Case Name: TUTHILL AND WIFE v. TOWNLEY
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Decision Date: 1794-11
Citations: 1 N.J.L. 281
Docket Number: 
Parties: TUTHILL AND WIFE v. TOWNLEY.
Judges: 
Reporter: New Jersey Law Reports
Volume: 1
Pages: 281–281

Head Matter:
TUTHILL AND WIFE v. TOWNLEY.
In an action of dower, a plea that demandant and her husband liad conveyed the estate is bad, on demurrer, unless it states that the wife, being privately examined, acknowledged the deed.
This was an action of dower. One of the pleas stated that the former husband and the wife, now the demandant, by deed dated the 20th of May, 1784, conveyed the premises in fee to Halstead and Townley. To this plea the plaintiff demurred.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
Under the law as it now stands, the deed of a ferae covert, accompanied by an acknowledgment, and a private examination to ascertain her voluntary acquiescence in the conveyance, is sufficient to convey her estate, and to bar her dower. But this examination and acknowledgment are essential ingredients — without them the deed is wholly inoperative. As the plea, therefore, does not state these facts, it is defective, and there must be judgment for demandant.