Scottish Court of Session Decisions

The late Masterton Robertson of Inches was indebted in £1400, by heritable bond, to Miss Shearer, the aunt of his wife. Miss Shearer, by her trust-settlement, conveyed the bond to trustees, and by them it was conveyed to Mrs Robertson, excluding the jus mariti of her husband. Masterton Robertson became indebted to his wife in the sum of £1500, for which he granted heritable bond, which was followed by infeftment. Mrs Robertson led separate adjudications on each of these bonds, and, after her husband's death, her son, Arthur John Robertson, raised a reduction of the adjudication on the £1400 bond, and of the £1500 bond, and adjudication thereon, with relative conclusions of accounting. The question ultimately came to be, whether the interest of the £1400 fell under the jus mariti, so as to have been the property of Masterton Robertson during the marriage, or was the exclusive property of Mrs Robertson.

This question was discussed in reference to the terms of Miss Shearer's trust-settlement; the conveyance by her trustees to Mrs Robertson; a holograph letter of the late Masterton Robertson; various payments and acknowledgments made by him; and the payments and acknowledgments made by a trustee for creditors, to whom he ultimately conveyed his estates.

The Lord Ordinary, holding the jus mariti to have been excluded, assoilzied in both cases, observing, “The whole case depends on the point, whether the jus mariti of the defender's deceased husband was, or was not, excluded, not only quoad the principal sum, but quoad the interest of the bond on which the adjudication was led.”

The pursuer reclaimed, but