82 Iowa 432 | Iowa | 1891
I. The lease runs for nine months. The rent is two hundred and twenty-five dollars for the
II. It is clear that the wife is not liable upon the lease, if at all; that is to say, an action against her
Lawrence v. Sinnamon, 24 Iowa, 80, is not .in conflict with these views. In that case it was held that the wife was bound upon the. husband’s contract for the family expenses, and her liability would run' with the liability of the husband, with the change of. his contract to a promissory note, so that it would not be barred by the statute of limitations. But this liability — this debt of the husband — was for goods used by the family for family expenses. It was not the debt incurred by the breach of. a contract, or for goods bought and not used by the family, which by no possibility could become family expenses. That case holds-that for goods used by the family, thus becoming family expenses, the wife is liable, while the liability of the husband continues, notwithstanding a change of the indebtedness from an open account to a promissory note. We conclude that if it be assumed that the rent of a dwelling used by a family, in a proper case, becomes family expenses (a question we. do not determine here), for which the wife is liable, no such liability arises against the wife, upon contracts for the rent of a house which was never used by the family.
These considerations lead us to the conclusion that the court below erroneously sustained the demurrer to the defendant’s answer, and the judgment in the case is, therefore, reversed. .