The evening times., 1896-09-07


and his wife have been testing for some
time the lcgaiity OF a princeiy gift TO their
SOU, Rudolph, made by the father, without
the consent OF the mot her, aud the merits Of
the contention were before the supreme
court in bank Apart from the prominence
OF tile parties and the large esun, OF money iu-
yolved, there is general interest. aroused
in the final ruling as to the constitutional
ity of an act OF the legislature forbidding
a husband iu give away or convey any part
of their common property without consid-
Grafton. unless the wife shall have given
her written Consent thereto. The facts in
the case are these:
Before dissensioDs broke out in the fam
lily of the sugar king he presented to his
fourth and youngest SOIL 5000 shares OK
the capital stock OF tile Paauhau Planta-
tion Company, Ieputed TO be worth the SUM
or $500, 200. Twenty-Five months subse-
quentiy Mr. and Mrs ausspreckclsb brought
an action In equity for the recovery OF the
stock, tile result of which. IL successful,
wonld reduce their son from the position OF u
wealthy man to that OF a person OF small
means The parents clBtni the gift to he
invalid, because, ina de by the husband
after tho passage OF the act of March 81 ;
1891, IL was not sanctioned by the wife
Prior to that date section 172, Of the civil
code declared: PIP
HUSBAND HAS CONTROL.
.sThe husband has the mana cement and
control OF community property, with like
power OF disposition other than tesla
mentary, as he has OF his separate estate"
This was then amended by the addition
OF the following proviso, upon which the
whole question at issue depends:
Provided, however, that he cannot make
a gift of such community property or con-
vey the same without a valuable considera-
ton. unless the wife In writing consent
thereto. ~-l-
AS one of the counsel ungallautly put il,
to require obedience to this provision would
be to render the wife .'tle master and the
man" The lower court held against the
pretension OF Mr.. and Mrs. spreckeIs to
revoke the fathers gift to his son. and an
appeal was taken TO the supreme court.
Mr. Delmas. for the elder Spreckels, sought
to show the growing Iiberaiity of the law
maker toward wome n in this State from the
adoption OF the constitution of 1s49 down
to the present time. He pointed ont that at
first the husband had been the absolute
troll over the separate estate hal been taken
from him by the legislature and confirmed
by the courts. and that. finally, the law
making power had interfered to limit his
control over the con,fnunity property. If
the husbands vested tights had been ai'oi-
ished In the one case, he contended that
they could be lawfully modified In the other.
Mr. Delmas attacked the position taken by
the lower court, and said:
HUSBAND AND WIFE A UNIT
"The husband and the wife are a new
unit 1t starts out without property, as
| each component retains it's separate lights
On each is imposed an equal obligation
OF labor aud economy. The wife equally
with the husband tolls and economies
for the common good. Shall ii be con-
tended that the husband has an unalien-
able right TO spend this common fund as
he pleases or TO sGuaDder 1t a he pleases:
CndoubIedly he is the owner of the prop
erty, aDG has the right to ALLEVIATE ii T
he VIII, but because man has the pow er
to dispose of the property, it does not
mean that he is the owner This is the
error into which the lower court has
fallen. The power conferred on the hus-
band to manage and control the commune
ty property does not make him the owner,
does not increase his proprietary rights
or diminish those of the other spouse.
1T has never been doubted" concluded
Mr. Delmas, "that the husband has not a
righttoinakca a eiftto defraud his Wife. The
courts have so decided. His power over
the community property does not equal
that over his separate property. which is
absolute. Assuming that the husband has
no right to transfer with intent to defraud
his wife, the legislature has a perfect right
to say that certain acts or the omission
of others show the intent to dcfraud. This