Addition of new sections 6. 7, 8, 9 and 10.
2
4. The principal Ordinance is amended by adding, after section 5. the following new sections—
“Engage- ments to marry not enforceable at law. 1970 c. 31. L 1.
Property of copaged couples. 1970 4. 3). 1, 2,
027 ɑf 1971)
Clifts
between engaged couples.
1970 c. 13.
13.
6. (1) An agreement between two persons to marry one another shall not have effect as a contract giving rise to legal rights and no action shall lie for breach of such an agreement.
(2) This section shall have effect in relation to agreements entered into before the 7th October 1971. except that it shall not affect any action begun before that date.
7. (1) Where an agreement to marry is ter- minated, any rule of law relating to the rights of husbands and wives in relation to property in which either or both has or have a beneficial interest shall apply, in relation to any property in which either or both of the parties to the agreement had a beneficial interest while the agreement was in force, as it applies In relation to property in which a husband or wife has a beneficial interest.
(2) Where an agreement to marry is terminated, sections 6 and 7 of the Married Persons Status Ordinance 1971 (which sections confer power on a judge to settle disputes between husband and wife about property) shall apply, as if the parties were married, to any dispute between, or claim by, one of them in relation to property in which either or both had a beneficial interest while the agreement was in force: but an application made by virtue of this section to the judge under the said sections ú and 7 shall be made within three years of the termination of the agreement.
B. (1) A party to an agreement to marry who makes a gift of property to the other party to the agreement on the condition (express or implied) that it shall be returned if the agreement is terminated shall not be prevented from recovering the property by reason only of his having terminated the agreement.
(2) The gift of an engagement ring shall be presumed to be an absolute gift: this presumption may be rebutted by proving that the ring was given on the condition, express or implied, that it should be returned if the marriage did not take place for any reason.".
5. (1) The enactments specified in the first column of the Schedule are amended to the extent set out in the second column.
(2) The amendments effected by subsection (1) and by section 3 shall not affect any action commenced or petition presented before the 7th October 1971 or any claim made in any such action or on any such petition.
Evidence Ordinance.
SCHEDULE.
AMENDMENTE,
Section 12 is repealed.
[a. 5.]
Amendmanis
and transitional provisions,
1970 € 33.
7. Schedule
(Cap. 43
Legal Aid Ordinance.
In Part II of the Schedule, sub-paragraph (6) of paragraph is deleted.
(C34.91)
Matrimonial Causes
Ordinance.
Section 50 is amended in subsection (1)
Deceased's Family
Maintenance Ordinance 1971.
(p) by deleting "husband" and substituting the
following
"petitioner":
(6) by inserting after "the wife" the following- "or husband",
After section 4, the following new section is added.
**Öndem for muda netekoČE çf muring
party to vold
PER
from
of other DUTY.
1970 c. 33, 1.6.
4A. (1) Where a person dies in Hong Kong after the 6th October 1971 and is survived by someone (hereafter referred to as "the sur- vivor") who, whether before or after that date, had in good faith catered iuto a vold marriage with the de- beased, then subject to subsections (2) and (3) the survivor shall be treated for purposes of this Ordin- ance as a dependant of the deceased.
(2) An order shall not be made under this Ordinance in favour of the survivor unless the court is satisfied that it would have been reasonable for the deceased to make provision for the survivor's mainte- Dance; and if an order is so made requiring provision for the survivor's maintenance by way of periodical payments, the order shall provide for their terminatiort not later than the survivor's death and, if the survivor remarries, not later than the remar- riage.
(3) This section shall not apply if the marriage of the deceased and the survivor was dissolved or annulled
(Cop. (79.)
(12 of 1971)