Manakularatna V. Wickramanayake

1913 Present: Lascelles C.J. and Wood Renton J.

MANAKULARATNA v. WICKRAMANAYAKE.

42-D. C. Colombo, 34,245.

Husband and wife-Liability of husband for debts of wife-Ordinance No. 15 of 1876, s.10.

The husband is liable for the debts incurred by bis wife trading with his consent.

Ordinance No. 15 of 1876 (section 10) has not altered the common law with regard to the husband's liability for debts incurred by bis wife as publica mercatrix.

THE facts appear from the judgment.

H. A. Jayewardene (with him Arulanandam) for first defendant, appellant.-Section 10 of the Matrimonial Rights Ordinance has by implication repealed the Roman-Dutch law as to the liability of the husband for the wife's trade debts. Under the old law the husband got the benefit of the wife's earnings by trade; the earnings became part of the community. It was because of the community that the husband was liable for the debts. Under the present law there is no community; the reason for the husband's liability has therefore gone. [Wood Renton J.-Section 10 does not make any difference between those married in community and those married under the Ordinance of 1

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