Kincade v. Cunningham

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Kincade v. Cunningham, 1 Monag. 11 (Pa. 1888)
15 A. 905; 1888 Pa. LEXIS 744
Hand

Kincade v. Cunningham

Opinion of the Court

Hand, J.,

The question of judgment in this ease has been before this court, and it is reported in 118 Fa. 501. The sole question now is whether an execution may issue at the instance of the wife without the consent of the husband. The law is reasonably progressive. There is no stronger evidence of this than the statutes of this commonwealth and the decisions of this court on the subject of the rights and privileges of married women. If the curious wish to verify this, it may be found in the reasoning of Agnew, J., in Williams’s Appeal, 41 Pa. 308 ; Trunkey, J., in Rose v. Latshaw, 90 Pa. 238, and Williams, J., in the case between these same parties, cited above.

Were we seeking for another reason than the logic of the law, it might be found in the facts of this case; that the bond on which judgment was entered was given in consideration of the plaintiff’s promise to marry the defendant and live with him as his lawful wife; that she did marry and live with him; that, for the sake of this home, she gave up her pension, her means of support; that, for some cause, husband and wife are living apart, each averring a desertion, or what amounts to the same thing. The law for many years abhorred its beneficent use as a source of contention between husband and wife; but it has found that sources of discord, worse than an execution, can creep in and mar the family harmony; and, in fact, if it depends on the delicacy of the law to interfere, it is leaning on a broken reed. It is perhaps well that people should learn that conjugal .happiness should be sought from other sources than law.

When this case was here before, it was said, by way of quotation, that a lawful execution may issue upon such a judgment. We are of the same opinion still.

The judgment of the lower court in making the rule absolute is reversed and the record is remitted for the purpose of execution.

J. C. S.

Reference

Status
Published
Syllabus
■Where a judgment is given by a man to a woman in consideration of her promise to marry him and live with him, and she does marry and live with him, thereby losing her right to a pension, which was her former means of support, and husband and wife afterward separate and live apart, each alleging desertion, and the husband fails to contribute toward her support, the wife may issue execution upon the judgment against her husband and levy upon his real estate, against his protest, and without the intervention of a trustee. It seems that, as a general rule of law, an execution may be issued by a married woman, upon a judgment entered in her favor against her husband, without his consent, and without the intervention of a trustee. Not discussed, whether such proceedings are authorized by statute of June 11,1879, providing that a married woman may sue her husband, without the intervention of a trustee, when he deserts or separates himself from her, or neglects or refuses to support her; or by the Married Persons’Property Act of June 3,1887, providing that husband and wife shall have the same civil remedies, upon contracts in their own name and right, against all persons, for the protection and recovery of their separate property, as unmarried persons.