141 P. 1022 | Or. | 1914
delivered the opinion of the court.
The relationship of the defendant parties affecting the issues in this case is defined by the following excerpts from our laws :
“The property and pecuniary rights of every married woman, at the time of marriage, or afterward acquired by gift, devise, or inheritance, shall not be subject to the debts or contracts of the husband; and laws shall be passed providing for the' registration of the wife’s separate property”: Const, of Oregon, Article XV, Section 5.
“When property is owned by either husband or wife, the other has no interest therein which can be the sub*379 ject of contract between them, or such interest as will make the same liable for the contracts or liabilities of either the husband or wife who is not the owner of the property, except as provided in this act”: Section 7034, L. O. L.
“A conveyance, transfer, or lien executed by either husband or wife to or in favor of the other shall be valid to the same extent as between other persons”: Section 7036, L. O. L.
“Neither husband nor wife is liable for the debts or liabilities of the other incurred before marriage, and except as herein otherwise declared they are not liable for the separate debts of each other, nor is the rent or income of such property liable for the separate debts of the other”: Section 7038, L. O. L.
_ “The property and pecuniary rights of every married woman at the time of her marriage or afterwards acquired shall not be subject to the debts or contracts of her husband, and she may manage, sell, convey, or devise the same by will to the same extent and in the same manner that her husband can, property belonging to him”: Section 7044, L. O. L.
These extracts embody the principle that no liability can attach to or disability be imposed upon a woman merely because she is the wife of some man. They emancipate her from the rigor of the common law which regarded a man and wife as one person, and he that one. The result is that so far as contracts between them are concerned they may be executed and carried into effect in like manner as between other persons not so related: Stickney v. Stickney, 131 U. S. 227 (33 L. Ed. 136, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 677); Garner v. Second Nat. Bk., 151 U. S. 420 (38 L. Ed. 218, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 390); Adoue v. Spencer, 62 N. J. Eq. 782 (49 Atl. 10, 90 Am. St. Rep. 484, 56 L. R. A. 817, and note on page 820).
Buying the land with the wife’s money and taking title in his own name created an obligation of trust incumbent upon the husband which was equally as sacred as any he could incur with his creditors. The only distinction attaching to such cases is that, on account of the marriage relation being one of peculiar confidence and intimacy, courts will strictly scrutinize the testimony affecting a transaction between husband and wife and require its validity to be clearly proven. These conditions are met by the testimony in the case at bar. As pointed out above, the only showing as to the source of the funds invested in the property is that it was the wife’s money which bought the land, and we are not at liberty to disregard the same arbitrarily. In real truth, then, the wife was the equitable owner of the land at and prior to the time the husband executed the conveyance. It is thoroughly established by the precedents that a debtor may satisfy the claims of one creditor although he is thereby rendered unable to fully satisfy the demands of other creditors. By a parity of reasoning the husband in this case had a right to fulfill his trust obligation to his wife by conveying to her what was in very truth already her own. She is entitled, therefore, to the benefit of that transaction unless some conduct of hers estops her from alleging what was indeed the truth.
In brief, the marriage relation does not differentiate the parties from any other persons similarly situated, except that the court will carefully scrutinize the evidence relating to the transaction. In the absence of any contradictory testimony, the court is not at liberty to disregard the plain and circumstantial narration of the origin of the funds invested in the property. And, finally, there being nothing in the conduct of the wife to amount to an estoppel, she is entitled to the aid of a court of equity in protecting her actual rights, especially since no estoppel has been pleaded against her. The case is governed by the principles laid down by this court in the following cases: Coolidge v. Oberlin, 66 Or. 563 (135 Pac. 167); Gladstone Lbr. Co. v. Kelly, 64 Or. 163 (129 Pac. 763); Ball v. Danton, 64 Or. 184 (129 Pac. 1032); Coffey v. Scott, 66 Or. 465 (135 Pac. 88).
The conclusion is that the decree of the Circuit Court is modified so that the bill shall be dismissed as to all the property except lot 3, in block 17, in the town of Gold Hill, Jackson County, Oregon, which the plead
Modified.