148 Ind. 625 | Ind. | 1897
Lead Opinion
Appellee sued tbe appellant in tbe Superior Court for partition of lots 16 and 17 in Hannaman’s south addition to tbe city of Indianapolis and to quiet ber title to ber alleged proportion thereof. Tbe action was commenced May 3, 1894.
The conclusions of law are assigned for error.
The material facts found are, in substance, that appellee, Mary J. Wagner, and said Peter Wagner were married on November 22, 1855, in Clay county, Indiana, where they lived together as husband and wife until May 11, 1887, when said Peter died intestate, leaving an estate of less than $5,000.00, and left surviving him said Mary J., as his, widow, together with five children.
At and prior to May 16, 1856, said Peter Wagner, the husband of appellee, was the owner in fee simple of an undivided interest in a tract of land of about six acres situated in Marion county, Indiana, out of which the lots in dispute have been carved. At said date, he and some ten other persons held the aforesaid tract, undivided, as tenants in common. On said May 16, 1856, proceedings for partition were instituted by said Peter Wagner, and others of his co-tenants’, against their co-tenant, George Wagner, in the common pleas court of said county. At the trial of that cause the. land sought to be partitioned was found not to be susceptible of division, and the same was by the court ordered to be sold as an entirety, and David S. Beaty was appointed a commissioner to mate the sale thereof; and, in pursuance of such order, he sold said real estate to William Smith and executed to him a commissioner’s deed for the same, which deed was approved by the court and duly recorded, and the proceeds arising from the sale were paid to and divided among the parties to the action according to their respective shares and rights. The appellee, the wife of said
The conclusions of law are to the effect that appellee, Mary J. Wagner, is the owner of a moiety of the undivided one-third of her deceased husband’s interest in said real estate, and that appellant, Patrick Haggerty, is the owner of the residue thereof.
The ground upon which the conclusion that appellee, Mary J. Wagner, is the owner of a moiety of the real estate in question is based, as we learn from ap- ' pellee’s brief and a written opinion filed by the learned ' judge of the trial court, is, that by failure to make her a party to the prior partition proceedings, her inchoate interest in said lands as the wife of Peter Wagner, was not extinguished by the partition sale. The question thus raised is a new one in this court, the same never having been directly decided before, nor has the question ever previously been before or considered by this court.
The question has been considered and decided by other courts of last resort under statutes somewhat similar to our own. Some of those courts have decided the question one way, and some the other. We therefore feel called upon to consider the question upon principle before reviewing the decisions.
Great stress is laid upon section 2652, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (2491, R. S. 1881), which was in force at the time the prior partition proceedings took place. It provides, among other things, that “A surviving wife is entitled, except as in section seventeen [section 2483] excepted, to one-third of all real estate of which her husband may have been seized in fee simple at any time during the marriage, and in the conveyance of which she may not have joined, in due form of law.” The only exception in section 17 is in favor of creditors where the real estate exceeds in value $10,000.00, in which case the widow as against such creditors only takes one-fourth, instead of a third, and where such real estate exceeds in value $20,000.00 she takes as against such creditors one-fifth, instead of a third. These exceptions have no application to the facts in this case, and hence no bearing.
The sweeping language that she is entitled to one-third of all real estate of which her husband may have been seized in fee simple at any time during the marriage, and in the conveyance of which she may not have joined in due form of law, is subject to exceptions not mentioned in the statute of descents, which arise out of other laws and the evident intent of the legislature. For instance, it has no force where the husband’s title was divested before the section took effect. Taylor v. Sample, 51 Ind. 423. And where-liens existed on the lands at the time the marriage took
And so it has been held by this court, and correctly, we think, that where land was conveyed by its owner to another, so that the other could mortgage it to the school fund to secure a loan for the benefit of the grantor, and then such grantee conveyed the land back to the grantor, without the wife of such first grantee joining in the conveyance, and afterwards he died, leaving his wife surviving him, she was not entitled under this section to any part of such land, though she came within the very letter of the statute; because, in analogy to the common law inchoate right of dower, the seizin of the husband was only instantaneous, and hence insufficient to create the inchoate right. Johnson v. Plume, 77 Ind. 166.
Again, where real estate is appropriated upon compensation in the exercise of the power of eminent domain, or in case of the dedication of lands of the husband to public use in making highways, canals, railroads, streets and the like, the inchoate right of dower, or its substitute, the inchoate right of the wife to one-third in fee simple in her husband’s lands, is extinguished without her joining in any deed therefor, or being made a party thereto in any manner or form. Duncan v. City of Terre Haute, 85 Ind. 104; City of Indianapolis v. Kingsbury, 101 Ind. 200.
In the first one of the two cases last cited above, it is said, on pages 106 and 107, that: “The courts of this
“Washburn, in treating of the various modes in which dower may be defeated, says: ‘One mode in which dower may be defeated remains to be mentioned, and that is, by the exercise of eminent domain during the life of the husband, or, what is equivalent to it, the dedication of land to the public use.’ 1 Washb. Real Prop. (4th ed.), p. 269.
