44 Pa. 43 | Pa. | 1862
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The two cases in the District Court were tried as one. They were in substance, if not in form, consolidated. But one verdict was returned, and hut one judgment was entered. Both parties have sued out writs of error, and they are most
The garnishee defended under Mina Michaels, the wife of the defendant in the execution, and the main contest in the cases was, whether the property which the garnishee had bought, and for which he was indebted, was the property of the husband or of the wife. To this question the points reserved related. They will not be understood without a brief reference to the facts of the case.
On the 31st day of July 1847, Frederick Michaels, the defendant in the execution, purchased a tract of land, the same which was subsequently sold to the garnishee, and took a deed for it in his own name. There is some evidence that he had received a considerable part of the purchase-money from his wife, and that it was applied in the purchase. She had obtained about $600 from the estate of a deceased sister, and of this tire husband applied about $440 to the purchase, paying the remainder of the consideration of the conveyance out of other funds which he had. The title remained in him until 1857 at least, if not until 1858. On the 17th of August 1857, he endorsed notes for his son, which were not paid at maturity, and upon his endorsements suits were brought in 1858, and the judgments were recovered which are the foundation of these attachments. On the 2d day of December 1857, fourteen days before the first note became payable, a deed was placed upon record from Frederick Michaels to Mina Michaels his wife, purporting to have been dated on the 23d day of March 1857, and acknowledged the same day, conveying to her the whole tract of land which he had purchased in 1847, for the consideration of $10. There was no direct evidence when this deed was delivered. On the 21st of January 1858, Frederick Michaels, professing to act for his wife Mina, sold the property and all his farm stock by articles of agreement to Gerlach, the garnishee, for the sum of $3400, of which there is evidence that $1000 was paid to the wife. Subsequently a deed to the garnishee was made by her, and a mortgage to her was taken for $1900.
We do not propose to consider all these questions, for in the view which we take of the third and fourth, the plaintiffs were entitled to a judgment for a sum sufficient to pay both their executions, the amount found in the garnishee’s hands being much more than is required.
That a. deed from a husband directly to his wife is a nullity at common law, is a doctrine as old as the law itself. It results inevitably fr.om the principle that the husband and wife are one, and of course are incapable of contracting with eac'h other. But while all conveyances from a husband to the wife, without the intervention of a trustee, are void at law, and some even when the transfer is made to a trustee for her, it is certain that contracts, even directly betwmen them, will be sustained in equity if they are reasonable, and not prejudicial to creditors. A husband may make a gift to his wife, or a settlement upon her without the intervention of a trustee, and equity will hold it good if it be no more than a reasonable provision for her, be proportioned to his circumstances, and not hurtful to his creditors. In most of the cases in which equity has thus interfered, the contest has been between the wife and the heir, or personal representative of the husband. It is not so clear that such a conveyance will be sustained against a subsequent purchaser from the husband, unless it be for a valuable consideration.
In this case the settlement attempted by the deed from Frederick Michaels to Mina Michaels, his wife, was voluntary. The consideration mentioned in the deed was nominal, and no valuable consideration is proved. The wife released no rights of dower in any of the husband’s property. She transferred to him no separate property of hers; she renounced no inheritance of her own descending after marriage; she ceded nothing which belonged to her, and the deed was not in pursuance of any ante-
Regarding then, as we must, the deed dated March 23d 1857, and recorded December 2d 1857, as a gift or a voluntary settlement, it remains .to be considered whether it was a reasonable provision for the wife, taking into view the circumstances of the husband, and whether it is not prejudicial to creditors. A court of equity will not enforce a voluntary conveyance, if it bo of more than a reasonable provision: Beard v. Beard, 3 Atk. 72; Story’s Eq. § 1374. Upon this branch of the case it is conclusive against the wife that the deed was for all the husband’s real estate, and indeed for all his property, so far as appears, except some farming stock, subsequently sold by him for $500. A conveyance that denudes a husband of all, or the greater part of his property, is much more than a reasonable provision for a wife; for in considering what is and what is not a reasonable provision, the circumstances of the husband are to be regarded, his probable necessities as well 'as his debts. Equity will not assist a wife to impoverish her husband. Accordingly it has always been held that a conveyance to a wife of all or the greater part of a husband’s estate, is an unreasonable provision, which, if voluntary, a court of equity will not sustain. Section 1,-Eon-blanque’s Eq., book 1, ch. 4, § 12, note a, where the author remarks that “ if a conveyance be of the whole, or the greater part of a grantor’s property, such conveyance or gift would be fraudulent ; for no man can voluntarily divest himself of all, or the most of what he has, without being aware that future creditors will probably suffer by it.” 2 Story’s Eq. § 1374, where the principle is clearly stated with a reference to authorities. It is recognised also in Benedict v. Montgomery, and in Stickney v. Borman, 2 Barr 67.
There is another aspect of this case, not at all favourable' to the claim of the wife. It is that she withheld the deed of her husband from record until December 2d 1857. In asking that
We hold, therefore, that neither in law nor in equity can the deed of Frederick Michaels to his wife be held to have divested his interest. Consequently the whole sum in the hands of the garnishee was his, and liable to attachment at the suit of his creditors.
This view -of the cases takes away all importance from the writs of error sued out by the garnishee. At all events, there is sufficient in his hands to pay the two judgments of the plaintiffs below, and the verdict and judgment does not conclude him as to any others.
Gerlach v. Coates et al.
Gerlach v. Coates et al.
Judgment against the plaintiff in error, and that he take nothing by his writs.
Coates et al. v. Gerlach.
Coates et al. v. Gerlach.
Judgment reversed, and judgment entered for the plaintiffs below for $1297.26 and costs, including the costs of'the two judgments against Frederick Michaels.