Conkling v. Doul

Citations

• 67 Ill. 355

Syllabus

<p>1. Husband and wipe. In the absence of an estate in the wife created through the intervention of trustees, or derived from persons other than her husband, so as to bring it within the act of 1861, the rights of husband and wife will be precisely as at common law. If the husband consents that his wife may hold personal property and carry on business in her own name, or receive the rents and profits of her land, unless such consent is based upon a sufficient consideration, he may withdraw it at any time, and assert his rights at common law.</p> <p>2. Married women—separate estate cognizable in equity. It is only where the separate estate of a married woman is created through the intervention of trustees holding for her sole use, that a court of equity will take cognizance to charge the same with her debts. Where it is acquired under the act of 1861, from a source other than her husband, it is a legal estate, and in that case she has legal capacity to enter into contracts in respect to it, which are cognizable in a court of law.</p> <p>3. Same—uihm separate estate chargeable in equity. Where an estate is vested in trustees for the use of a married woman, she can neither dispose of the same nor create a charge upon it except in the manner and for the purposes specified in the instrument creating the trust; and the courts will not render a decree establishing a charge on it without having the trustees and the instrument before them.</p> <p>4. Same—contracts not relating to separate property, void. Where a married woman kept a restaurant, with her husband’s consent, and purchased groceries to enable her to carry on the business, and it did not appear that she acquired the property since the act of 1861, from some other source than her husband, or acquired the same by her earnings since the act of 1869, or that it was held for her separate use by trustees, it was Md, that a creditor’s claim for the balance due from her on an account was void at law.</p>