 43, s. 3. (c) Reed, Bills of Sale [1897], pp. 43 et seq. And see London & Yorkshire Bank, Ltd. v. White, 11 T. L. R. 570; Re Hall, Ex parte Close, 14 Q. B. D. 386; Ex parte Hubbard, 17 Q. B. D. 690; N. C. Wagon Co. v. Manchester, &c. Rail. Co., 35 Ch. D. 191; Ramsay v. Margrett, (1894) 2 Q. B. 18. (V) THE CONVEYANCING ACT, 1881. By this Act it is enacted that a chose in action may be conveyed by a person to himself jointly with another person, by the like means by which it might be conveyed by him to another person; and may, in like manner, be conveyed by a husband to his wife, and by a wife to her husband, alone or jointly with another person (d). (vi) MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY ACTS, 1882 & 1893. As it has been well stated (e), the general result of these Acts, so far as the form and effect of documents are concerned, is as follows: A. As regards the disposal of her property or choses in action (i) Every woman married after 1882, and can convey as if she were feme sole, and the B. A trust for the separate use of a married woman appears to be no longer necessary. C. Acknowledgment of deeds by a married woman is only necessary where the property was acquired and the woman was also married before 1883, and in such case the mode of acknowledgment is now simplified (g). (d) 44 & 45 Vict. c. 41, s. 50. (e) Wolstenholme and others, Conveyancing, &c. Acts [ed. 1895], 245 et seq. (f) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 75. ss. 1— 3, 5-9. See Re Cuno, 43 Ch. D. 12, 16; Hope v. Hope, (1892) 2 Ch. 336, 341, 342; Weldon v. (g) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 39, s. 7. D. A married woman may be made executrix or trustee without any inconvenient consequences of power to deal with property (h). It must be observed that the Married Women's Property Act, 1893, only applies to transactions entered into subsequently to the passing of the Act, and that it repeals sub-sects. 3 and 4 of sect. 1 of the Act 1882 (i). Under the Act 1882, she may effect a policy upon her own life or that of her husband for her separate use, and the same and all benefit thereof shall enure accordingly (j). By virtue of the Act 1893, all contracts entered into by a married woman otherwise than as agent are deemed to be made in respect of, and shall bind, whatever separate property she may have at the time of making such contracts or at any time subsequently, and shall be enforceable against all property which she may thereafter while discovert be possessed of or entitled to (k). And sect. 24 of Wills Act, 1837 (by which a will primâ facie speaks from the death of the testator), is to apply to the will of a married woman made during coverture, whether she is or is not possessed of or entitled to separate property at the time of making it, and such will is not to require to be re-executed or republished after her husband's death (1). Neither Acts 1882, 1893, afford any assistance by which a woman married before 1883 can dispose of property also acquired by her before 1883. Malins' Act, 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 57), which only applies to reversionary interests in personal estate, did not make it (h) 45 & 46 Vict. c. 75, s. 18; Re Hawksworth [1887], W. N. 113. 56 & 57 Vict. c. 63, s. 4. (j) S. 11; Cleaver v. Mutual Reserve, &c. Asson., (1892) 1 Q. B. 147; Re Davies' Policy Trusts, (1892) 1 Ch. 90. (k) 56 & 57 Vict. c. 63, s. 1; Beckett v. Tasker, 19 Q. B. D. 7. (1) 56 & 57 Vict. c. 63, s. 3; Willock v. Noble, L. R. 7 H. L. 580; Re Price, 28 Ch. D. 709; Re Cuno, 43 Ch. D. 12; Re Bowen, (1892) 2 Ch. 291. clear that either she or her husband, separately or together, could assign a simple legal chose in action, such as a debt or policy of assurance effected in her name, as distinguished from an equitable chose in action, such as a legacy or other trust money (m). But it has been decided that the words in this Act "any personal estate whatsoever" were wide enough to include and did include a legal chose in action such as a policy of assurance effected in a married woman's own name (»). (vii) CRIMINAL OFFENCES IN REGARD TO CHOSES IN ACTION. There is no remedy at common law by criminal procedure for interference with the ownership by another of a chose in action as such, except by prosecution for conspiracy to cheat and defraud, or for a common law cheat, or common law forgery (o). And this rule extends to documentary evidence of title to choses in action. By 24 & 25 Vict. c. 96, it is enacted that every one who steals, or, for any fraudulent purpose, cancels or obliterates the whole or any part of any valuable security, other than a document of title to land, commits felony of the same nature and in the same degree, and punishable in the same manner as if he had stolen any chattel of the like value with the share, interest, or deposit to which the security so stolen may relate, or with the money due on the security so stolen or secured thereby and remaining unsatisfied, or with the value of the goods or other valuable thing represented, mentioned, or referred to in or by the security. Provided that no (m)_Re Jenkinson, 24 Beav. 64, 73; Fryer v. Morland, 3 Ch. D. 675, 685, 686. (n) Witherby v. Rackham [1891], W. N. 57. (0) 3 Encyl. of Laws, 7; Calye's Case, Co. Pt. VIII. 33; R. v. Watts, 23 L. J. M. C. 56. |