Jacob C. Garretson, Respondent, v. Katharine S. Seaman et al., Appellants

Jacob C. Garretson, Respondent, v. Katharine S. Seaman et al., Appellants. (Argued March 17, 1873; decided June term, 1873.) _ This action was brought to charge the separate estate of defendant Katharine, a married woman, with the payment of an account for lumber and materials furnished by plaintiff and used in the improvement of said defendant’s separate estate. It appeared that the materials were contracted for by her husband, were charged to him upon plaintiff’s books; that plaintiff rendered an account to the husband, and received his individual notes therefor, payable at bank, receipting the, account, which notes were used by plaintiff and taken up by him at maturity. It appeared, however, that the husband had full and entire control of .his wife’s property; that she knew of the improvements when being made; that the husband proposed to purchase as the agent of his wife, and plaintiff testified that he sold to him as such, and upon the credit of her separate estate, and that he would not have trusted him individually; that the notes receipted for were not received in satisfaction, but were accommodation notes, and when taken up were returned to the husband; also, it appeared that the improvements were prudent and beneficial to the estate, and that defendant promised to pay the account, and did pay $300 thereon. Held, that the evidence that the goods were sold upon the individual credit of the husband was strong, but not so irresistible as to exclude an explanation; that the explanation given tended to prove that she authorized the purchases, and that the case was not so clear as to render a finding in favor of plaintiff an error in law. Murray Hoffman & A. Oakey Hall for the appellants. N. J. Wyeth for the respondent. [MAJORITY — Gray, C.,] Gray, C., reads for affirmance. All concur. Judgment affirmed.