“In Moore v. City of New York, 4 Sandf. 456, the court, in speaking of a.former decision says: ‘We then held that the wife’s right of dower was merely inchoate during the life of the husband, and that she had no vested or certain interest in his lands. The right being merely an incident to the marriage relation, it seems to us that while this right is thus inchoate, and
These several exceptions to the full force and effect of the section of our statute of descents quoted above, manifestly arise out of other statutes and laws creating rights in other persons paramount to the inchoate right of the wife in the lands of her husband.
Dower having been abolished by the revision bf 1852, it has often been said by this court that the provision made for the widow in her husband’s real estate by the same revision was a substitute for dower, and many of the rules that had been previously applied to dower have since been applied to the substitute. Two provisions in favor of the widow, in lieu of, or as a substitute for dower in her husband’s real estate, have been made by the revision of 1852, and since re-enacted and now in force. One of them is the section already quoted, and the other is the old section 17 of our statute of descents. Section 2640, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (2483, R. S. 1881). This section provides that “If a husband die testate or intestate, leaving a widow, one-third of his real estate shall descend to her in fee simple,” etc. The widow takes under this section as heir of her husband. Rusing v. Rusing, 25 Ind. 63; May v. Fletcher, 40 Ind. 575; Bowen v. Preston, 48 Ind. 367; Brown v. Harmon, 73 Ind. 412; Derry v. Derry, 74 Ind. 560; Hendrix v. McBeth, 87 Ind. 287. But the widow does not take under section 27, old number, section 2652, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (2491, R. S. 1881), first above quoted, as heir, but by virtue of her marital rights. Bowen v. Preston, supra; Brannon v.
In Johnson v. Plume, 77 Ind. 166, being a case where the surviving widow was asserting her right to land once owned by her husband and in the conveyance of which she had not joined him, founding her claim on the same section relied on by the appellee here, this court, after quoting the section, said: “By the terms of this statute a surviving wife is entitled to one-third of all the real estate of which the husband was seized at any time during the marriage, and in the conveyahce of which she did not join. The appellee’s husband was seized of the land in dispute, and as she did not join him in the conveyance made to James Gal-lately, she is within the letter of the statute; and, if the statute is to be literally construed, her claim must prevail. At the common law a widow was entitled to dower in all lands of which her husband was seized at any time during coverture, and in the conveyance of
ISTo reason has been suggested, nor can we think of any, why the inchoate right of the wife of a co-tenant of real estate may not be extinguished by a partition sale without making her a party, as well as in cases where the husband’s title is divested before the section took effect, in cases where liens existed on the land at the time the marriage took place, in cases where liens on the land existed at the time the husband became seized, in cases where his seizin was only for a temporary purpose, and in cases where the husband’s land is appropriated upon compensation in the exercise of the power of eminent domain, or in cases of the dedication of lands of the husband to public use in making highways, canals, railroads, streets, market places,-cemeteries and the like.
But it is earnestly and ably contended by appellee’s learned counsel that another section, 2660, Burns’ E. S. 1894 (2499, E. S. 1881), imperatively requires the wife to be made a party in such a case, or the proceed
But the last clause is relied on with great confidence by the appellee. It is earnestly insisted that the latter clause expressly provides that no decree to which she shall not be a party “shall pejudice or extinguish the right of the wife to her third in his (her husband’s) lands.” Plain and imperative as this language is, it must receive a construction. Because, as we have already seen, this court has held in the various cases above mentioned that the wife’s inchoate interest in her husband’s land may be extinguished by proceedings to which she was not a party; and this, too, while the section just quoted was in full force. This section must be construed along with a section of the code of civil procedure hereinafter referred to, and relied on by appellee as establishing the law as to necessary parties in partition proceedings.
The reason why the two sections must be construed together is that they relate to the same subject, namely: necessary parties to actions resulting in judgments and decrees. The reason why this section cannot be so construed as to require persons to be made
The law requires us to construe these two sections m pari materia, and to give effect to each if possible. State v. Rackley, 2 Blackf. 249; Indiana Central Canal Co. v. State, 53 Ind. 575; Stout v. Board, etc., 107 Ind. 343.
To construe the section last quoted so as to require persons to be made parties who are unnecessary parties, is to bring it into conflict with the section of the code referred to. But it may be harmonized with that section by construing its requirements as to parties to relate to such parties, ajid to such parties only, as are necessary parties. Any other construction requires us to conclude that the legislature intended to declare by law that in certain cases persons should be made parties to certain actions who are wholly unnecessary, and that a failure to make unnecessary parties should cause the overthrow of the judgments and decrees of the courts in such proceedings. It is too clear for controversy that the legislature had no such intention.
