Lake v. Dillard
Lake v. Dillard
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The plaintiff in error sued Mrs. Dillard, a married woman, for supplies sold for the use of her plantation. The verdict . and judgment were for the defendant. The case is before us for review of the decision of the court below, refusing to set . aside the verdict and grant a new trial.
It is alleged in this court that the verdict is manifestly . against the evidence.
The plaintiff testified that the account was correct; that the .goods were purchased by Mr. Dillard, the husband, to be used
I. A. Morton, another witness, proved that Mrs. Dillard, the defendant, placed twenty-three bales of cotton in his warehouse at Aberdeen, twelve bales marked in her name, and the balance in' the name of her minor son; and that but one farm was worked by the Dillard family in 1875.
H. Murphy testified that he heard Mrs. Dillard say that the mules used in making the crop were hers, and that she refused on the trial before the justice of the peace to ‘ ‘ state what she did with the cotton money.” She paid the rent for the year 1875.
It was quite satisfactorily proved that the goods bought by the husband wore used on the plantation rented by the wife in 1875, and they were of the sort (“meal,” “corn,” etc.) embraced in the statute (Code, sec. 1780) under the word “ supplies ” for the plantation. The finding of the jury was, therefore, manifestly wrong, unless the wife could not acquire a plantation by a lease of one or more years, and make her separate estate liable for debts contracted in the production of the crop or crops.
Under the section referred to, the husband and wife jointly, or “ either of them,” may purchase supplies for the plantation ; and debts thus contracted may be enforced against the wife’s separate estate.
Perhaps the court below may have been of opinion that the wife could not lease a plantation, and cultivate it, on her own account, and, therefore, could not incur a debt for supplies.
We think the true meaning of the law is that those who sell “ supplies ” used by a married woman in the cultivation of, a farm are not obliged to inquire whether she holds the property in fee or for a term of years. If they know as a fact that she is cultivating a farm as a separate estate, and sell supplies on a credit, to herself or her husband, she cannot shelter her
It would have been wholly unwarranted to have inferred that the corn and meal may have been bought by the husband as stock for his store. The testimony proves a different use of them.
It is unnecessary to analyze the instructions.
Judgment reversed, and a venire facias de novo awarded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- David Lake v. E. H. Dillard
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Married Woman. When her estate bound for plantation supplies. Where supplies, purchased by either the husband or the. wife, are used on the* plantation cultivated by the wife, whether the same belongs to her in fee-simple or otherwise, or is merely occupied by hey for a term of one or more • years, her separate estate is liable foj; the debt contracted for such supplies.