Hugunin v. Cochrane

Citations

• 51 Ill. 302

Syllabus

<p>1. Downs—exceptional case to the rule—that a widow shall he endowed of cdl Irnds of which her husband was seized of an estate of inheritance. A purchased. certain lands from B, for which he gave his promissory notes for the purchase money. Afterwards, A re-conveyed the lands to B, who thereupon surrendered the notes, but A’s wife failed to join in such deed, and subsequently he died: Held, in a suit by A’s widow, for assignment of dower, that her claim could not be maintained; that B’s lien, which was that of a vendor, was superior to any lien or right of dower held by the petitioner ; and as that lien existed, and the premises were re-conveyed by A, expressly for its extinction, and to obtain a release from the payment of the purchase money, the premises passed, free from any right of dower.</p> <p>2. In such case, it can not be said, that the re-conveyance by A in any manner operated as a fraud upon the wife’s right of dower. B held the superior lien, and the re-conveyance by A, which was made in good faith, to cancel the notes and relieve him from their payment, operated as a harto the wife’s dower, to the same extent, and with equal effect, as though a mortgage had been given on the premises, to secure the purchase money, and its foreclosure obtained.</p>