Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-07-01
COURT DECISIONS.
DIGESIED BY w. B. MARTIN
EXCLUSIVELY FOR
viRclNIAM- pilot.
Notes of Cases Recently Decided
Which STe Of Interest to
Our People.
LAND ". sHrPP.

LAND v. SHIPP.
Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia
June IA, 1900
~ DIRECT REIMBURSEMENT OF
DOVER BY A WIFE TO HER
HUSBAND is VOID.
A WIFE'S INCHOATE RIGHT OF
DOVER is NOT HER STATUTORY
SEPARATE ESTATE AS TO
WHICH SHE CAN CONTRACT:
JOINTURE is ONLY AN ABSOLUTE
BAR TO DOVER WHEN MADE
BEFORE MARRIAGE: If MADE
AFTER MARRIAGE IT ONLY
PUTS THE WIFE TO HER ELEC-
TON AFTER HER HUSBANDS
DEATH.
y WIFE is ENTITLED TO DOVER.
THOUGH SHE HAS RECEIVED
MONEY IN LIEU OF IT. WHICH
WAS SPENT In HER HUSBANDS
LIFETIME.
a WIFE HAS AN INCHOATE RIGHT
OF DOVER ONLY IN THE
EQUITY OF REDEMPTION IN
LAND UPON WHICH THERE is
A DEED OF TRUST IN WHICH
SHE HAS JOINED.
a husband and wife executed deed
OF separation in consideration of $500
paid the wife, and among other stip-
ulations in the deed was q release by
the wife of her right of dover i'm any
OF the husbands property. The oues-
tons before the court arose upon this
deed.
Appellees contend. first: that appel
liant is bound by the provisions of the
deed or separation which relate to her
dover, and having relinquished IL by
deed duly of record, she cannot, after
the death of her husband, assert her
right of dover i'm the lands of which he
was seized during the coverture; and
second, that If the deed of separation
did not release or relinQuish appellants
dover in the land, she cannot assert
claim to it and retain the money paid
her In lieu thereof.
The court says:
To sustain the first contention. 1t is
necessary to regard the wifeS inchoate
right OF dover in her husbands lands
as her statutory separate estate. with
reference to which she has the power
under the married woman's act chap
Ter lOi OF the Code, to contract. Sec
tons 2oOl and 2502 of the Code provide
how deeds or conveyances by the hus-
band and wife may be acknowledged
Tor recordation and the effect of such
conveyances when recorded upon the
dover of the wife, or her estate in the
lands conveyed.
In Swtzer V. Swltzer. &c Graft. 574.
the question was raised as to the effect
of the Acknowledgements of n deed of
separa ton between husband and wife
under these statutes as they formerly
stood, and 1t was held that they only
applied to conveyances from husband
and wife to a third party. Says the
In, hA into
IT is the union of the husband and
wife as grantors that makes the in
Strument operative"
The Married Woman's Act" makes
no reference. directly or Indirectly. to
the rights of the wife in the husbands
property, real or personal, acquired by
the marriage. 1t simply enlarges the
powers of the wife over property de-
clared in the act to be her separate
estate. There Is nothing whatever In
the act comforting upon the wife the
power to contract generally, whether
she had separate estate or not In
stead of enlarging the scope of the
statute rs it originally stood, and
which makes provision as to how the
wife may relinqush her right of dover
In her husbands lands, the Legislature
has since the passage of the married
woman'S act restricted it's scope by
adding the following words thereto:
Duei NiIt1IlS Slldli not operate any
further upon the wife or her repre-
sentatives by means OF any covenant
or warranty contained therein which Is
not made with reference to her sepa-
rate estate as n source of credit, or
which il it relate to her said right of
dover. or to any estate or interest con-
veyed other than her own, is not made
with reference to her separate estate
as Il source of credit" Sec. 2502 of the
Code. The plain purpose of this
amendment and its effect is, not the
enlargement of the scope of the statute
by reason OF the married woman's act
but restriction so as not to affect the
separate estate unless the covenants
in the deed were made with references
to her separate estate as a source of
credit.
Section 22S4 of chapter 1Os (married
woman's acD, is specific in enumer-
atinG the various. species of property
that constitute the separate estate OF
married woman. and 1t is not nossi-
bic, we think. by any liberalty of con-
struction. to bring the inchoate right
of dover in lands of which the hus-
band is seized during the coverture
within its provisions
AT common law the essentials OF