Balster v. Cadick
Balster v. Cadick
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
The single question presented for decision is whether the appellant is entitled to claim possession of the premises for life as tenant by the curtesy. This is determinable under the provisions of the married women’s acts in force at the time of the conveyance to the mother of the appellees. The first act was approved April 10, 1869 (16 Stat. at L. 45, chap. 23), and carried into the revision of the statutes applicable to the District of Columbia, in 1874, as secs. 727, 728, and others that have no\ bearing upon the present case. Sec. 727 declared the right of a married woman to any property, real or personal, belonging to her at the time of marriage, or acquired by her during marriage in any other tuay than by gift or conveyance from, her husband, shall be as absolute as if she were unmarried. That the property conveyed was, under the admitted statement, in fact a gift from her husband, is not affected by the fact that it passed to the wife through her sister as a mere medium for the transfer of the title. Cammack v. Carpenter, 3 App. D. C. 219, 226. It has heretofore been held by the general term of the supreme court of the District ,
The land in controversy having been acquired by the wife after the enactment of see. 728, though by gift from her husband, passed by her devise to the appellees freed of any right of the husband as tenant by the curtesy.
There is nothing in the appellant’s contention that the words “all my property” used in the will may refer as well to the fee, subject to the curtesy, as to any other interest. The words are plain and free from ambiguity, and carry the absolute estate without limitation or restriction.
The court was right in directing the verdict, and the judgment thereon for the plaintiffs must be affirmed, with costs. It is so ordered. Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BALSTER v. CADICK
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Husband and Wife; Gifts; Ejectment; Curtesy; Wills. 1. Real estate transferred by a husband, to his wife is a gift to her, although the title is passed to her through a third person as a medium for the transfer. (Following Gammaok v. Carpenter, 3 App. D. C. 219.) 2. While D. C. Rev. Stat. see. 728, which permitted a married woman to convey or devise her property as if sole, did not take away the husband’s right of curtesy, it gave her the power to destroy it by conveyance or devise. (Following Uhler v. Adams, 1 App. D. C. 392, and Zewst v. Staff an, 16 App. D. C. 141.) 3. Where a married woman acquired real estate by gift from her husband at a time when the married women’s acts, Act of Congress of April 10, 1869 (16 Stat. at L. 45, chap. 23, and D. C. Rev. Stat. secs. 727, 728), were in force in this District, her devisees are entitled to recover possession from the husband in an action of ejectment. 4. A devise of “all” of the property of the testatrix, “of every kind,” is plain and free from ambiguity, and excludes the idea that the devise is subject to the curtesy of the husband of the testatrix in the real estate.