Spreckels v. Spreckels

Citations

• 116 Cal. 339
• 48 P. 228
• 1897 Cal. LEXIS 549

Syllabus

<p>Husband and Wife—Community Property—Husband’s Ownership— Power of Gift—Construction of Code—Constitution and Law— Amendment not Retroactive.—Prior to the amendment of 1891 to section 172 of the Civil Code, forbidding the husband to give away community property without consent of the wife in writing, the code vested in the husband all of the elements of absolute ownership of the community property, to the exclusion of the wife, whose interest was a mere expectancy; and as to all the world except the wife, there was, prior to that amendment, no distinction between the community estate and the separate' estate of the husband as respects the power of disposition, and the amendment of the code cannot be construed retroactively so as to deprive the husband of his vested right to dispose by gift of community property which was acquired prior to the amendment, without the written consent of the wife.</p> <p>Id.—Action to Recover Community Property—Misjoinder of Wife. The wife cannot be joined with the husband in an action to recover community property, without reference to the question of the wife’s interest therein'; and if she is so joined, a demurrer for misjoinder of parties should be sustained.</p>