Graver's Petition

Citations

• 260 Pa. 186
• 103 A. 601
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 491

Syllabus

<p>Feme sole trader — Mamed woman — Failure of husband to support wife — Wife’s refusal to live with husband — Refusal of petition —Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 689 — Appeal—Review—Certiorari— Practice, Supreme Court.</p> <p>1. In order to entitle a married woman to the right to he declared a feme sole trader, the husband’s failure to support his wife and children must be such as to constitute a breach of duty on his part; and where the wife, by her own voluntary acts, makes it impossible for her husband to support herself or child, she cannot take advantage of the status which she has thus created.</p> <p>2. A petition of a married woman to be declared a feme sole trader under the Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 639, was properly refused where it appeared that after the marriage of petitioner and her husband, the husband, 'who was without means, lived with petitioner, who was a woman of large estate; that they lived together for five years; that on the pretext of taking an automobile ride she left him with her child, went to a distant city and then had her husband evicted from her home and thereafter refused to have anything to do with him; and aftér a year had elapsed from the time she left filed a petition to be declared a feme sole trader; that she admitted that she would not have accepted support from him; and on Conflicting testimony as to whether the husband’s dictatorial conduct was the cause of the separation, the court found in favor of the husband and placed the blame for the separation upon the wife.</p> <p>■ 3. An appeal from a decree entered upon petition of a' married woman to be declared a feme sole trader is in substance a certiorari. and while the merits cannot be reviewed, the Supreme Court is entitled to inspect the whole record, having regard to the regularity and propriety of the proceedings, to ascertain whether the court below exceeded its jurisdiction or its proper legal discretion.</p>