And the inquiry naturally arises, why is it not necessary to make the wife a party when her husband’s land is to be taken to make a public highway, or when the same is to be appropriated upon compensation for a railroad right of way? The only answer to this question is that if she were made a party there is nothing that she could do to protect her inchoate interest. There is no answer she could make that would qualify or prevent the appropriation. She could only answer, “I am the wife of the owner” and that fact would be disclosed by the complaint, if she were made a party. ' There is no issue she could tender, and no issue could be tendered to her. Therefore, if she were made a party to such a proceeding, she would not be
The cases to which we have referred show that the section last cited has not been given such a broad scope in meaning by this court as to allow a surviving wife to recover her third in lands of her husband, taken without her becoming a party thereto, in the various modes of appropriation enumerated above, though its sweeping language would, at first blush, seem to warrant a contrary ruling. The leading idea in the section is that she must be a party to certain acts or proceedings touching her inchoate interest. It evidently was not intended by the latter clause of the section to make any new law on the subject of necessary parties. The provision was enacted in view of the law as it then and still exists as to parties. In other words, it would be absurd to suppose the legislature meant that the wife should be made a party in those cases where it could affect nothing, as well as those cases where it could. And the law requires us to adopt that construction which leads to no absurdity, if the statute is susceptible of such a construction. Mayor, etc., v. Weems, 5 Ind. 547; Storms v. Stevens, 104 Ind. 46. There are many cases within the purview of the section, if the wife was made a party, wherein it would enable her to protect her inchoate interest. But we have seen that this court has held, in the face of the section in question, that in appropriations of the husband’s land by the exercise of the power of eminent domain, or in dedication of lands for public uses on compensation, the inchoate interest of the wife is extinguished without her consent and without making her a party. This is at least an implied holding that there are cases falling within the unqualified language of the section where the wife’s inchoate interest may be extinguished without her consent and without making her a party.
Some reliance is placed by the appellee upon the code of civil procedure to support the contention that she was a necessary party to the partition sale. Section 626, 2 Gavin & Hord, p. 288, then in force, required the pleadings and practice in partition proceedings to conform to the code. Two sections of the code as it then and now stands are relied upon to establish that appellee was a necessary party to the partition proceedings. Section 17, 2 Gavin & Hord, p. 45, provides that “all persons having an interest in the subject of the action, shall be joined as plaintiffs.”
Appellee’s husband was one of the plaintiffs in the partition proceedings resulting in the sale, but her learned counsel do not say whether she ought to have been a plaintiff or a defendant. Her counsel also quote and rely on section 18, 2 Gavin & Hord, p. 46,
This lands us back where we started, to begin afresh with the inquiry: Who are necessary parties? We have already seen that the wife is not a necessary party to proceedings to appropriate her husband’s land, and to 'dedications thereof for public uses.
This court has indirectly decided in Paulus v. Latta, 93 Ind. 34, that she is not a necessary party either in partition suits where her husband is a co-tenant or in appropriation or dedication cases, in holding that her inchoate interest is not the subject of an action. On page 38 of that case it is said: “The appellee suggests that the complaint contains a good cause of action against Paulus to remove the cloud upon her inchoate interest as the wife of the defendant Latta. But such inchoate interest is not a present estate, it cannot be conveyed by itself. McCormick v. Hunter, 50 Ind. 186. It gives no right of entry. Strong v. Bragg, 7 Blackf. 62. It is not the subject of an action; it constitutes no diminution of the husband’s present estate; he may convey his entire estate without her, and the purchaser will hold it subject only to be divested of one-third of it on certain contingencies.” If the inchoate interest of the wife is not the subject of an action while the husband lives, it would seem to follow that it would not be the subject of a defense. And even one of the cases cited by appellee, Thompson v. McCorkle, 136 Ind. 484, affords strong support to this po
Barbour on Parties, at page 330, says: “No one need be made a party plaintiff in whom there exists no interest; and no one need be made a party defendant from whom nothing is demanded. A mere contingent interest is insufficient. * * * No one need be made a party who disclaims all interest in the controversy; nor one who would not be at liberty to answer, and contest the right to the relief prayed for.” The author cites the following adjudged cases that fully support the text: Kerr v. Watts, 6 Wheat. (U. S.) 550; Bailey v. Inglee, 2 Paige 278; Lee v. Colston, 5 Monroe (Ky.) *238.
Now let us inquire whether the appellee could have affected anything in the way of the protection of her inchoate interest if she had been made a party. All the authorities on both sides of the question we are discussing agree in holding that the inchoate right of dower, or the inchoate right of the wife to one-third of her husband’s land, subsists by virtue of the seizin
They also likewise agree that if she is made a party she cannot prevent a partition, and, in a proper case, she cannot prevent a partition sale. They also agree that in case the real estate can be divided according to the interests of the co-tenants, the decree is binding on the wife of a co-tenant without making her a party to the proceedings. It is also agreed by the authorities referred to that the wife’s interest in the husband’s share, without her presence in court, or any order of court, will at once attach to the portion set off to him. This concession carries with it the logical sequence that the wife of a co-tenant is not a necessary party to a partition proceeding, whether there is a sale or not.
But, suppose she is made a party, in such a case where a sale is to take place, what can she do? The partition statute then, and still in force, practically answers the question. It provides that: “The moneys arising from such sale after payment of just costs and expenses, shall be paid by such commissioner to the persons entitled thereto, according to their respective shares.” Section 23, 2 Gavin & Hord, p. 365. * We have seen that the wife of a co-tenant has no share in the lands of her husband while he lives. Therefore, no money can be paid to her on such a sale, even if she be made a party, unless there is some other statute or
It is true that such inchoate interest, while it cannot be conveyed separate from her husband’s title, yet she may release it by joining with her hnsband in the conveyance of his real estate. And the release thus made by the wife is a sufficient consideration to support a promise to her. Jarboe v. Severin, 85 Ind. 496; Green v. Groves, 109 Ind. 519; Worley v.
