The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing Part 56

A contract made on a Sunday is void.

A contract made with a lunatic is void.

The act of one partner binds all the others.

An agreement without consideration is void.

The law compels no one to do impossibilities.

Agents are liable to their princ.i.p.als for errors.

Princ.i.p.als are liable for the acts of their agents.

A receipt for money paid is not legally conclusive.

Signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law.

The seal of a party to a written contract imports consideration.

A contract made with a minor cannot be enforced against him. A note made by a minor is voidable.

Each individual in a partnership is liable for the whole amount of the debts of the firm.

A note which does not state on its face that it bears interest, will bear interest only after due.

A lease of land for a longer term than one year is void unless in writing.

An indorser of a note is exempt from liability if notice of its dishonor is not mailed or served within twenty-four hours of its non-payment.

In case of the death of the princ.i.p.al maker of a note, the holder is not required to notify a surety that the note is not paid, before the settlement of the maker's estate. Notes obtained by fraud, or made by an intoxicated person, are not collectible.

If no time of payment is specified in a note it is payable on demand.

An indorser can avoid liability by writing "without recourse" beneath his signature.

A check indorsed by the payee is evidence of payment in the drawer's hands.

An outlawed debt is revived should the debtor make a partial payment.

If negotiable paper, pledged to a bank as security for the payment of a loan or debt, falls due, and the bank fails to demand payment and have it protested when dishonored, the bank is liable to the owner for the full amount of the paper.

Want of consideration--a common defense interposed to the payment of negotiable paper--is a good defense between the original parties to the paper; but after it has been transferred before maturity to an innocent holder for value it is not a defense.

Sometimes the holder of paper has the right to demand payment before maturity; for instance, when a draft has been protested for non-acceptance and the proper notices served, the holder may at once proceed against the drawer and indorsers.

Negotiable paper, payable to bearer or indorser in blank, which has been stolen or lost, cannot be collected by the thief or finder, but a holder who receives it in good faith before maturity, for value, can hold it against the owner's claims at the time it was lost.

If a note or draft is to be paid in the State where it is made, the contract will be governed by the laws of that State. When negotiable paper is payable in a State other than that in which it is made, the laws of that State will govern it. Marriage contracts, if valid where they are made, are valid everywhere. Contracts relating to personal property are governed by the laws of the place where made, except those relating to real estate, which are governed by the laws of the place where the land is situated.

THE RIGHT OF DOWER.

Dower is one-third of the husband's estate, and in general cannot be destroyed by the mere act of the husband. Hence, in the sale of real estate by the husband, his wife must, with the husband, sign the conveyance to make the t.i.tle complete to the purchaser. In the absence of such signature, the widow can claim full dower rights after the husband's death. Creditors, also, seize the property subject to such dower rights.

The husband in his will sometimes gives his wife property in lieu of dowry. In this case, she may, after his death, elect to take either such property or her dower; but she cannot take both. While the husband lives the wife's right of dower in only inchoate; it cannot be enforced.

Should he sell the land to a stranger, she has no right of action or remedy until his death.

In all cases the law of the State in which the land is situated governs it, and, as in the case of heirship, full information must be sought for in statute which is applicable.

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.

Marriage may be entered into by any two persons, with the following exceptions: Idiots, lunatics, persons of unsound mind, persons related by blood or affinity within certain degrees prohibited by law, infants under the age of consent, which varies in the different States, and all persons already married and not legally divorced.

The causes for which a divorce may be obtained vary greatly in the different States. In South Carolina only fraud and force are recognized as invalidating the marriage tie, this State having no divorce law. In the District of Columbia and all the other States with the exception of Maryland, Ma.s.sachusetts, Michigan and Virginia, cruelty is a statutory cause, and desertion in all but New York. In most of the States neglect is also recognized as a valid cause. Imprisonment for crime is a cause in all except Florida, Maryland, Ma.s.sachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

Physical inability is a cause in all the States except California, Connecticut, Idaho, North Dakota and Texas. Intemperance, in all but Ma.s.sachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakotah, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. The time of residence required to secure a divorce varies from 6 months in Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada and Texas to 3 to 5 years in Ma.s.sachusetts. In most States it is one year.

Remarriage is permitted in all the States having divorce laws except Georgia, and alimony is also provided for in all these States.

RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN.

Any and all property which a woman owns at her marriage, together with rents, issues and profits thereof, and the property which comes to her by descent, devise, bequest, gift or grant, or which she acquires by her trade, business, labor, or services performed on her separate account, shall, notwithstanding her marriage, remain her sole and separate property, and may be used, collected and invested by her in her own name, and shall not be subject to the interference or control of her husband, or be liable for his debts, unless for such debts as may have been contracted for the support of herself or children by her as his agent.

A married woman may likewise bargain, sell, a.s.sign, transfer and convey such property, and enter into contracts regarding the same on her separate trade, labor or business with the like effect as if she were unmarried. Her husband, however, is not liable for such contracts, and they do not render him or his property in any way liable therefor. She may also sue and be sued in all matters having relation to her sale and separate property in the same manner as if she were sole.

In the following cases a married woman's contract may be enforced against her and her separate estate: 1. When the contract is created in or respecting the carrying on of the trade or business of the wife. 2.

When it relates to or is made for the sole benefit of her sole or separate estate. 3. When the intention to charge the separate estate is expressed in the contract creating the liability.

When a husband receives a princ.i.p.al sum of money belonging to his wife, the law presumes he receives it for her use, and he must account for it, or expend it on her account by her authority or direction, or that she gave it to him as a gift. If he receives interest or income and spends it with her knowledge and without objection, a gift will be presumed from acquiescence.

Money received by a husband from his wife and expended by him, under her direction, on his land, in improving the home of the family, is a gift, and cannot be recovered by the wife, or reclaimed, or an account demanded.

An appropriation by a wife, herself, of her separate property to the use and benefit of her husband, in the absence of all agreement to repay, or any circ.u.mstances from which such an agreement can be inferred, will not create the relation of debtor and creditor, nor render the husband liable to account.

Though no words of gift be spoken, a gift by a wife to her husband may be shown by the very nature of the transaction, or appear from the attending circ.u.mstances.

A wife who causelessly deserts her husband is not ent.i.tled to the aid of a court of equity in getting possession of such chattels as she has contributed to the furnishing and adornment of her husband's house. Her legal t.i.tle remains, and she could convey her interest to a third party by sale, and said party would have a good t.i.tle, unless her husband should prove a gift.

Wife's property is not liable to a lien of a sub-contractor for materials furnished to the husband for the erection of a building thereon, where it is not shown that the wife was notified of the intention to furnish the materials, or a settlement made with the contractor and given to the wife, her agent or trustee.

The common law of the United States has some curious provisions regarding the rights of married women, though in all the States there are statutory provisions essentially modifying this law. As it now stands the husband is responsible for necessaries supplied to the wife even should he not fail to supply them himself, and is held liable if he turn her from his house, or otherwise separates himself from her without good cause. He is not held liable if the wife deserts him, or if he turns her away for good cause. If she leaves him through good cause, then he is liable. If a man lives with a woman as his wife, and so represents her, even though this representation is made to one who knows she is not, he is liable the same way as if she were his wife.

THE LAW OF FINDING.