5 Ohio St. 580 | Ohio | 1855
The petition alleges that the plaintiff’s testator was married to Edwin Wagg sometime prior to the year 1849, in the kingdom of Great Britain, of which both parties were then citizens. That in May of that year she was abandoned by her husband, who left' Great Britain and went to Asia, and has never returned; and that he left her wholly without any means of support, and has
The real question here is, when and under what circumstances may a married woman contract .as femme sole ? The common law disabled her to do so, not from any supposed want, of capacity on her part, but because the enforcement of her contracts might interfere with the marital rights of the husband. If she could contract, she could be sued; and if sued, might be arrested and imprisoned ; and the husband thus be deprived of his
Of the soundness, good policy, and intrinsic justice of these decisions, we entertain no doubt. When applied to the present case, they fully sustain the judgment of the court below, and it must, therefore, be affirmed.