Court Opinion

ID: 6631958
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-20 20:37:58.348824+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:58:58.068552
License: Public Domain

Manning J.:
On the 14th November, 1855, and previous thereto, Benjamin C. Durfee, complainant’s husband, and one Moore, were partners in trade under the name of Moore & Durfee, and the firm was indebted to defendant in the sum of fifteen hundred dollars, for which amount he held the notes of the firm. He also held three other promissory notes of the firm, given on that day, for six hundred dollars each, payable in six, nine, and twelve months, with interest at ten per cent. On the same day, two mortgages were assigned to defendant, both given by one Berry — one to complainant for eighteen hundred dollars, and assigned by her and her husband to defendant; and the other to her husband for nineteen hundred dollars and odd, and assigned by him to defendant. The mortgages bore even date, and one or more payments had been made on each. Both assignments were absolute on their face. The mortgages and assignments were delivered to defendant by complainant’s husband, and defendant at the same time gave to him a receipt describing the mortgages, and stating defendant had received them of Benjamin C. Durfee, as collateral security for the payment of the aforesaid notes of Moore & Durfee, and of an individual debt Durfee was owing defendant. By a subsequent agreement, made in May or June, 1856, between Moore, Durfee, and defendant, the latter purchased Durfee’s interest in the co-partnership; and in the settlement then made between the three, the notes of the firm and the individual debt of Durfee were paid, and the mortgages were transferred to defendant.
Complainant files her bill for a re-assignment to her of the eighteen hundred dollar mortgage, and for all payments made on it to defendant, stating in her bill that the mortgage was assigned by her to defendant as collateral security for the *231payment of the aforesaid notes of Moore & Durfee, and the individual debt of her husband, and that the notes and debt had been paid.
There is nothing on the face of the mortgage, assignment, or receipt, nor is there any parol testimony, showing complainant was a party or actor in any of the transactions between defendant, and Moore, and her husband, Benjamin C. Durfee, unless the assignment of the mortgage by her and her husband to defendant is to be regarded in that light. The assignment, it is to be observed, is absolute on its face; and the receipt given by defendant is to her husband, and not to her, and does not mention her name, except in describing the mortgage and assignment in the body of it. If the receipt had been made to her, or to her and her husband, the case would be altogether different. It would show she was a party to the delivery of the mortgage and assignment to defendant, and that she had not parted with her interest in the mortgage to her husband, and at his request assigned it to defendant.
If she did not intend he should have the absolute disposal of the mortgage, she should have made the assignment conditional, or had the receipt taken in her own name. From the facts before us, we can not say the assignment was intended by her as security only, and that there was no intention to part with her interest in the mortgage, to her husband, unless it be a legal inference to be drawn from the circumstance of the mortgage having belonged to her before the assignment. The law draws no such inference.
She was not present when the mortgage and assignment were delivered, nor does it appear there was any negotiation between her and defendant as to the mortgage or its assignment, or that her husband was acting in her behalf, or as her attorney, or not solely for himself. As her agent, the assignment would be equivalent to a power of attorney authorizing him to sell the mortgage to defendant; and any instructions given him to the contrary, unless brought home to the knowledge of defendant, would not affect him. The *232great difficulty is, there is no evidence the assignment was intended by the wife to be conditional.
Real and personal property belonging to a married woman may be “ contracted, sold, transferred, mortgaged, conveyed, devised, or bequeathed by her, in the same manner and with the like effect as if she were unmarried.” —Comp. L. p. 966, §3292.
The reason why complainant’s husband joined in the assignment, probably, was that the statute (Comp. L. p. 965, §3289), before it was amended, in February, 1855, required the husband to give his consent to all transfers made by the wife of her individual property, and the parties, most likely, were not aware, at the time, of the alteration in the law. Since the amendment, we think, we should treat all contracts of sale by married women as we would were they made by a feme sole. If complainant had been unmarried, there would be nothing in the case showing she did not intend, by assigning the mortgage, and delivering it and the assignment to Durfee, to give him the absolute control and disposition of it, and we see no reason why her rights should be placed on any different footing on account of her coverture.
We should not, without some evidence at least, presume her husband has deceived her; and even if he has (we suppose the case, for there is no charge of the kind), inasmuch as she has, by her' own act, enabled him, not only to deceive her but defendant, she, instead of defendant, should be the sufferer.
It was said on the argument, the answer admits the assigment was made by complainant as security.
The bill waived an answer on oath, and a replication was filed. When no replication is filed, the answer is received as true, and is evidence. When a replication is filed, it is not evidence, but complainant may use it as an admission by defendant of a fact necessary to establish his case. He can not, however, use a part of the answer, and exclude other parts relating to the same subject that would b,e responsive to the bill had the answer been under oath.
*233In the answer, defendant admits “complainant, jointly with her husband, did make, execute, and deliver to him an assignment of the mortgage as “ collateral security.” Here is an ■admission that the assignment was delivered to defendant, by complainant and her husband, as security. Defendant means nothing of the kind, as is evident from other parts of his answer. A few lines lower down, after describing the mortgage, and debts to be secured by it, the answer says: “ But whether said assignment was made by complainant at the request of said Benjamin C. Durfee, or not, the defendant has no knowledge, and can not state. But he avers he never saw said complainant, or ever transacted any business with her.” A little lower down still, the answer says: “ That he had no privity of contract, of any kind, with complainant, and knew not then, and knows not now, what were her rights or interests in said mortgage, or what induced her to join her husband (the said Benjamin) in assigning the same to him.”
The decree of the court below must be affirmed, with Costs.
Martin Ch. J. concurred.