Registrar-General (NSW) v Wood

The Registrar-General of New South Wales appealed to the High Court of Australia from a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned the registrability of a transfer of land by the Sheriff to William Harry Wood, the husband of Annie Wood. The land in question was held by Annie Wood and William Harry Wood as tenants by entireties. A writ of fieri facias had been issued against Annie Wood, and the Sheriff sold her interest in the land under this writ. The Registrar-General refused to register the transfer, asserting that a wife's interest in land held as tenant by entireties was not her separate property and thus not subject to execution.

The High Court was required to determine whether, following the enactment of the *Married Women's Property Act 1901* (NSW), a wife's interest in land held as tenant by entireties constituted her separate property, capable of being taken in execution. This involved considering whether the Act had abolished or altered the nature of tenancies by entireties, and if not, whether the wife's interest within such a tenancy was nonetheless her separate estate under the Act.

A majority of the High Court (Isaacs, Rich, and Starke JJ.) held that the *Married Women's Property Act 1901* conferred upon a wife a separate estate and interest in land acquired after its commencement, even if held as tenant by entireties. They reasoned that the Act's purpose was to emancipate married women regarding their property, enabling them to hold and dispose of it as if they were single. While acknowledging that tenancies by entireties still existed, they concluded that the wife's interest within such a tenancy was her separate property, distinct from her husband's, and therefore liable to execution. Knox C.J. and Higgins J. dissented, finding that the Act did not abolish tenancies by entireties and that, under such a tenancy, the wife had no separate interest capable of being severed or taken in execution.

The High Court, by majority, affirmed the decision of the Supreme Court. Consequently, the Registrar-General was bound to register the transfer by the Sheriff to William Harry Wood of Annie Wood's estate and interest in the land.