Case Name: TUCKER against SCOTT
Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: New Jersey
Decision Date: 1812-05
Citations: 3 N.J.L. 955
Docket Number: 
Parties: [*] TUCKER against SCOTT.
Judges: 
Reporter: New Jersey Law Reports
Volume: 3
Pages: 510–511

Head Matter:
[*] TUCKER against SCOTT.
ON CERTIORARI.
Reme covert may not sue in her own name.
Sarah Scott, the wife of Alexander Scott, the action below, to recover the value of certain household goods, which she had put into the hands of Tucker, the defendant below, in confidence, to keep for her. Mrs. Scott had had a former husband, by the name of Haviland, who had died and left her in possession of the goods in question: after which she married Scott, who after living with her some time, left her, and had not been heard of for five years. The defense set up below was, the overture of Mrs. Scott, the plaintiff, which the justice overruled.

Opinion:
By the Court.
This, as it appears from the [695] return of the justice, is a hard case; but the judgment cannot be sustained. A married woman cannot bring an action in her own name.
Judgment reversed.
Quere. — Why cannot Mrs. Scott get some friend to take out letters of administration to her late husband, and sue for these goods, as administrator to Haviland ?