Moorehouse v. Moorehouse
Moorehouse v. Moorehouse
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Judgment was properly entered in the court below upon both of the points reserved at the trial. It is not necessary to recapitulate or to endeavor to reinforce the reasons therefor which have been so clearly and convincingly stated by the trial judge in the opinion and decree overruling the motion for judgment non obstante veredicto. If, in pursuance of the alleged agreement between the parties at the time of their separation as husband and wife, the husband had given the wife separate notes for the several instalments falling due under the said agreement, they could not have been hers more fully than were the instalments as they fell due under the agreement, as found by the jury. The wife was, therefore, entitled to maintain her action under the provisions of the act of 1893, and the question as to the repeal of the act of 1879 was not a practical one and was wholly unimportant.
As to the second point reserved, “ That, if it be found that the record of the justice given in evidence and taken in connection with the justice’s testimony is binding upon the plaintiff, then judgment to be entered for the defendant, if there be a verdict for the plaintiff, with leave to the court to enter judgment on the verdict for the plaintiff, if the court decide that that is not binding,” a comparison of dates will tend to clearness of apprehension as to the real question involved.
In October, 1893, the plaintiff brought the present suit against the defendant before an alderman, claiming a balance due her under the alleged agreement for maintenance. Judgment was rendered by the alderman in favor of the plaintiff and the defendant took an appeal which was entered in the common pleas January 3,1894. On the 16th of March, 1895, the appeal from the prior judgment being still pending, the plaintiff brought suit against the defendant before the same alderman “to recover additional moneys claimed to be then due to her on the same agreement.” In this action the alderman rendered judgment for the defendant, from which no appeal was taken. If it were
It is not necessary to refer to the authorities cited by the court below.
The judgment is well founded in reason and upon authority and is, therefore, affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Margaret L. Moorehouse v. George H. Moorehouse
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Married woman — Contract for support — Cause of action. A contract between husband and wife whereby the former agrees to pay the latter a certain monthly sum for maintenance after he had deserted her, vests in the wife a separate property right for which she is entitled by the act of 1898 to maintain an action against him. Estoppel does not extend beyond point litigated. A question once litigated and determined between parties cannot be opened in another action for the'same cause between the same parties, but the estoppel does not extend beyond the point actually litigated and determined. A judgment entered by a justice for the defendant on the sole ground that the existence of a written agreement was a necessary condition to the recovery of certain arrears alleged to be due on a contract, does not work an estoppel on an appeal from the same justice giving judgment for the plaintiff for other monthly arrears accruing under the same alleged contract but for other periods of time, prior to those claimed in the second judgment.