81 Ga. 419 | Ga. | 1889
An execution in favor of Skellie was levied on certain lands, which were claimed by Mary James, the wife of the defendant in execution. On the trial of the case, the jury, under the charge of the court, returned a verdict for the claimant. The plaintiff made a motion for a new trial on several grounds, which was overruled by the court, and he excepted. The facts will be found in the official report of the case. •
We think the court should have granted a new trial upon this ground. After charging that the husband and wife had a right to make contracts, one with the other, and the contracts would be good between them, he added, “The only difference is, that the law requires it should perhaps be looked into a little more closely.” We think, on the contrary, that in a con
If there ever was a case in which the jury should have had positive and stringent instructions in regard to their scrutiny of the conduct of the husband and wife, this is such a case. It seems to us that the evidence in this record discloses that this pretended contract was made for the deliberate purpose of defrauding creditors. It is claimed by the husband and wife that, in the year 1868, he borrowed from her $180, and in 1870, he borrowed $500. The contract between them was that he was to speculate in this property, and when he bought the land he was to take the title in his own name, and when he bought personal property he was to do the same, and all the profits he made were to be hers, and all the losses- were to be his. He was also to pay her interest on the money, he claiming that the rate of interest he was to pay her was twelve and a half per cent., and she claiming that it was seven per cent. Between the time he borrowed the money and the time he made this deed to his wife, under which she claimed this land, $680 had increased to more than $4,000. The taking of these titles in his own name enabled him to obtain credit, and perhaps Skellie, this plaintiff, sold him goods on the faith of this very property to which ho had the title, and which he transferred to his wife after incurring this debt to Skellie. We think, therefore, that under this state of facts, the judge should not have qualified the rule above referred to, but should
Judgment reversed..