If the courts undertake to hand over to the wife a portion of the husband’s share of the proceeds of a partition sale, it may result in giving her a part of her husband’s real estate to own and control, though the event never happens upon which her right to do so is by the statute expressly made to depend, namely, to become his surviving widow. Either of two contingencies may happen by which she may never become his surviving widow. One is, she may die first; and the other is that, the marriage may be dissolved by a divorce. And yet, if any portion of the husband’s share of the proceeds of a partition sale were given her by the courts, she would be possessing and controlling it in violation of the statute th'at creates, measures and limits her rights in her husband’s real estate.
It was wisely supposed by statesmen and lawyers that it required an express legislative enactment to make the inchoate interest of the wife become abs.o-lute and vest in her during the life of the husband, as seen by the act of 1875, in case of judicial sales of her husband’s real estate. Section 2669, Burns’ R. S. 1894 (2508, R. S. 1881).
That act does not apply to this case so as to enable the courts to give the wife a portion of the husband’s share of the proceeds of a partition sale, for two reasons. First, it was not in force when these proceedings took place; and, secondly, the second section thereof provides that it shall not apply to sales of real estate upon judgments rendered prior to the taking effect of the act; nor to any sale of real property of the value of $20,000.00 and over, nor to the sale of real property of the aggregate value of $20,000.00 and over,
So the conclusion seems absolutely irresistible that there is no law in this State authorizing the courts to award to the wife of a co-tenant any portion of her husband’s share of the proceeds of a partition sale. On the contrary, the express provision of the partition statute, then and now in force, imperatively requires, as we have seen, that the whole of his proportion of the proceeds of the sale, according to his share in the real estate, shall be paid over to him.
Therefore, the latter clause of section 2660, Burns’ E. S. 1894 (2499, E. S. 1881), which is the same as section 35 of the law of descent of 1852, providing that no “Sale, disposition, transfer, or incumbrance of the husband’s property, by virtue of any decree, * * * to which she shall not be a party, *■ * * shall prejudice or extinguish the right of the wife to her third in his lands,” etc., must be held to have no application tó a case .like the present, where to have made her a party could not have availed her anything, and to apply only to such cases as would have been of some possible benefit to her to have made her a party.
Some Of the authorities, in view of this line of reasoning, intimate that her inchoate interest cannot be extinguished by a partition sale, whether she be made a party or not. Whether it can or not must be determined by a consideration of the probable legislative intent as disclosed in the several statutes referred to. To hold that it could not, would involve the necessity of holding that the mere inchoate right, the mere expectancy, the mere possibility of a vested or consummate estate, without ever vesting or becoming consummate, may destroy the absolute vested estate
In support of the contention that a partition sale, in the absence of the wife of a co-tenant as a party, was intended not to extinguish the wife’s inchoate right, we are cited to section 21, 2 Gavin & Hord, p. 365, which has been substantially continued in force by the revision of 1881. It reads thus: “Whenever it shall appear to the court that the purchase-money for the land sold has been duly paid, the court shall order such commissioner, or some other person, to execute conveyances to the purchaser, which shall bar all claim of such owners to said lands as effectually as if they themselves had executed the same.”
Great confidence in this statute seems to be entertained by appellee’s learned counsel as affording strong support to his contention. That is, that by its terms the deed in a partition sale is to have the same force and effect as if the owners themselves had executed the same, and no more. And if the owners themselves had executed the deed it could not extinguish' or release their wives’ inchoate rights therein. But it is believed that this confidence is wholly misplaced, for two reasons, at least. If the intent of the statute is to give no greater effect to the deed than if executed by the owners, then it establishes the unreasonable proposition intimated in some of the decisions that the inchoate right of the wife of a co-tenant cannot be extinguished by such a sale, even though she were made a party. Because if the deed is to have no greater effect than if made by the owners, then it is to have no greater effect than if executed by the co-tenant,
The settled law requires us to give effect to that intent, so as to make it prevail over the literal import
■ It follows, from what we have said, that, upon principle, the partition sale and deed in question vested in the purchaser the entire title to the real property in question and extinguished the inchoate interest of the appellee therein.
We will now consider how the question stands upon authority. It is claimed that the rule established by the courts of New York is that a partition sale does not extinguish the contingent right of the wife of one of the co-tenants. The decisions of that state are conflicting. The condition of the adjudications on the question in New York is so accurately and tersely stated by Mr. Freeman, in his work on Co-Tenancy and Partition, in section 474, at pages 630, 631, that we appropriate his language: “Hence, we find Chancellor Walworth stating that, ‘as a feme covert cannot be bound by a decree against her in a partition suit to which she is not a party, it seems to be proper, in all cases where a sale of the property will probably be necessary, that the wife should be joined with her husband as a party to the suit, so that the purchaser’s interest in the premises may not be charged with her contingent claim of dower.’ But Yice Chancellor McCoun, of New York, held that it was immaterial whether the wife was made a party to the suit or not, ‘because a decree for sale and conveyance by a master will not bar her right of dower in her husband’s share of the lands in the event of her surviving him.’ He justified '
So it must be regarded that the New York decisions, being both ways, and no final determination of the question ever having taken place in the court of last resort in that state, the adjudications there do not place that state on either side of the question.
