10 Pa. Super. 296 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1899
Opinion by
Crops produced on a farm in the joint occupation of husband and wife presumptively belong to the husband, and in a contest between her and his creditors the burden of overcoming the presumption by clear and satisfactory testimony rests upon her: Eavanson v. Pownall, 182 Pa. 587. If, however, the farm belongs to her, the fact that the husband’s labor entered into the production of the crops will not make them liable for his debts. A husband who, in the enjoyment of the marital relation is permitted to live and be maintained upon the property of his wife, managed by her for her own use and benefit, does not acquire a title to the products merely by the labor which he voluntarily bestows upon it: Phillips v. Hall, 160 Pa. 60, and cases there cited. This is conceded by the defendant’s counsel, but he argues that a married woman, in order to maintain title to the crops raised on a farm leased to her, must prove that the lease was made to her exclusively upon the credit of a separate estate which she owned at the time, and further, that she must establish the fact by a higher quality of proof than is required in ordinary civil issues. It would follow, that even if she did own a separate estate, yet if the lessor trusted partly to her honesty and her ability to manage the farm so as to earn the money to pay the rent, the crops would be subject to seizure for her husband’s debts. The result of re-establishing the doctrine of the cases cited in support of this contention would be that a married woman not possessed of a separate estate, and so unfortunate as to have a thriftless and impecunious husband, would be practically helpless, no matter how capable and honest she might be. It would be useless for her to take a lease of a farm with the expectation of being able to earn enough to pay the rent, because the products of her labor and skill could be seized for the debts of her husband. However the law was before the passage of the Married Woman’s Property Act, it is not so now. In a case arising under the act of 1872 the present chief jus
Judgment affirmed.