Caldwell v. Trezevant

Citations

• 111 La. 410
• 35 So. 619
• 1904 La. LEXIS 531

Syllabus

<p>MARRIED WOMAN—SALE OF PARAPHERNAL PROPERTY—USE OF PROCEEDS—DEBTS OF HUSBAND—SALE OF REALTY—COUNTER LETTER.</p> <p>1. A married woman may, with the authorization of her husband, sell her paraphernal property, and make such use of the proceeds as she thinks proper. The law contemplates that she may turn them over to her husband, and provides a method by which she may secure herself in so doing, and it does not affect the validity of the sale that she announces such purpose in advance.</p> <p>2. The rule thus stated is modified by judicial interpretation of those provisions of the law which deprive the wife of the capacity to bind herself or her property for the debts of her husband, agreeably to which interpretation it is held that transactions having that object in view cannot be sustained, as between the parties thereto, no matter what may be their form; that, m attacking .them, the wife is not estopped by her own admissions or conduct, and, in cases of authentic acts, that she is not confined to counter letters or interrogatories on facts and article, but may resort to parol evidence.</p> <p>3. Where, however, a married woman, duly authorized, executes an instrument in the form of a sale of real estate, and takes a counter letter securing a right to redeem within a year, and it is not alleged or proved that the purpose of the transaction was to obtain money to pay the debts of her husband, and the price was not vile, and the purchaser takes, and, for six years, holds, possession, as owner, in good faith, the fact that the vendor intended to execute a mortgage, and believed that she had done so, affords no ground for holding the transaction to be other than what it purports to be.</p> <p>(Syllabus-by the Court.)</p>