In Weaver v. Gregg, 6 Ohio St. 547, 67 Am. Dec. 355, it is held, in a very able opinion by Brinkerhoff, J.. speaking for the whole court, that a partition sale and deed without making the wife of a co-tenant a party extinguishes her inchoate right of dower, under statutes similar to our own, and passes the entire estate to the purchaser. Appellee’s learned counsel contend that the case just cited has been overruled by the Supreme Court of Ohio in the following cases: Black v. Kuhlman, 30 Ohio St. 196; Unger v. Leiter, 32 Ohio St. 210; Dingman v. Dingman, 39 Ohio St. 172; Mendel v. McClave, 46 Ohio St. 407, 22 N. E. 290. We have examined these cases and find they do not even touch the subject, much less do they overrule the doctrine laid down in Weaver v. Gregg, that a partition sale extinguishes the inchoate right of dower of the wife of one of the co-tenants without making her a party. The following cases hold to the same doctrine announced by the Ohio Supreme Court: Lee v. Lindell, 22 Mo. 202, 64 Am. Dec. 262; Hinds v. Stevens, 45 Mo.
The only case of a court of last resort holding a contrary doctrine is Greiner v. Klein, 28 Mich. 12. And this adjudication stands alone against the great current of adjudged cases in the United States. It alono supports appellee’s contention.
There is sufficient difference between the Michigan partition statute and our own to furnish some plausible reasons for reaching the conclusion arrived at by the Michigan Supreme Court, and especially as the Michigan statute was literally borrowed and copied from the New York partition statute; and at the time the Michigan decision was made the prevailing view of the New York courts was such as to lead to the Michigan decision. And yet the reasoning is very faulty by which the majority of the Michigan court reached their conclusion. An able dissenting opinion was delivered by Justice Campbell in a course of reasoning so conclusive and unanswerable as to greatly weaken, if not to destroy, the force of the prevailing opinion as authority outside of the state of Michigan.
We therefore conclude that the overwhelming weight of judicial opinion is against appellee’s contention.
Washburn on Real Property states the law thus: “The wife of a tenant in common holds her inchoate right of dower so completely subject to the incidents of such an estate, that she not only takes her dower out of such part only of the common estate as shall have been set off to her husband in partition, but. if by law the entire estate should be sold in order to effect a partition, she loses by such sale all claim to the land,, although no party to such proceeding.” 1 Washb. Real Prop. 208, *p 158.
The judgment is reversed, with instructions to the trial court to restate its conclusions of law in conformity to this opinion, and to render judgment ac: cordingly.
Jordan, J., dissents.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion.
I am compelled to dissent from the conclusion reached in the opinion of the majority of the court in this case.
The material and undisputed facts are, in brief, as follows: Appellee, Mary J. Wagner, and Peter Wagner were married on November 22, 1855, in Olay county, Indiana, where they lived together as husband and wife until May 11, 1887, on which date the husband died intestate, leaving an estate of less than ^5,000.00, and left surviving him, as his widow, said Mary J., together with five children. At and prior to May 16, 1856, Peter Wagner, the husband, was the owner in fee of an undivided interest in a tract of land of about six acres, situated in Marion county, Indiana, out of which the lots in dispute have been carved. At said date, he and some ten other persons, held the aforesaid tract, undivided, as tenants in common. On said 16th day of May, 1856, proceedings for partition were instituted by said Peter Wagner and others of his co-tenants against their co-tenant, George Wagner, in the common pleas court of said county. At the
Counsel for the appellant affirm that the inchoate right of the wife must yield to the requirements of the paramount vested interests of more than, one, when, under the provision of the statute which compels partition among co-tenants, her husband’s land is sold by order of the court, in order that the proceeds may
It is a well settled rule that when actual partition is made of lands in which the husband holds an undivided moiety, the inchoate interest of the wife therein will instantly attach to the share allotted in severalty to her husband, unless fraud has been practiced upon her in the partition proceedings. This result does not depend upon any order or action of the court, but equity will shift this interest of the wife to the part set off to the husband without the former being a party to the proceedings. By this result her right is protected and preserved without her presence as a party to the suit. The result and effect of the decree when the wife is not a party, and the property in common is ordered by the court to be sold, is a debatable proposition, upon which the authorities conflict. This leads to an examination and review of those bearing upon this question. In Jackson v. Edwards, 7 Paige (N. Y.) p. 386, the holding seems to be that a sale, so made, does not divest the inchoate right of dower, for the reason, as expressed by the chancellor, that the court possessed no power to compel the wife to accept provisions out of the proceeds of the sale in lieu o.f her interest and consequent right to the enjoyment of the land itself. This case (Jackson v. Edwards) was carried to the supreme court of New York, see 22 Wend. 498.
