Temple v. Hawley

1 Sand. Ch. 153
CourtNew York Court of Chancery
DecidedOctober 31, 1843
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1 Sand. Ch. 153 (Temple v. Hawley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Temple v. Hawley, 1 Sand. Ch. 153 (N.Y. 1843).

Opinion

The Assistant Vice-Chancellor.

The first question in this case is the effect of the deed of marriage settlement on the title and interest of Mrs. Temple in her real estate. She did not execute the deed, and has never sanctioned it. Indeed, so far as a married woman can, she has dissented from it, and refused to give it her sanction. As to her, its validity rests wholly upon the force and effect of the deed, and of the order of this court, appointing her mother to be her special guardian. The mother was appointed for the purposes of assenting to the contemplated marriage of Mrs. T., of approving of the settlement of her estate, as recited in the order, and of joining in the necessary deed for that purpose, and of designating a proper trustee. The deed executed by Mrs. James, as such special guardian, was founded upon this order.

There is no doubt but that the deed, as to Mrs. Temple, is an absolute nullity. It is not merely a voidable conveyance. It is not her act in any sense. As to her, it is not a conveyance.

The effect which this deed actually has, and the effect which it would have had, if Miss James had joined in its execution, will be illustrated by a brief review of the authorities on the subject of marriage settlements of their real estate made byjnfants,

[165]*165The notion that a feme infant could, by marriage articles, in consideration of a competent settlement, bind her inheritance with the consent of her guardians, appears to have originated in a dictum of Lord Macclesfield in Cannel v. Buckle, (2 P. Will. 242.) The decision there was, that a bond given by a woman before marriage, to her intended husband, would be enforced in equity in favor of his heirs.

The next case was Harvey v. Ashley, (3 Atk. 607,) in which Lord Hardwicke decided that an infant was bound by her settlement of her personal estate, made on her marriage, with the approbation of parents and guardians. In the course of his elaborate judgment, Lord H. cited Cannel v. Buckle, and after quoting the above dictum of Lord Macclesfield, says : “ This is going a great way, as it related to the inheritance of the wife; but there are cases where the court will do it, as if the lands of the wife were no more than adequate consideration for the settlement that the husband makes, and after the marriage, the wife should die and leave issue who would be entitled to portions provided for them by the settlement, it would in that case be very reasonable to affirm that settlement.” He had previously remarked, that it might be necessary to apply for an act of Parliament upon the marriage of an infant who has an interest in real estate, (although not in the case of a money portion only,) because, the rights of the infant to real estate will not be bound by any agreement made in relation to it, unless the husband should have issue by that marriage.”

This was in 1748. The great case of Drury v. Drury, followed soon after, in which the House of Lords, reversing Lord Northington, decided that an infant would be barred by a competent jointure, under the statute of 27 Hen. VIII; (2 Eden’s Ch. R. 39 and 60; 3 Bro. P. C. by Tomlins, 492; Wilmot’s Opinions, 177.) The same case was republished in 8 Wend. 297, after our Revised Statutes had séttled the law in this state. The extreme length to which the decision was carried in Drury v. Drury, doubtless strengthened, for a time, the opinion that infants might bind their own real estate by a marriage settlement. But that case was decided against the opinion of several eminent judges who were consulted by the House of Lords; [166]*166and although it settled the law in regard to jointures, its propriety has always been questioned. See Lord Henley’s note to the case, 2 Eden, 75.

I believe the opinion which I have been examining, never-had any other authority in its favor in England, except the dicta of the distinguished chancellors to which I have referred, and the opinion of Mr. Atherley in his Treatise on Marriage Settlements. (Ath. on M. S. 39.)

On the other hand, it is now well settled that a settlement made by a female infant on marriage, will not bind her real estates, so but that she may disaffirm it.

In Pierson v. Pierson, cited in 1 Bro. C. C. 115, the wife having made such a settlement of a copyhold estate, died before she became twenty-one years of age. • The court refused to enforce it against her heir.

May v. Hook, cited in 1 Bro. C. C. 112, and also reported in Mr. Butler’s note to Coke upon Littleton, 216 a, note 1, was a similar decision by Lord Bathurst.

In Durnford v. Lane, 1 Bro. C. C. 106, Lord Thurlow expressed himself strongly against the power of the infant to make a binding settlement, in such a case, and as I understand the report, he so decreed. The criticism of Mr. Athe.rley on this case, (Ath. on Marr. Sett. 30,) in which he says the decree was irreconcileable with the opinion, is certainly not warranted by the statement of the decree given in Mr. Belt’s edition of Brown’s Chancery Cases. It seems to me that the decree proceeded upon the principle that the wife could not effectually disaffirm the settlement during coverture; and as the husband was bound by his covenants as well as by his mortgage of the settled estate, the settlement was directed to be carried into effect, during the joint lives of the husband and wife. In Clough v. Clough, (3 Wooddeson’s Lectures, 271, notej,) Lord Thur-low again decided that the infant was not bound. The question arose on a bill filed against her, by the children of the marriage, after the husband’s death, to establish the settlement.

Mr. Atherley considers this case as no authority for the opinion that the infant is not bound. Lord Thurlow treated it as an authority in Caruthers v. Caruthers, (4 Bro. C. C. 500;) [167]*167and when the settlement in Clough v. Clough again came before the court in 5 Ves. 710, 717, Lord Alvanley treated it as a decree absolving the wife from the settlement, and as a decision that an infant cannot be bound by any article entered into during minority, as to her real estate ; and he fully approved of the decision. In Milner v. Lord Harewood, (18 Ves. 259,) decided since the publication of Mr. Atherley’s Treatise, Lord Eldon concurred in the opinion of Lord Thurlow, that the infant was not bound. The case was, however, decided on another point.

In Simson v. Jones, (2 Russ. & Mylne, 365,) Sir John Leach, Master of the Rolls, fully decided the point against the binding effect of the infant’s execution of a marriage settlement. The question arose upon the settlement of leaseholds held by an infant ward of court to her separate use, and which settlement was made under an order of the court, in the form approved by a master. The leasehold being the separate estate of the wife, stood, in this respect, upon the same footing as her freehold property would. Sir John Leach says, “ Whatever doubts may have been entertained on the subject formerly, I take it to be clear, that the real estate of a female infant would not be bound by a settlement made with the approbation of the court.”

And see 2 Roper’s Husb. & Wife, by Jacob, 26; 2 Kent’s Comm. 244, 2d ed.

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

Related

Moses Bros. v. Micou
79 Ala. 564 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1885)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1 Sand. Ch. 153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/temple-v-hawley-nychanct-1843.