Schwarz v. Regan

53 A. 1086, 64 N.J. Eq. 139, 19 Dickinson 139, 1902 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 34
CourtNew Jersey Court of Chancery
DecidedJanuary 6, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 53 A. 1086 (Schwarz v. Regan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schwarz v. Regan, 53 A. 1086, 64 N.J. Eq. 139, 19 Dickinson 139, 1902 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 34 (N.J. Ct. App. 1903).

Opinion

Emery, V. C.

This bill is filed to compel the specific performance of a contract by a married woman and her husband to convey lands belonging to the married woman. The contract (as alleged by the .bill) is evidenced by a memorandum, in writing, signed by the husband and wife on June 2d, 1902, containing the terms of the" contract which are set out in the bill. The contract does not appear to have been acknowledged by the married woman in the manner provided by the thirty-ninth section of the act respecting conveyances (revision of 1898). P. L. of 1898 p. 685. The invalidity of the contract, by reason of the omission of the married woman to acknowledge it, is one of the reasons specified for striking out the bill. That this reason is well founded is settled in this court by the decision of Vice-Chancellor Stevens in Corby v. Drew, 10 Dick. Ch. Rep. 391 (1897), where it was [140]*140expressly held that under the then existing laws a contract for sale of lands which had not been acknowledged according to law could not be specifically enforced in equity against a married woman. In Goldstein v. Curtis, 18 Dick. Ch. Rep. 454 (May, 1902), Vice-Chancellor Pitney held that by virtue of the additional provision made in this section 39 as to the effect of the acknowledgment of the deed upon the married woman’s estate, a contract which had been acknowledged could not be enforced. The decision in Corby v. Drew has not been questioned in any .court and it has been followed by Vice-Chancellor Stevenson in a late case—Osten v. Oesman (September, 1902, memorandum decision)-—as settling the law in this court. In this ease, also, the bill for specific performance against a married woman was dismissed because the contract had not been acknowledged according to law. '

So far as relates to the.present question, the law as to married women is still the same as when the decision in Corby v. Drew was rendered.

Upon the authority of these decisions the bill must be dismissed.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Vacca v. Wilkens
154 A. 842 (New Jersey Court of Chancery, 1931)
Hollander v. Abrams
132 A. 224 (New Jersey Court of Chancery, 1926)
Celendano v. Blazejewski
129 A. 708 (New Jersey Court of Chancery, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 A. 1086, 64 N.J. Eq. 139, 19 Dickinson 139, 1902 N.J. Ch. LEXIS 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwarz-v-regan-njch-1903.