Rico v. Brandenstein

Citations

• 98 Cal. 465
• 20 L.R.A. 702
• 33 P. 480
• 1893 Cal. LEXIS 945

Syllabus

<p>Husband and Wife—Separate Property of Wife—Conveyance to Husband in Trust Void under Act of 1857. — Under the law of this state, as it existed in 1857, requiring a husband and wife to join in the conveyance of her separate property, a husband and wife could not legally convey her separate real estate to the husband, and a deed of trust to the husband, executed by the husband and wife jointly, was void and passed no title.</p> <p>Id.—Validity of Trust—Capacity of Donor__A trust is valid only to the extent of the legal capacity of the one creating it; and in the absence of a statute expressly permitting it, a wife has no common-law capacity to convey property in trust to her husband.</p> <p>Id.—Statutory Construction — Provisions for Benefit of Wife.—Statutes empowering a wife to convey her real property by joining with her husband in the deed of conveyance are for the benefit of the wife and not of the husband; and any construction thereof which would result in making it more easy for the husband to secure control of the estate of the wife would tend to defeat the object of the law.</p> <p>Id._Incapacity of Husband to Take by Gift from Wife—Common Law.— The inhibition of the common law as to the conveyance of property by husband and wife to one another, as applied to the husband, was that he could neither convey to his wife directly or be a grantee from her; and while the right of the wife to take by gift removes the impediment to a voluntary conveyance from the husband to her, yet the right to receive such voluntary conveyance from the wife was not conferred upon the husband under the act of 1857, and he stood thereunder, as at common law, incapacitated from taking ky deed of gift directly from his wife.</p> <p>Id._Power of Married Woman to Convey ok Devise—Incompetency of Grantee or Devisee—Disability of Husband. — The power granted by statute to married women “ to convey and devise real and personal property as if she was unmarried” does not enlarge the powers