Terry v. Hammonds

Citations

• 47 Cal. 32

Syllabus

<p>Judgment on Demueeeb as a Bab.—A final judgment for the defendant, rendered on a demurrer to the complaint, is not a bar to a subsequent action between the same parties, unless the demurrer went to the merits of the action, and the cause of action in the second suit is the same.</p> <p>When Judgment on Demueeeb is Not a Bab.—A final judgment for the defendant on demurrer, in an action against a married woman for legal services rendered, in which the complaint did not aver that the services were rendered upon the faith and credit and for the preservation of the separate estate of the defendant, is not a bar to a subsequent suit for the same services in which the complaint contains such averment.</p> <p>Contract of Mabbied Woman.—While a married woman cannot bind herself in a contract to the extent that a personal judgment can be rendered against her, yet she may contract for services to be rendered for the protection and preservation of her separate estate, which is personal property, and for services thus rendered on the faith of her separate estate, a Court of equity will enforce a lien on it.</p> <p>Sebviges fob Mabbied Woman in Pbocuring a Divobce.—The question spoken of but not decided, whether, for services rendered by an attorney for a married woman in procuring a divorce, and in securing for her a just division of the common property, a Court of equity will enforce a lien on her share of the common personal property, or her separate personal estate, provided the services were rendered on the faith of her separate personal estate.</p> <p>Consteuction of Act Concebning Husband and Wife.—The amendment of 1862 to the Act of 1850, defining the rights and duties of husband and wife, takes the personal separate estate of the wife out of the rule laid down in Maclay v. Zove, 25 Cal. 367, that a married woman cannot create a lien on her separate estate, except by a contract in writing, signed and acknowledged by the wife, as prescribed in the sixth section of the A