power of distress is given, or agreed to be given, by any person to any other person by way of security for any debt or advance, and whereby any rent is reserved, or made payable, as a mode of providing for the payment of interest on such debt or advance, or otherwise for the purpose of such security only, shall be deemed to be a bill of sale, within the meaning of the Act, of any personal chattels which may be seized or taken under such power of distress. The same Act (e) exempts ordinary fixtures from the necessity of registration, when they are assigned together with a freehold or leasehold interest in any land or building to which they are annexed; but the word "fixtures" is not to include any trade machinery used in or attached to any factory or workshop, except fixed motive-powers, or fixed power, machinery, or pipes for gas, steam, or water (f). With these exceptions, trade machinery comes under the definition of personal chattels. The term "bill of sale" includes any assurance of personal chattels made by way of security for the payment of money (g), and the Acts provide that every bill of sale, together with the prescribed affidavit, is to be registered in the Queen's Bench Division of the Supreme Court, or in a local registry (h), within seven days after the making thereof; otherwise it will be altogether void (i). Moreover, the chattels comprised in a bill of sale must, in general, be specifically described in a schedule to it, and the grantor must be the true owner of them at the time of its execution, failing which the bill of sale will be void except as against the grantor (j); but this does not apply to fixtures, plant, or trade machinery, which have been substituted for others already specified in the schedule to a bill of sale (k). (e) S. 4. (f) S. 5. (g) 41 & 42 Vict. c. 31, s. 4; 44 & 45 Vict. c. 43, s. 3. (j) Ss. 4, 5. (k) S. 6. It follows from the above, that where a mortgage deed of land has an attornment clause, or when it comprises trade machinery, and is not registered within seven days from the date of its execution, the attornment clause will cease to be operative, and the trade machinery will no longer form a part of the security; the Act of 1882 having introduced a sweeping change in the law, by making every bill of sale which is not registered within the prescribed time wholly void as against every person, including the grantor himself, and not merely, as formerly, void only as against his execution creditors, or the person appointed his trustee in the event of his becoming bankrupt. And in the latter case if the mortgagor is a trader, even registration will not avail as against the trustee in bankruptcy, so far as regards any chattels which at the commencement of his bankruptcy were in his possession, order, or disposition, with the consent of the mortgagee (1). It will also be observed that registration does not make the mortgage deed valid, except as against the grantor, so far as regards personal chattels, unless they are specifically mentioned in a schedule to the deed, and the grantor is the true owner of them at the time when he executed it, or unless they have been substituted for other chattels previously specified in the schedule. It remains to add that the Conveyancing Act, 1881, has in a schedule some forms of statutory mortgage and transfer of mortgage. But these apply only to the simplest cases, and even so as not to appear to have any practical advantage over the forms generally used. () 44 & 45 Vict. c. 43, s. 15; 32 & 33 Vict. c. 71, s. 15; Badger v. Shaw, 29 L. J. Q. B. 73. A "strict" settlement. CHAPTER VI. OF SETTLEMENTS. HITHERTO We have dealt only with instruments having We The object of such an instrument is to give the settled property to the eldest son of the marriage in tail male, subject to its providing a life income for the husband and wife and portions for the younger children the deed containing, in addition to the clauses apt for these purposes, some which provide for various contingencies, and others whereby the wishes of the settlors can be more effectually carried out. (a) The form of settlement is taken chiefly from "Wolstenholme and Turner's Settled Land Act." The settlement, after the usual formal introduction, Parties. states the parties to the deed. These consist of the intended husband and wife respectively, and of two different sets of trustees, whose functions we shall presently consider; the two sets being composed of the same, or of different persons, as may be preferred. Supposing that, as is more ordinarily the case, the estate to be settled belongs to the future husband, the first thing to be done is to keep it in his absolute possession until the marriage is solemnised. This can be accomplished by means of a shifting use, the application of which to this purpose is one of the many advantages derived from the passing of the Statute of Uses. With this object the deed proceeds to witness that, in consideration of the intended marriage, and in pursuance of a previous agreement, the husband, as settlor, and with the consent of the wife, conveys the property in fee-simple to the second set of trustees, whom we may distinguish as the "general trustees," the first set being called the "portions trustees." This he does by assuring it to them by means of the same words of conveyance and clauses as are usually contained in purchase deeds; the habendum being to the use of himself (the husband) in fee-simple until the solemnisation of the marriage; thus effecting no change in his ownership until that event takes place. by husband as Where the husband conveys as settlor, he, by virtue Conveyance of the Conveyancing Act, 1881 (b), enters into an settlor. implied covenant that he, and every person deriving title under him by deed, or act, or operation of law in his lifetime subsequent to the settlement, or by testamentary disposition or devolution in law on his death, will, from time to time, and at all times, after the date of the settlement, at the request and cost of any person deriving title thereunder, execute and do all (b) 44 & 45 Vict. c. 41. Wife's pinmoney. such lawful assurances and things for further or more perfectly assuring the settled property to the trustees and those deriving title under them, as shall be reasonably required. These provisions of the Act only apply to settlements made after the 31st December 1881. In settlements of land made before that date, the husband will generally be found to have entered into the ordinary covenants given by a vendor on a sale; and in settlements prepared after that date he is sometimes made to covenant as beneficial owner, which, as we have seen, implies all those covenants. But since covenants for title, excepting that for further assurance, are of small practical value, there appears to be no advantage in the husband's covenant going beyond what is implied by his conveying as settlor. The settlement then proceeds to state the uses which are to take effect after the marriage. Of these the first limitation is to the use that the wife may during the joint lives of herself and her husband receive out of the income of the property, by way of pin-money, for her separate use and without power to deprive herself of it by anticipation, a yearly rent-charge of a specified amount. Pin-money is, as its name implies, money applicable to the personal expenses of the wife, for her dress and for her pocket-money (c). It is not like other money given to her for her separate use, for she cannot claim more than one year's arrears of it (d), nor can she even claim this if her husband, instead of paying her money, has furnished her at his own expense with clothes and other necessaries (e). Neither have her personal representatives any claim for arrears of it, under any circumstances, after her death (ƒ); it being given in order that she may be enabled to dress so as to keep up the dignity of her (c) See on this subject Sug. Law of Property, 165". (d) Townsend v. Windham, 2 Ves. Senr. 1, 6. (e) Thomas v. Bennett, 2 P. W. 339; Fowler v. Fowler, 3 P. W. 353, 354(f) Howard v. Digby, 2 Cl. & F. 634. |