Allen v. Cowan
Allen v. Cowan
Opinion of the Court
The first question presented is, whether there was a sufficient delivery of the property in question by Lawrence to the plaintiff, to constitute a valid gift of the property. Assuming the mortgage sale to have been sufficient and valid to pass the property to Lawrence, it became his immediately upon the purchase, and he had an immediate right to remove it from the premises occupied by the plaintiff and her husband. Instead of doing so, he goes into the house, points out various articles of the property, and says to the plaintiff that he gives it, and all the property he had that day purchased, to her, and goes away and leaves the property, and the plaintiff continues its use for the purposes and in the manner she had used it while the title was in her husband. This we think was all the delivery that was necessary to constitute a valid gift, and as between Lawrence and the plaintiff her title was perfect. Where a father bought a lottery ticket, which he declared he gave to his infant daughter, and wrote her name upon it, and after it had drawn a prize declared he had given the ticket to his child, and that the prize money was hers, it was held, that it was sufficient for a jury to infer all the formality requisite for a valid gift. (Grangiac v. Arden, 10 J. R., 293.)
A man and woman lived in the same boarding house, and he maintained and treated her as a daughter, and both had access to the room in which he had a trunk. Being about to go away, and being in another room of the house, he said to her, my trunk up stairs, and what is in it I give to you, there is
Much more was done in the case under consideration. A considerable portion of the property was in the room where the parties were; it was pointed out to the donee by the donor, who said, “I give you this property, and all I have bought today,” and went away, and left it at the absolute control of the donee. The mere fact that the donee and her husband lived together, and occupied the house as man and wife cannot affect the question. The wife may now own personal property, separate from the control of her husband, and the reducing of it to possession by him does not divest her of her property.
Under the law, as it now stands, where the wife has separate property, which is kept in the house in which she and her husband reside, it is to be deemed in her possession, as much as the property of the husband kept therein may be deemed in his possession. Assuming therefore that Lawrence obtained a good title by his purchase, when he gave it to the plaintiff and the possession was continued in the house occupied by her and her husband, it is to be deemed her possession. We think the judge at the circuit was wrong in holding, as a matter of law, that there was not a valid gift of the property to the plaintiff.
The questions as to whether or not there was sufficient proof of the consideration of the mortgage to Mary 1ST. Allen, or sufficient proof of excuse for want of change of possession under the mortgage, will be considered together.
The mortgage upon its face acknowledged an indebtedness from the mortgagor to the mortgagee, of $680.25, and was given to secure the payment of that amount, with interest, on
The fourth proposition on which the complaint was dismissed at the circuit, was, that if the proof of the gift was sufficient, the possession of the property by Allen afterwards, made the property his, and subject to execution against him. This proposition has already been answered in the assertion, that if Lawrence acquired a valid title to the property, and the gift to the plaintiff be valid, the subsequent possession must be deemed the possession of the plaintiff.
I think the judgment should be reversed, and a new trial ordered, costs to abide the event.
Judgment reversed, and new trial ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Lydia Allen v. Cowan
- Status
- Published