Burke v. Colbert
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Petition for partition of certain land in Cambridge. The case was submitted to the Superior Court, and, after judgment for the respondent, to this court, on appeal, upon agreed facts, in substance as follows : Bridget Burke died on March 21, 1883, leaving a husband, the petitioner in this case, and three children by a former marriage.
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Petition for partition of certain land in Cambridge. The case was submitted to the Superior Court, and, after judgment for the respondent, to this court, on appeal, upon agreed facts, in substance as follows : Bridget Burke died on March 21, 1883, leaving a husband, the petitioner in this case, and three children by a former marriage. The petitioner and said Bridget were lawfully married on October 11, 1882, and thereafter lived together as husband and wife in this Commonwealth, but had no issue born alive. Bridget left a will, executed on March 21, 1883, by which she provided as follows : “…
1Opinion of the CourtW. Allen, J.
By the Pub. Sts. e. 147, § 6, which was a substantial reenactment of the Gen. Sts. c. 108, §§ 9, 10, a married Avoman was empowered to devise her real estate as if she were sole, except that her will should not, without the written consent of the husband, operate to deprive him of his tenancy by the curtesy. The manifest intention of the Legislature was to confer on a married woman full testamentary capacity as to her real estate, subject only to the right of the husband as tenant by the curtesy. The consent of the husband is not necessary to give validity to the will or effect to its…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Sears v. SearsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
- Burroughs v. NuttingMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1870
3Cited by4 opinions
- Brownell v. BriggsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1899
- Lovering v. BalchMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1911
- Johnson v. WilliamsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1890
- Wilson v. GreerSupreme Court of Oklahoma · 1915