Beaty v. Richardson

46 L.R.A. 517, 34 S.E. 73, 56 S.C. 173, 1899 S.C. LEXIS 169
CourtSupreme Court of South Carolina
DecidedOctober 11, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 46 L.R.A. 517 (Beaty v. Richardson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beaty v. Richardson, 46 L.R.A. 517, 34 S.E. 73, 56 S.C. 173, 1899 S.C. LEXIS 169 (S.C. 1899).

Opinion

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

Mr. Chief Justice McIver.

This is an appeal from the decree of his Honor, Judge Klugh, a copy of which should be incorporated by the Reporter in his report of this case, based upon exceptions which raise the following questions: 1st. Whether the defendant, Charlotte Beaty, is entitled to dower in the real estate of which her husband, W. B. Beaty, died seized and possessed. 2d. Whether she is entitled to a homestead in her said husband’s estate. 3d. Whether she is entitled to a distributive share in such part of her deceased husband’s estate as to which he may have died intestate. 4th. Whether the plaintiff, either jointly with his mother or alone, is entitled to homestead. 5th. Whether the devise of a life estate to Violet, the elder, in all the real estate of which the testator died seized and possessed, is void in whole or in part only, and whether that defeats the remainder in such estate to the plaitffiff and to the' defendant, Violet, the younger.

[179]*1791 The facts out of which these questions arise are so fully and clearly stated in the Circuit decree as to> supersede the necessity of any formal restatement of them here; and as there is no1 exception to any of his findings of fact, they must be adopted as correct. We propose, therefore, to proceed to consider these questions in1 their order, and first as to the claim of dower. Charlotte Beaty having been the lawful wife of the testator, she would, unquestionably, upon his death, be entitled to dower in all the real estate of which he was seized during the coverture; and the only question is whether she has forfeited such right. “At common law, elopement and adultery of the wife did not operate as a bar of dower.” 2 Scrib. on Dower, 531, citing 2 Coke Inst., 435. Consequently, if Charlotte Beaty has forfeited her right of dower, it must be by virtue of some statute; and the only statute in this State upon the subject is that of 13 Edw., 1 Ch., 34, commonly called the Statute of Westminster 2, which was declared of force in this State by the act of 1712, 2 Stat., 422, and reads as follows: “If a wife willingly leave her husband, and go- away and continue with her advoutrer, she shall 'be barred forever of action to demand her dower, that she ought to- have of her husband’s lands, if she be convict thereupon, except that her husband willingly, and without coercion of the Church, reconcile her, and suffer her to dwell with him; in which case she shall be restored to her action.” That statute was reenacted in the Gen. Stat. of 1882, as sec. 1799, in precisely the same language, except that the words, “and without coercion of the Church,” are omitted, being inapplicable •here, and is now incorporated in the Rev. Stat. of 1893, as section 1903. The inquiry is, therefore, narrowed down to-the question, whether, under the established facts of this case, Charlotte Beaty has forfeited her rig'ht of dower by Virtue of the provisions of the statute above quoted. It will be observed that the statute plainly declares that if a wife willingly leaves her husband and go away and continue with her advoutrer, she shall be barred of her dower. If, there[180]*180fore, the statute be interpreted' according to its 'language, which contains no ambiguity, it is obvious that two' things must combine to constitute the bar — ist, the wife must willingly leave her ’husband; 2d, she must continue with her advoutrer, a word now obsolete, but signifying the same thing as our word adulterer — Webster’s International Dictionary. The mere fact that the wife has voluntarily left her husband does not, alone, constitute, nor does the mere fact that the wife has left her husband and is living in adultery, alone, operate as a bar to her action of dower. As is said in that very valuable work, Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, vol. 10 of 2d edition, at page 200: “By the Statute of West. 2 (13 ed., 1 Ch., 34), it was provided that adultery committed by the wife, accompanied b3r a voluntary elopement, unless there was afterwards a reconciliation with her husband, should bar her dower.” That this is a proper construction of the statute cannot admit of a doubt, under the well settled rules laid down for the construction of a statute. In Potter’s Dwarriss on Stat., the rule is thus laid down: “That where the language is explicit, the Courts are bound to seek for the intention in the words of the act itself, and they are not at liberty to suppose or to hold that the legislature intended anything different from what their language imports.” So< in the comparatively recent work of Endlich on the Interpretation of Statutes, sec. 4, it is said: “The legislature must be intended to> mean what it has plainly expressed, and consequently there is no room for construction * * * where the words of a statute are plainly expressive of an intent, not rendered dubious by the context, the interpretation must conform to and carry out that intent. It mat- ■ ters not, in such a case, what the consequences may be. It has, therefore, been distinctly stated (quoting from Wilberforce on Stat. Law) from" early times down to the present day, that judges are not to mould the language of statutes in order to meet an alleged convenience or an alleged equity; are not to> be influenced by any notions of hardship, or of what in their view is right and reasonable or is prejudicial to [181]*181society; are not to alter clear words, though the legislature may not have contemplated the consequences of using them; are not to tamper with words for the purpose of giving them a construction which is supposed h> be more consonant with justice than their ordinary meaning.” So, also, that author, in sec. 5, declares-that considerations of public policy are not to be regarded, quoting these words of Mr. Justice Story: “Arguments drawn from impolicy or inconvenience ought here to be of no- weight. The only sound principle, is to- declare ita lex scripta est, to - follow and to obey.” Another well settled rule of interpretation is that every word found in a statute shall be given, if practicable, due force and effect. Endlich, sec. 23. There is also, another rule which seems to' be applicable to this case: “Statutes by the authority of which a citizen may be deprived of his estate must have the strictest construction.” Potter’s Dwarris on Stat., 146; or, as it is expressed in a note on page 257 of the sáme work: “Every statute derogatory of the rig-hts of property, or that takes away the rights of a citizen, is to be strictly construed. So, also, a statute in derogation of the common law.” . See, also, Endlich, secs. 341 and 343. In view of these well settled rules it is clear that, under the undisputed facts, the appellant’s, Charlotte Beaty’s, claim of dower is not barred by the provisions of the statute above referred to; and could not be, without placing a forced construction upon the plain language of that statute, in direct violation of every one of the rules above stated; for the undisputed fact is that she did not willingly leave her husband —indeed, did not leave him at all; on the contrary, he deserted her, and resisted all her attempts to win him back; and it was only after her unsuccessful efforts to that end that she was found living in adultery, first with Black and next with Woodson — for, although, she went through the form of marriage with Black, yet, as her lawful husband was then alive, that connection must be regarded as adulterous. Tó hold that, in this case, the claim of dower is 'barred by the provisions of the statute, would necessitate one of two things, [182]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 L.R.A. 517, 34 S.E. 73, 56 S.C. 173, 1899 S.C. LEXIS 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beaty-v-richardson-sc-1899.