79 Ga. 770 | Ga. | 1887
J. F. Lord, the husband of Ella E. Lord, bargained with Cheatham for the purchase of a house and lot in the town of Davisboro. Lord stated to Cheatham that he expected to sell to one Jordan a house and lot which he owned in the village of Riddleville, and intended to give his wife the money arising from the sale thereof, and that that would enable him to make the first payment on the house and lot purchased from Cheatham. He also stated to Cheatham, that when the deed was made to this house and .lot in Davisboro, it was to be made to his wife, Ella E. Lord. He gave his notes for the purchase money, as follows : One note for $500, due December 25th, 1880, and three notes for $666.66 each, falling due respectively on ’the first of January, 1882, the first of January, 1888, and the first of January, 1884. Cheatham executed to Lord a bond for title, conditioned to make title to this property when these notes wei'e paid. Lord sold the house and lot in Riddleville and gave his wife the money. She after-wards gave it back to him, and out of that money he made the first payment of $500. Lord and his wife removed from Riddleville to Davisboro and went into the house purchased from Cheatham, and the wife there kept a boarding-house. From the proceeds of this boarding-house she turned over to her husband sufficient money to make the payments falling due on the first of January, 1882, and the first of January, 1883, of $666.66 each. It was shown, by the testimony of Mrs. Lord, that she got most of the supplies to run this boarding-house from her husband, who was keeping a little store in Davisboro ; and that she bought part of the supplies, such as chickens, eggs, etc., from others with money arising from the boarding-house business.
In 1883 Lord failed in business. He transferred to his wife this bond for title from Cheatham. The last of the notes given by Lord to Cheatham became due and was
Upon this state of facts, Mrs. Lord brought her action against Cheatham to recover the amount which she alleges was paid out of hér separate estate by her husband to Cheatham; and upon the trial of the case, the jury found a verdict for Mrs. Lord for $1,779.20. A motion for a new trial was made by Cheatham, upon the ground that the verdict was contrary to law and to the evidence. The court below refused to grant a new trial. A different judge presided on the motion for a new trial from the judge who tried the case. The refusal to grant a new trial is excepted to by Cheatham, and the same is assigned as error.
We have examined the cases decided by this court, and find no adjudication or decision of any case like this. The nearest to it is the case of Chappell vs. Boyd, 61 Ga. 666. But in that case, it will be observed, the husband took the money of his wife which belonged to her separate estate, without her knowledge and consent, and paid it as part of the purchase money of a lot of land which he had bought, and to which he obtained a bond for title. In that case he made a deed to his wife. The court held that, under these facts, the wife could recover back the money. But in the present case, it will be observed that Mrs. Lord knew from the start that her husband was to buy this property from Cheatham in the way it was bought, and
Judgment reversed.