Beach v. Brown

Citations

• 20 Wash. 266
• 43 L.R.A. 114
• 55 P. 46
• 1898 Wash. LEXIS 518

Syllabus

<p>ALIENATION OF HUSBAND’S AFFECTIONS—ACTION BY WIFE—EFFECT OF DIVORCE—EVIDENCE—LETTERS—SELF-SERVING DECLARATIONS — PRESUMPTION OF AFFECTION.</p> <p>A married woman may maintain an action for damages for the alienation of her husband’s affections, in her own name, without her husband joining her, under Gen. Stat., §§ 1408, 1409 (Bal. Code, §§ 4502, 4503),which provide that every married person shall have the same right to acquire and dispose of every species of property, and to sue and he sued as if unmarried, and that all laws imposing civil disabilities upon a wife, which are not recognized as existing as to the husband, are abolished, and that for any unjust usurpation of her rights she shall have the same right as the husband to appeal in her own name to the courts for redress and protection.</p> <p>A wife’s right of action for damages for the alienation of her husband’s affections is not lost by reason of her obtaining a divorce from him.</p> <p>In an action by a wife for the alienation of her husband’s affections, his letters to her during coverture showing his affection toward her are admissible in evidence.</p> <p>Testimony in relation to the object the husband avowed in writing affectionate letters to his wife is inadmissible on the ground of being self-serving declarations.</p> <p>The fact that a husband cohabits with his wife and has children by her raises a presumption that he has an affection for her, • which presumption continues until overthrown by a fair preponderance of the testimony to the contrary.</p>