Bealor v. Hahn

Citations

• 117 Pa. 169
• 11 A. 776
• 1887 Pa. LEXIS 248

Syllabus

<p>1. When, to an action of ejectment by a husband claiming as tenant by the curtesy, the defence is made that he had wilfully and maliciously deserted his wife and had thus forfeited his right under the act of May 4, 1855, P. L. 430, the desertion having been shown, it is presumed to have been wilful and malicious, and the burden is upon the plaintiff to show that he had reasonable and lawful cause for it.</p> <p>2. In such a cause, the record of proceedings in the Quarter Sessions resulting in an order of maintenance, is admissible as pertinent evidence, not only of the fact of desertion, but that the defendant had failed voluntarily to provide for the support of his wife.</p> <p>3. In such a cause, the declarations of the wife and her manifestations of sorrow immediately after the abandonment, are admissible in evidence as part of the res gestse.</p>