The judges in this case, it appears, were all of the same opinion that the wife’s dower right could not be
In Rowland v. Prather, 53 Md. 232, in which the wife was held to be bound, the order of sale was made prior to the marriage, although the sale of the land was subsequent. The Maryland Court of Appeals in this case, in referring to and quoting from Weaver v. Gregg, supra, said: “It is not necessary for us to hold that a
In the appeal of Mitehell v. Farrish, 69 Md. 235, 14 Atl. 712, Weaver v. Gregg, supra, was again referred to. But the question as to whether it was necessary to make the wife of the tenant a party to the proceedings in partition was held to be, not necessarily in controversy. Judge Brinkerhoff, delivering the opinion of the court in Weaver v. Gregg, supra, said: “The fact that the wife was not a formal party to the proceeding in partition, does not, we think, at all alter the case. The terms of the statute do not require that she should be made a party, and we see no good reason why it should be required. On the whole, our view of the question is this: The right of dower in the wife subsists in virtue of the seizin of the husband; and this right is always subject to any incumbrance, infirmity, or incident, which the law attaches to that seizin, either at the time of the marriage or at the time the husband became seized. A liability to be
In Greiner v. Klein, 28 Mich. 12, it has been held that a sale in a partition suit to which the wife of one of the tenants was not made a party, did not serve to bar her of the right of dower. In this decision, Cooley, J., and Christiancy, C. J., concurred with Judge Graves, Campbell, J., dissented. Graves, J., speaking for the court, said: “Before acceding to the view that such a right may be extinguished through a suit in partition by .the husband, ■ instituted and carried to completion without her being a party or being represented, and without her having any chance to be heard, we ought to find the rule of law compelling it, most clear and decisive.
“It may be said that the provisions of the partition law are not so framed and arranged, unless we go outside and supplement the law by judicial legislation, as to make it practicable to guard the wife’s right, whether she be a party or not, where a sale becomes necessary.
“Were this to be admitted, it would not follow that we should assume the legislature to have intended that the right should be invaded and destroyed in her absence. At the utmost, nothing further could be inferred than that having made no adequate provision to protect her right in the event of a sale, it was not designed that a sale should interfere with the right.”
In Grissom v. Moore, 106 Ind. 296, 55 Am. Rep. 742, in reference to thesé sections, Mitchell, 3., speaking for the court, said: “The inchoate right of the -wife attaches as an incident to the seizin of the husband during marriage. It cannot be divested or defeated by any act or charge of the husband, nor otherwise, except in the manner above provided. It can only be barred by a conveyance in which she joins, or by some proceeding to which all estates are subject, such as the exercise of the power of eminent domain, and the like. Her interest in the lands thus owned and conveyed by the husband, in the conveyance of which she has not joined, becomes consummate on his death. It accrues by virtue of the marital relation. She does not take as heir in lands so conveyed. . Rank v. Hanna, 6 Ind. 20; Verry v. Robinson, 25 Ind. 14; May v. Fletcher, 40 Ind. 575; Brannon v. May, 42 Ind. 92; Bowen v. Preston, 48 Ind. 367; Derry v. Derry, 74 Ind.
In the appeal of Bever v. North, 107 Ind. 544, it was held that the wife’s interest in her husband’s real estate was not an incumbrance, but an estate in the land. This court, per Elliott, J., there said: “The estate of a wife under our statute 'is more than a right of dower, for it is paramount to the estate of one claiming through her husband, and sweeps entirely away all title of the purchaser to the one-third interest given her by the statute. The estate of the wife is not a mere incumbrance, but is an interest in the land which goes beneath the title acquired by a purchaser from her husband. Mark v. Murphy, 76 Ind. 534. When the rights of the wife prevail, the title of the purchaser from the husband disappears. If this title does disappear, then, of course, the purchaser had no title which he could • convey, and he cannot be permitted to aver, as against his grantee, that it was part of the consideration of the deed that the grantee should not acquire title to the land owned by the wife of a former owner unless he paid her for it. We can not regard the interest of the wife as an incumbrance, for it is an estate in the land itself. We cannot regard the estate of the wife as a mere right of dower, for there is no reversionary interest in the party who claims through the husband. The title of the wife, when it vests, is absolute as against a grantee of the husband, so that it does not merely incumber the land, but tears up the title from the very roots. It is not like the lease of a life-estate, for there the reversion is in the lessor, and he succeeds to the fee upon the determination of the life-estate. Here the fee never vests in the grantee of the husband. We cannot, therefore, regard as of controlling force the authorities which hold dower rights and life-estates to be mere incumbrances.”
In Thompson v. McCorkle, 136 Ind. 484, it was held that the wife’s inchoate interest was not, under the facts there stated, divested in the real estate of her husband sold for taxes. On page 499, this court said: “It is true the legislature may declare that a wife’s inchoate interest shall be divested by a tax sale, and a conveyance of the land thereunder, but our lawmakers have not so provided, and until it has been so enacted by clear and express words, her contingent interest should not be destroyed by judicial decision. This interest is in lieu of and is analogous to dower, except it has been enlarged from a life estate to a fee, and is guarded by more jealous care by legislative enactment and judicial decision.”
