Wortman v. Price
| Decision Date | 31 January 1868 |
| Parties | WARNER H. WORTMANv.HENRIETTA C. PRICE. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
APPEAL from the Circuit Court of McLean county; the Hon. JNO. M. SCOTT, Judge, presiding.
The facts in the case are substantially set forth in the opinion of the court.
Messrs. TIPTON, BENJAMIN & ROWELL, for the appellant.
Messrs. BRIER & BIRCH, for the appellee.
This was a trial of the right of property, in which Mrs. Henrietta C. Price claimed the ownership of about seventy hogs, levied upon under an execution against her husband. She testified that her husband's father gave her, in 1866, different sums, amounting in all to $2,960, and a piece of land, which she sold at $800, and that her husband had been for a year acting as her agent, in buying and shipping grain and stock, with this money. The partner of Mr. Price was produced as a witness, and he testifies that he and Price formed a partnership for dealing in grain and stock, in November, 1866; that he knew nothing of Mrs. Price in the business, and was not in partnership with her; that the firm sometimes did business to the amount of $4,000 or $5,000 per week; that they made money, and that he did not know where the money came from that Price put into the business. The partnership was dissolved before the hogs in controversy had been levied on, and he had sold a part of them to Price. The case was submitted to the court, without a jury, and on this state of facts, the finding and judgment were for the claimant of the property.
We think the finding was erroneous. It is urged that although such an arrangement could not have been sustained prior to the law of 1861, known as the married woman's act, it is legalized by that law. Under that law, the husband can undoubtedly act as the agent of his wife, for the purpose of managing her separate property, but it must be an actual and bona fide agency, and not an arrangement, by which, under color of an agency kept concealed from the public, the husband is to enter into trade with capital furnished by the wife, carry on business in his own name, precisely as he would do with his own money, and then claim, as against his creditors, that all the property bought and sold by him in the course of his business, is the property of his wife. In the case before us, it does not appear that there was any arrangement between the husband and wife for his compensation, although he devoted all his time and energy to the business which he claims to have been conducting as her agent. The profits of this business arose in part from the capital employed, and in part from his time and skill, yet there was no arrangement as to their division. Although the act of 1861 authorizes the wife to hold...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
The Philadelphia Fire Ins. Co. v. the Cent. Nat'l Bank of Chicago
...275; Reeves v. Webster, 71 Ill. 307; Patton v. Gates, 67 Ill. 164; Wilson v. Loomis, 55 Ill. 352; Elijah v. Taylor, 37 Ill. 247; Wortman v. Price, 47 Ill. 22; Brownell v. Dixon, 37 Ill. 187; Seitz v. Mitchell, 4 Otto, 580; Kahn v. Wood, 82 Ill. 219; Sweeney v. Damron, 47 Ill. 450; McLourie ......
-
Hauk v. Ingen
...been adopted, by which the public would have had notice that the property purchased belonged to her, and not to her husband.’ In Wortman v. Price, 47 Ill. 22, it was held that, where the wife advances capital to her husband with which to engage in trade, such capital and its fruits in the b......
-
Walsh v. Ketchum
... ... Tillman, 50 Mo. 40; Woodward v. Stephens, 51 Mo. 443; Burgess v. Carr, 52 Mo. 43; White v. McPheeters, 75 Mo. 286-294; Workman v. Price, 47 Ill. 22; Hackett v. Barley, 86 Ill. 74. (3) The case involves title to real estate. Baier v. Berberich, 77 Mo. 413.[84 Mo. 428]Pattison & Crane ... ...
-
Miller v. Payne
... ... , that the deed was made without any valid consideration whatever, and was fraudulent and void as to the judgments of these complainants.In Wortman v. Price, 47 Ill. 22, and in Patton v. Yates, 67 Ill. 164, it was held that where the wife advanced capital to the husband, with which he engaged in ... ...