Bush & Lane Piano Co. v. Woodard

Citations

• 103 Wash. 612
• 175 P. 329
• 1918 Wash. LEXIS 1141

Syllabus

<p>Husband and Wife — Separate Property — Wife’s Contracts— Family Expenses — Statutes. Where a wife purchased a piano on her own behalf after her husband had refused to make or consent to the purchase, expecting to pay for the same out of her separate estate, it is not chargeable against the community or the separate property of the husband as “expenses of the family and the education of the children,” within Rem. Code, § 5931, in view of other provisions: of the same act, giving the wife the right to deal with her own separate property, and providing that the custody and control of the community personal property shall be in the husband, whose separate property shall not be liable for the wife’s separate debts.</p> <p>Same — Separate Property — Family Expenses — Liability — Actions — -Trial. In such a case, whether the piano was a family expense was a question of law for the court and not for the jury, and the husband was not liable unless he ratified the sale.</p> <p>Same — Actions—Issues and Proof — Admissions — Instructions. In an action against a husband and wife upon a promissory note alleged to be given as the sale price of a' piano, which was admittedly purchased by the wife for her separate use and not paid for, it is error to instruct that her failure to sign the note warranted a judgment in favor of both defendants, on the theory that the complaint declared upon a note, where the issues were broadened to include her liability on her separate contract to buy the piano for which the note was alleged to have been given.</p>