Dean v. Shelly & Wife
Dean v. Shelly & Wife
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
Had the transaction between these parties been an exchange, there would have been a warranty in law incident to it; a condition to give the party a re-entry and a warranty to enable him to vouch and recover over in value: Sheppard’s Touchstone 290. The plaintiff could have maintained ejectment not only against Shelly, but any one claiming from him; for although an assignee cannot re-enter nor vouch, but only use the warranty to rebut, yet the exchangee may re-enter upon an alienee: Noy’s Maxims 61. But exchanges have fallen into disuse in modern conveyancing. To make an assurance of that character, it is indispensable that the word exeambiwm — exchange—should be employed, which, as Lord Coke says, is so individually requisite as that it cannot be supplied by any other word or described by any circumlocution: Co. Litt. 51, b. The transaction between these parties was a mutual bargain and sale. The plaintiff took only the personal covenant of warranty of the defendants, who were husband and wife. This is an action of covenant on that warranty, and nothing is clearer than that it cannot be maintained against the wife: Chambers v. Spencer, 5 Watts 406. It has not been contended by the able counsel of the plaintiff in error that he is entitled to a-judgment which will personally bind her. He asks for a special judgment, which shall restrict its execution to the property which was conveyed by him to the wife as the consideration for the land, the title to which he avers to have failed. He has urged that this case is within the reason of Patterson v. Robinson, 1 Casey 82. There it was held that a bond and warrant of attorney executed by a married woman to secure the purchase-money of a tract of land conveyed to her could be enforced
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.