A trust under the Indian Married Womens Property Act, 1874, does not arise in favor of the wife until the happening of the event which would give rise to it, as indicated by the policy provisions.

Gentle, J.

1. On the 11th May, 1935, one V. Sundaresayya effected a policy of insurance No. 1113 with the Guardian of India Insurance Co., upon his life and the schedule to that policy provides that the amount payable upon his death is Rs. 2,000. Under the heading "For whose benefit and to whom payable" are the words "the assured or his wife Mrs. V. Lalithatnbal if he predeceases her". The assured died on the 7th March, 1936, during the currency of the policy. It is conceded that in fact only Rs. 1,000 is payable under this policy. During her life time, namely, two days after effecting the policy the assured by an endorsement on the back of the policy assigned to the Travancore National Bank all the benefits under the policy for valuable consideration. The widow, the petitioner in this petition, claims that upon the effecting of this policy a trust immediately came into existence in her favour and that by the assignment of the benefit of the policy to the Travancore Bank the deceased was trying to do what in fact he had no power to undertake and she claims that the money, the Rs. 1,000 should be paid to the Official Trustee to hold on her behalf and should not be paid to the Travancore Bank. The insurance company are defendants with the Travancore Bank but they are merely so in order that any order that may be made regarding payment can be effectively carried out. The matter is the subject of Section 6 of the Indian Married Womens Property Act, 1874, as amended by Act XIII of 1923. Section 6 of the Act provides:

A policy of insurance effected by any married man on his own behalf and expressed on the face of it to be for the benefit of his wife or of his wife and children or any of them shall enure and be deemed to be a trust for the benefit of his wife or of his wife and children or any of them according to the interest so expressed and shall not, so long as any object of the trust remains, be subject to the control of the husband or to his creditors or form part of his estate.

When the sum secured by the policy becomes payable, it shall, unless special trustees are duly appointed to receive and hold the same, be paid to the Official Trustee of the Presidency.

2. This section save in regard to appointment of special trustees or of the Official Trustee of the Presidency is similar in effect, although not identically worded to Section 10 of the Married Womens Property Act, 1820, as amended by Section 11 of the English Married Womens Property Act of 1882. It is important to remember that under this policy it is expressed to be for the benefit of and to be payable to the assured or his wife, that is to say, the petitioner here if the assured predeceases the wife. It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that immediately upon the policy coming into existence a trust arose in her favour and that trust subsists right through all the relevant period. On the other hand, Dr. John on behalf of the Bank contends that a trust never arose but if such a trust arose it arose only upon the happening of the event which would give rise to it, namely, the death of the assured and until his death there was no trust in being. I have been referred to several decisions of the English Courts, namely, In re Ioakimidis Policy Trusts : Iookimidis v. Harteup (1925) 1 Ch. 403, In re Fleetwoods Policy (1926) 1 Ch. 48 and Cousins v. Sun Life Assurance Society (1933) 1 Ch. 126, decisions upon the Married Womens Property Act of 1882. In Cousins v. Sun Life Assurance Society (1933) 1 Ch. 126, the policy was effected by the husband upon his own life expressed to be for the benefit of his wife named in the policy and the decision of the Court was that in the policy effected in that way the wife took an immediate vested interest. Romer, L.J., does visualise the position of a policy being effected upon the life of a husband for the benefit of his wife. The wife can obtain an interest only subject to the happening of an event. At p. 139 he says:

Looking at the