Reagan's Administrator v. Holliman

Citations

• 34 Tex. 403

Syllabus

<p>1. In a suit by the legal representative of a deceased married woman, to recover land which had been donated to her as her separate property, the defendant pleaded that he had purchased the land from one L.; that previous to his purchase the married woman claimed this and also another tract, both situated on an eleven league grant claimed by L., that the married woman and her husband were desirous of .settling on one of the tracts, and the husband, as the authorized agent of his wife, entered -into a-contract with L., by which the husband agreed to relinquish his wife’s claim to the tract now in suit, and to pay L. one hundred dollars ií L. would convey the other tract to him or his wife; and that L., pursuant to this contract, conveyed the other tract to the husband, and the married woman went into possession of it under such conveyance, and continued in possession of it until her death. Held, that this answer was demurrable, because it does not show that L.’s title was superior to that of the married woman ; nor does it aver that ..she consented to her husband’s contract with L. at time it was made, or ?ihat she ever ratified it, or that any consideration passed to her, or that the contract was legally or equitably binding on her; nor does it allege that she ever, made any legal conveyance to L. of the land in controversy.</p> <p>2. By way of estoppel the defendant further pleaded that before he bought the land from L. he called on the married woman, in whose right this action was brought, and she disclaimed any title to or interest in the land, and said she had no control of it, but that it belonged to L.; and in consequence of these statements defendant bought the land from L., which he would not otherwise have done. Held to be insufficient as a plea of estoppel, because there is no averment that the married woman, in making the statements, acted with a knowledge of her rights, or made the statements to deceive the defendant, or that he was actually deceived