Freret v. Taylor

Citations

• 119 La. 307
• 44 So. 26
• 1907 La. LEXIS 474

Syllabus

<p>1.Husband and Wife — Action Against Wife — Joinder of Husband — Law of Domicile.</p> <p>A woman, sued on a lease of two residences In New Orleans, defended upon the ground that ;she was a married woman, that her husband had not authorized her to create the debt, and that, if it existed, it was a debt of the community, for which she was not personally liable. She also defended on the ground that she had not been brought into court with her husband joined to aid and assist her, or by authority of the court.</p> <p>2. Same.</p> <p>Defendant’s domicile was with her husband in Missouri. She came into Louisiana without his authority or consent. She was authorized by the court to file an answer in the case. Under the law of Missouri married women are deemed femes sole so far as to carry on and transact business on their own account, to contract and be contracted with, to sue and be sued, and to enforce and have enforced against their property such judgments as may be rendered against them, and may sue or be sued, at law or in equity, with or without their husbands being-joined with them as a party. The district judge authorized her to file an answer in the case. Judgment was rendered against her, and she has appealed. The judgment is affirmed. Held, there are no questions of community rights or obligations involved. Having the right under the law of her domicile to enter into contract as a feme solo, and to sue and be sued without her husband being joined as a party, her status, as to contracting and as suing and being sued, accompanies her to Louisiana, unless controlled by considerations of public policy. Laws enacted in certain states for the protection of married women, by requiring the authorization of their husbands joined with them when sued, are personal statutes; and if in the states of the domicile of the parties such protective laws are not deemed necessary, but, on the contrary, more narrow and restrictive than they should be, it is not the duty of the state