41 Ind. App. 138 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1908
Suit by appellant to foreclose a mortgage upon land in. Dearborn county, owned by appellee, Carrie G. Colt, who answered that she was at the time of the execution of said mortgage a married woman, the wife of her codefendant, Robert M. Colt, who departed life during the suit,
The court found the facts specially and stated as conclusions of law that the contract sued upon was one of suretyship by said Carrie G-. Colt, that she was not estopped from asserting such suretyship, and that appellant was not entitled to recover as against her. Relevant statutory provisions are as follows:
“All the legal disabilities of married women to make contracts are hereby abolished, except as herein otherwise provided.” §7851 Burns 1908, §5115 R. S. 1881.
“A married woman shall not enter into any contract of suretyship, whether as indorser, guarantor, or in any other manner; and such contract, as to her, shall be void.” §7855 Burns 1908, §5119 R. S. 1881.
‘ ‘ That any married woman who shall hereafter execute her promissory note * # * and deliver the same to any person * * * for the purpose of securing a loan, and such person * * * shall make such loan and shall' pay the proceeds thereof to such married woman * * * by check * * * drawn payable to her order, and such married woman shall state under oath in writing the purpose for which such borrowed money is to be used, and if such affidavit shall show the same to be for her own separate use or the betterment of her * ’s * separate business, she shall not be permitted thereafter to claim that such loan was made for the use or benefit of any person other than herself.” Acts 1903, p. 394, §7856 Burns 1908.
The truth or falsity of the facts stated in said affidavit is not in question. The presumption is that they are true; but, true or false, the married woman who by affidavit states facts as specified in the act of 1903, supra, becomes liable for the payment of her debt exactly as any other capable, contracting party would be liable. She is liable because her disabilities are removed and no statutory exception for her benefit is made. There is no statute under which she can assert suretyship. She has by the legislature been taken out of the class referred to in §7855, supra. If the facts stated in her affidavit are true, she was not a surety. If she swore falsely in order to get the loan, such act affords a very good reason for declaring, as the legislature has done, and as the courts must do, that the exception made by §7855, supra, is not for her.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded, with instructions to restate the conclusions of law in accordance