These decisions will fully serve to show the character of the interest with which the wife is vested in the realty of her husband under the provisions of the statutes of this State, and the manner in which it is favored and protected under the law as interpreted by the adjudications of this court.
Courts of sister states hold similar views in regard to the dower interest of the wife in the lands of the husband. Judge Bradbury, speaking for the court in Mandel v. McClave, 46 Ohio St. 407, on p. 414, said: “It is property; its value can be ascertained. More than this, it is a favorite of the law. * * A provision made for her support. * * * * * She is a purchaser. The inception of her right was earlier than that of the creditors; it began with the marriage and
In Shell v. Duncan, 31 S. C. 547, on page 567, of the opinion of Mr. Justice Mclver, it is said: “Nothing t hat the husband may do can in any way affect it. From this, it follows that when the right, title, and interest of the husband is sold, either directly by himself or through the medium of an officer of the law, the purchaser takes no more than what was sold — the right, title, and interest of the husband, which does not include the dower interest — hence the purchaser must take his title subject to the wife’s right of dower.” See 5 Am. and Eng. Ency. of Law, p. 885.
In Simar v. Canady, 53 N. Y. 298, on page 304 of the opinion of the court, it is said: “We think that it must be considered as settled in this state, notwithstanding Moore v. Mayor, and some dicta in other cases, that, as between the wife and any other than the state, or its delegates or agents exercising the right of eminent domain, an inchoate right of dower in lands is a subsisting and valuable interest which will be protected and preserved to her, and that she has a right of action to that end.”
It is seen that this interest is an actual one in the lands of the husband, which, in the event of the death of the latter, passes into a fee, and that it is considered by the law in the sense of property, and as such ought to be accorded protection by the courts. Keeping in ■ view the principles enunciated by the decisions heretofore cited, and the sweeping force and effect of the above mentioned sections of the statute of descent, I may proceed, in the light of these and other statutes and decisions to which I will refer, with the investí
On June 18, 1852, an act concerning the civil procedure of courts and their jurisdiction was approved, being the code of 1852.- See 2 Gavin & Hord, p. 33; section 626 of this code providing that: “Actions may
In Martindale v. Alexander, 26 Ind. 104, it is said: “The code provides a uniform proceeding for all existing rights, whether in law or equity, including the partition of real estate.”
In Milligan v. Poole, 35 Ind. 64, in referring to proceedings in partition, it is said: “Ample provision is made for ascertaining and settling the rights of the parties interested in the land, and if the land cannot be divided without damage to the owners, and consequently has to be sold, the court has power to adjust and secure the rights of the parties in the proceeds of such sale. And whether those rights be legal or
This court, in construing section 18 of the code, supra, in Bittinger v. Bell, 65 Ind. 445, declared that: “The parties who ought to be and must be made defendants, under this section of the code, as we construe it, are the parties in interest adverse to the plaintiff, an interest involved in the issue, and who, of necessity, will be and must be affected by the judgment in the cause. So, also, any person, ‘who is a necessary party to a complete determination or settlement of the questions involved/ must, by the letter of the statute, be made a defendant to the action. These are the rules which govern pleadings in chancery, in relation to necessary parties, and these rules were substantially re-enacted, in our code of practice, as applicable alike to all suits at law as well as in equity, ‘without distinction between law and equity.’ Newcomb v. Horton, 18 Wis. 566; Story, Eq. Plead., chap. 4; Lube, Eq. Plead., chap. 3; Mitford, Plead. 164, and Moak’s Yan Santvoord, Plead. 105”
The question in regard to the necessity of making the wife of a co-tenant a party in an action in partition seems to have been again considered and decided by the supreme court of New York, in the case of Ripple v. Gilborn, 8 Howard 456. The case of Jackson v. Edwards, supra, and the purpose of the statute of 1840, were both referred to and considered by Crippen, J., in delivering the opinion of the court in that appeal. In the course of the opinion in that case, it is said: “The next question in the case, is whether the
“The wife, in equity, has an inchoate right of dower resting upon the contingency of her surviving her husband, and in cases of partition, when the premises can not be divided, and are ordered to be sold, the inchoate right of the wife becomes vested in her, so that she is at once entitled to her equitable portion of the avails of such sale. * * * * I have examined the case in 7 Paige, of Jackson and wife agt. Edwards and others, with much care. The Chancellor in that case has very fully discussed the question as to the rights of the wife in cases of partition, and I am unable to see, according to the law of that case, how the plaintiff can go on with this action without making his wife a party plaintiff. I am satisfied that the act of 1840, (Chap. 177,) in no manner interferes with the question of parties to the action. It only provides for settling the rights of married women, by adopting the same rule suggested by the Chancellor, in the case above cited, for ascertaining the value of the inchoate right of dower of married women in the premises, in cases where a sale is ordered, and of securing to them the
“If the plaintiff’s wife is not brought in as a party to the action, I am not aware of any course of practice by which the court is to be informed that he has a wife who is entitled to an inchoate right of dower in the premises. It may be that on an application in behalf of the wife, at any time before the money arising from the sale of said premises, if one should be ordered, is paid over by the purchaser, her interest therein might be protected by an order of the court; probably the same result might be attained on the applications of the purchaser to the court, in order to protect him in his title. Allow that such proceedings might be had, it only goes to show more emphatically the necessity and propriety of bringing in the plaintiff’s wife as a party to the action, in order that the premises shall be freed by the decree and sale of all entanglements with the claim of the plaintiff’s wife, and she at the same time be properly secured in her equitable rights, arising from a sale of said premises.
