Bryan & Hunter v. King

51 Ga. 291
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 15, 1874
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 51 Ga. 291 (Bryan & Hunter v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryan & Hunter v. King, 51 Ga. 291 (Ga. 1874).

Opinion

McCay, Judge.

1. This case has its origin and its complications from the act of 1866, providing that property coming to the wife dur[293]*293ing coverture shall not go to the husband but to her. Here seems to have been a handsome estate, distributed by-agreement among the heirs-at-law to the wife and her husband jointly, as though under the law it belonged to both. It seems to have gone into the hands of the husband without any objection by anybody, and to have been used at his discretion. It was partly in money and partly in property. The wife seems to have joined with her husband in turning the realty into cash, and to have consented that the whole proceeds should go into her husband’s hands. He put it as capital into the partnership business of Lamar & King. The money had no ear-marks, and Lamar & King in possession of it were large and apparently responsible dealers in real estate. The world knew nothing of the origin of their resources, and dealt with them as though the capital in their possession was truly theirs. Surely it cannot be contended, because the money on which they traded was in fact the property of King’s wife, that all the property passing through their hands is subject to the wife’s claim. If the money had been stolen, this would not be true, much less can such a claim be set up when it affirmatively appears that the money went into the husband’s hands by the wife’s consent. The bill does not admit or plainly deny that it was put into the firm business with her consent, though Lamar in his affidavit says in terms that it was. Nor is this statement of Lamar’s anywhere denied. If a married woman sees fit to permit her husband to trade upon her money as his own, she must take the consequences. Persons dealing with the husband are not bound to do so at their peril. The wife stands in this respect like anybody else. As to her property she is sui juris, and can deal with it as she pleases, subject only to certain provisions provided by law for her protection against her husband. If her means are in money she may spend it, loan it, trade on it, or give it away, as other people may their money. If she trusts her husband with it, she does so at her own risk. If she gives it to him for one purpose, and he applies it to another, she has the same rights as to him, and as to those [294]*294dealing with, as other people would have trusting him with money. He is her debtor or her trustee, as he would be the debtor or trustee of others under like circumstances.

If, then, this money was put into the business of the firm by the wife’s consent, she is a creditor only of the firm, and has the rights of a creditor. That she is a woman, or the wife of one of the partners, does not make a case of trust different from what it would be if she were a man, or of no kin to either party. It is therefore fundamental in this case that it shall appear that she did not freely loan this money to be put as capital in this business. If she did, it is not a ease of trust, but one of the relation of debtor and creditor. And however her husband may be in her debt she has no claim to the title of property passing through the hands of the firm, even though it be bought with the money she loaned. Nor would she have such claim though the purchaser knew that she furnished the means on which the firm was operating. It does not appear by the bill what is the truth as to this matter. She seems to have freely consented to her husband having her money. What he was to do with it she does not say. Lamar says it was there by her consent, and that she was to get a reward of some kind for the use of it. What, he does not say. We think the bill is not sufficiently definite on this vital point to justify the injunction.

2. Assuming, however, that this money went into her husband’s hands to be used as her agent and for her benefit, and that its application to the business of the firm was a misuser and a breach of trust, the question arises, what evidence is there that this property was bought by the firm with her money, and if so, what notice did Bryan & Hunter have of this fact? By the statements of the bill most of the money went into the husband’s hands late in 1870 and 1871. At the time this property was bought, February, 1872, and January, 1873, the firm had been dealing in real estate, buying and selling, for from, one to two years; and when Byran & Hunter lent their credit and took the deeds and gave the bonds, the firm had, in the course of the business, become [295]*295indebted to various other persons to the amount .of about $24,000 00. Is it at all apparent that this property was bought with her money? Is it’ not on the contrary, very plain that the debts due to G. B. Lamar, to Bishop Pérsico and to Baldwin, part of the price of this property, wrere paid, not out of her money but out of the proceeds of Bryan & Hunter’s drafts. Nor is it at all apparent that the balance of the consideration paid by the firm for these very lands and factory, was not the proceeds of the debt due to N. A. Hardee & Sons and to Bryan & Hunter, for their previous advancements. Even a prima faeie case is not made out,by showing that early in 1870 the firm got her money. These lands wei’e bought in January, 1873. What losses the fir in met with before this, what expenditure of its means had occurred, does not appear. It is, however, a significant fact that at the time the defendants took the deeds and gave the defeasance bonds, the firm was in debt to other persons than Mrs. King, $24,000 00. What right have -we to say that Mrs. King’s money bought this property rather than the money of their other creditors? The bill does not say in terms that her money bought it. The statement is that her money having gone into the business, it -was, after passing through other enterprises, at last invested in these lots and this factory. As we have seen, however, this is plainly not so, as to Lamar’s, Persico’s and Baldwin’s debts, nor is it at all plain that it is true of the remainder of the purchase money. The inference is just as fair that Mrs. King’s money "was lost as it is that Hardee & Sons’ money and the $8,000 00 due Bryan & Hunter was. Clearly Mrs. King would have no right to follow this property on the ground that King & Lamar are her debtors. To make out her c,ase it must appear that her money, specifically, was perverted from its proper use by her agent and invested thus. But at last, even if this property, or a portion of it, was in fact bought with Mrs. King’s money improperly, appropriated by her husband, her right to follow it is still dependent upon notice to Bryan & Hunter of this perversion. What is the evidence of this notiee ?

[296]*2961st. The bill so charges. But a reading of the whole bill shows that she makes this charge only on information and belief. A charge so made is not sufficient to justify an injunction, if it be expressly denied in the answer. The other facts from which notice is claimed to be made out, are :

2d. That it was notorious in Savannah that Mrs. King inherited a handsome fortune from her father, and that King, her husband, was in 1870 an applicant to be declared a bankrupt.

3d. It is contended that the paper recorded in the record of deeds of the division, or partial division, of her father’s estate, is constructive notice.

4th.

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Bluebook (online)
51 Ga. 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryan-hunter-v-king-ga-1874.