Waters v. Pearson

Citations

• 39 App. D.C. 10
• 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 2180

Syllabus

<p>Maeeied Women; Suretyship; Lease; Landlord and Tenant; Division of Rent..</p> <p>1. A married woman may show, in defense of an action to recover rent reserved in a lease under seal, that, although contracting as principal, she really did so as surety, in violation of statute.</p> <p>2. The provision of D. C. Code, sec. 1151 [31 Stat. at L. 1373, chap. 854], that every contract made by a married woman “which she has power to make” shall be deemed to be made with reference to her separate estate, does not validate a contract of suretyship which she has entered into in violation of sec. 1155.</p> <p>3. A subsequent written agreement signed by all the parties to a lease, and providing that the monthly instalments of rent should be divided into two equal parts payablq to the lessor and a third person, is obligatory on the lessees, as against objections that the agreement is without consideration and permissive in terms.</p>