Butler v Butler

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
JudgeLORD JUSTICE,LORD,LORD JUSTICE DAVIES
Judgment Date13 February 1961
Judgment citation (vLex)[1961] EWCA Civ J0213-2
Date13 February 1961
CourtCourt of Appeal

[1961] EWCA Civ J0213-2

In The Supreme Court of Judicature

Court of Appeal

Revised

Before:

Lord Justice Holroyd Pearce

Lord Justice Harman and

Lord Justice Davies

Between:
Mary Jane Butler
Petitioner
and
William Butler
Respondent

LORD JUSTICE
1

This is an appeal from a suspended order of comtal made by Mr Justice Collingwood in respect of certain arrears of maintenance. The question in issue is whether any such arrears exist. The answer to that question depends on the construction and the legal effect of a bargain made between the parties and embodied in a court order in the Queen's Bench Division.

2

In 1952 the husband left the wife. In 1953 the wife brought proceedings under section 17 of the Married Woman's Property Act 1882 in the Queen's Bench division concerning

3

4

5

The £200, which was to be paid to the wife, the wife had to allow the husband £85 deduction, and the husband was discharged of the liability to her in respect of the £85 so deducted.

6

Section 221 reads: "A claimant shall not be entitled to relief under the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act in respect of any income the tax on which he is entitled to charge against any other person, or to deduct, retain or satisfy out of any payment which he is liable to make to any other person". That section shows that whatever the tax position of the husband, he cannot get any benefit from the £85 which he deducts.

7

Now as the husband duly gave the tax certificates purporting to make the tax deductions at the time when the money would (apart from the set-off) have been due, no difficulty arises in his way as arose in the case of Taylor v. Taylor reported in 1938 volume 1 King's Bench Division at page 320. The learned Judge held the view that the contentions of the wife were correct, and that she was entitled each year to have a set-off of £200 under this order. he said: "In my opinion the contention on the part of the wife is the correct oe. The order is for £2 a year, and whether the order is less tax or is silent as to tax the result is the same; the husband is entitled, in making the payment, to deduct from it the amount representing the tax thereon at the standard rate for the year and he is entitled to be acquitted and discharged of so much money as is represented by the deduction as if that sum had actually been paid. The husband is merely acting as agent for the Inland Revenue in making this deduction. The amount awarded to the applicant by way of maintenance is therefore £200 per annum and that is the amount which is to be credited against the balance of £460 due...

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    • Emerald Journal of Educational Administration No. 6-2, February 1968
    • 1 February 1968
    ...dissection of organizations. REFERENCES 1. Baum, B. H. Decentralization of Authority in Bureaucracy. Englewood Cliffs. Prentice-Hall. 1961. p. 33. 2. Parsons, T. "Authority, Legitimation and Political Action", Friedrich, C. J. (Editor). Authority. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press. ......
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    • 1 January 1965
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    • Sage International Review of Administrative Sciences No. 33-2, June 1967
    • 1 June 1967
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