“It seems to me that the most simple and direct practice, as well as that required by the strict rules of law, is to make all persons parties, who have, by any means or contingency, an interest in the premises.
“Barbour, in his Chancery Practice, directs that whenever there is a married woman having merely an
The legislature which enacted our statutes of descent substantially adopted the provisions of section sixteen of the statute of New York, referred to in the opinion of the court in the case from which I have just quoted, and incorporated them into section 2660, supra. In view of this fact, the above decision of Ripple v. Gilborn, supra, placing an interpretation on this section of the New. York statute from which our statute was borrowed, is entitled to much weight in
The provision of the partition statute of 1852, which authorized the court, in its discretion, to order a sale of the premises, when they were not susceptible of division, is but a recognition to an extent, of the old chancery rule, which permitted courts of equity in proceedings for partition to do equity upon consent of all parties in interest, by ordering a sale of the land in lieu of partition, and dividing the proceeds instead, except the power under the statute does not depend upon the consent of parties. In a suit in chancery for partition the decree was only binding upon those parties who were before the court, and those whom they virtually represented, and the interests of third persons were not affected. In the exercise of equity jurisdiction in cases of partition, the court was tested with extensive power to bring all interested parties before it, in order that complete justice might be attained. Story Eq. Jur. (11th ed.), section 656; Pom. Eq. Jur., section 1390. By no means is it an easy matter to trace accurately the distinction between necessary, and what may be termed, merely as proper parties to an action; each case in a greater or lesser degree must depend upon' the facts and circumstances upon which it rests. We think, however, that it is evident, in view of the provisions of the code relative to parties to an action, and to which the practice in partition suits, by section 626, supra, is required to conform, that in the event a sale of the lands is ordered, the wife of a tenant in common is not only a
In Weaver v. Gregg, supra, it was said that the wife was remitted to her share of the proceeds of sale in lieu of her dower. But if she is in no manner a party, or notified- of the pendency of the action, how may she have an opportunity to demand her interest in the proceeds, and thereby protect her rights? When is she entitled to her day in court, and a protection of her right under due process of law?
Under the holding that the wife’s right will be barred by the order of sale to which she is not a party, an opportunity might be presented for two or more husbands, holding valuable property as tenants in common, by acting in concert, to procure, through a partition suit, a sale thereof, without making their wives parties thereto, and the money arising from such sale might be dissipated, or seized bv creditors of the husbands, and the wives of the latter be afforded no notice of such action, or opportunity to protect their interests, if any, in such proceeds.
The case at bar affords a fair illustration of the re-
When the force and effect of the several statutes to which I have referred are considered, and* the fact that the right of the wife in the real estate of the husband, under the laws of this State, has heretofore been regarded and held by this court as an actual contingent interest therein; that she holds such inter
The decision in this case may be said to be sweep-’ ing in its effects, and establishes a precedent that will ultimately serve to plague and worry the court. If the doctrine asserted is sound, then it must follow that when lands of the husband are sold, under an order of sale in a partition action, the wife will virtually have no interest, neither in the realty, after it is sold, nor in the proceeds arising out of the sale of the husband’s moiety, that she can claim; and, in such a case the creditors of the husband would occupy a position that they do not in any other case when the husband’s lands are sold, and where the wife has not been es-topped by her own act and not barred by being a party to a judgment or decree of a court. Such creditors, under this view of the question, would be permitted to assert their right to, and appropriate the entire proceeds of the husband’s interest in payment of his debts, regardless of the rights or claims of his wife.
The act of 1875, section 2669, Burns’ R. g. 1894 (2508, R. S. 1881), in effect provides that when the title of the husband in real estate shall become vested in a purchaser under a judicial sale, where the inchoate
In view of these decisions, and others of like import on the same point, surely it must be said that sales made since the taking- effect of the act of 1875, supra, under the order of the court in a partition proceeding, would be judicial sales within the meaning of that statute, and, unless the wife was barred by the judgment therein by being a party thereto, her interest would vest and become absolute upon such sale and conveyance; and in the event that it had been barred by the judgment of the court, she being a party thereto, certainly her interest would be shifted or transferred to the proceeds of the sale, and she would have the right to protect it. From this conclusion, I think, there can be no escape, yet the holding in the case at bar, in effect, affirms or establishes a rule to the contrary, and to this extent the laws of the State which give her this inchoate right in the lands of her husband are rendered nugatory.
The judgment ought to be affirmed.