McQuaid v. Fontane

Citations

• 24 Fla. 509

Syllabus

<p>1. Goods bought by the husband in the name of his wife for a mercantile business conducted in her name, though she is not a free dealer under our statute, and action brought against the husband claiming that he was liable for the purchase price of the goods : in such case a refusal of the court to give an instruction which is based on the common law as to the husband’s right to the profits of the . business and his liability for its debts, without reference to the statutes of the State, which change the common law in regard to the rights and liabilities of husband and wife, when she has property of her own, and also without reference to whether the credit for the goods was given to the husband or the wife, was not error.</p> <p>2. Though the wife may conduct a mercantile business in this State, and'the husband may act as agent for her in that business, yet she-cannot make a contract herself, or by him as agent, on which she will be personally liable ; and charges of the court, in a case concerning the husband’s liability, from which the jury may infer that if lie purchased goods for her she is so liable, are misleading and erroneous.</p> <p>3. If a married woman is engaged in mercantile business, and the husband as agent purchases goods for her, the fact that it is her business, and that the purchase was made for her, is not enough to-determine whether the credit for the purchase price was given to him or to her. It should be shown that the fact was known to the-vendor, or that between him and the husband there was a clear and distinct understanding that the credit was given to her, else-the husband will be liable.</p> <p>4. A husband being- sued, defended on the ground that the indebtedness was his wife’s, not his. As a witness for himself, he was asked by the plaintiff whether he had made certain representations in New York in 1882, as to his reasons for doing business in the name of his wife, and whether he was insolvent in that year. On objection the question