Hazelbaker v. Goodfellow

Citations

• 64 Ill. 238

Syllabus

<p>1. Husband and wife—earnings of the latter undw the act of 1869. Under the act of the 24tli of March, 1869, where a husband deserts his wife and children, all the earnings of the wife, together with those of the minor children, are free from liability for the debts of the husband. After the abandonment, the wife, in supporting and caring for the minor chil dren, must be held entitled to their earnings.</p> <p>2. At the common law, the earnings of the wife belonged absolutely to the husband, and the same rule, under the act Of 1869, applies where the labor is performed for the husband or is bestowed on his business or is used in producing the products of his business or calling.</p> <p>3. But where the labor is for another , person with the assent of the husband, then she becomes, under' the statute, absolutely entitled to receive and hold the earnings from such labor, whether in property or money.</p> <p>4. If, with the assent of the husband, the wife were to carry on any kind of business, she would be entitled to the profits, if it was Iona fide hers, and there was no intent to shield the husband’s property from his creditors.</p> <p>o. So, the • husband may, if the transaction is not tainted with fraud, permit his wife to raise and sell grain, stock and other farm products, so as to entitle her to receive the profits free from liability for the debts of the husband.</p> <p>6. A married woman brought an action of replevin to recover about five hundred bushels of corn and a mule, claimed by the plaintiff as her sole property, and which had been seized under, an execution issued on a judgment against her husband. The debt for which the judgment was recovered was created in January, 1870. The plaintiff and her husband were married in England a number of years before, and had lived together until within .three years before the commencement of the suit, in May, 1872. Until that time the husband had been the head of the family, composed of the wife and several childre