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Section 42: Liability to maintain wife or husband and children.

National Assistance Act 1948 · 1948 c. 29View on legislation.gov.uk

This provision is repealed
It is retained for historical reference and may not reflect the law currently in force.

Part IV: General and Supplementary

REPEALED on 2007-10-05 by Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007.

The text below is the provision as originally enacted. It is historical and may not include amendments made before this status change. View the enacted source.

For the purposes of this Act—

a man shall be liable to maintain his wife and his children, and
a woman shall be liable to maintain her husband and her children.

The reference in paragraph (a) of the last foregoing subsection to a man's children includes a reference to children of whom he has been adjudged to be the putative father, and the reference in paragraph (b) of that subsection to a woman's children includes a reference to her illegitimate children.

In the application of subsection (2) of this section to Scotland, for the reference to children of whom a man has been adjudged to be the putative father there shall be substituted a reference to children his paternity of whom has been admitted or otherwise established.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.