Prewit v. Wilson

• Decision Date: 01 October 1880
• Parties: PREWIT v. WILSON
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

103 U.S. 22

103 U.S. 22

26 L.Ed. 360

PREWIT v. WILSON.

October Term, 1880

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of Alabama.

The facts are stated in the opinion of the court.

Mr. John T. Morgan for the appellants.

Mr. F. P. Ward, contra.

MR. JUSTICE FIELD delivered the opinion of the court.

On the 27th of April, 1866, Mrs. Josephine Prewit was a widow, only twenty years of age. Her husband was the late John Prewit. Not many months after his death another Mr. Prewit Richard, this time—proposed marriage to her. He was of mature age, being in his fifty-eighth year. His proposal was rejected. He renewed it, and accompanied it with a promise to settle upon her, if she would consent to the marriage, a large amount of property. This promise moved her to consent. The deed of settlement was accordingly executed, and in May following the marriage took place. Both parties affirm that the marriage was the only consideration for the settlement, and it is so stated in the deed.

A little more than two years and a half afterwards,—in December, 1868,—the husband was adjudged to be a bankrupt in the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Alabama, in proceedings taken upon his own application; and in the following month the plaintiff was appointed assignee of his effects, and to him an assignment was made. The present suit is brought by him to set aside the deed of settlement, on the alleged ground that it was executed by Prewit to defraud his creditors.

At the time of the settlement Prewit was the holder of a large amount of property, consisting chiefly of lands in Alabama, but was indebted in an amount greater than their value. It is stated that his property was not worth more than $50,000, and that his debts exceeded $70,000.

It would seem from the evidence, and we assume it to be a fact, that he was insolvent at the time he executed the deed of settlement, in the sense that his debts largely exceeded the value of his property. It may also be taken as true, so far as the present suit is concerned, that he intended by the deed to hinder, delay, and defraud his creditors, and that he made the settlement to place his property beyond their reach.

There is no evidence that Mrs. Prewit was aware at the time of the amount of property he held, or of the extent of his debts, or that he had any purpose in the execution of the deed except to induce her to consent to the marriage. It is not at all likely, judging from the ordinary motives governing men, that whilst pressing his suit with her, and offering to settle property upon her to obtain her consent to the marriage, he informed her that he was insolvent, and would, by the deed he proposed to execute, defraud his creditors. If he intended to commit the fraud imputed to him, it is unreasonable to suppose that he would, by unfolding his scheme, expose his true character to one whose good opinion he was at that time anxious to secure. If capable of the fraud charged, he was capable of deceiving Mrs. Prewit as to his pecuniary condition. She states in her answer that she knew he was embarrassed and in debt, but to what extent or to whom she did not know, and that it was because of the knowledge that he was embarrassed that she insisted upon his making a settlement upon her. The deed itself shows that he owed a large sum, for of the 6,770 acres of land embraced by it, 2,185 acres were charged with the payment of certain designated debts to the amount of $18,000. A knowledge of these facts justified her in saying that she knew he was embarrassed; but they rather...