Edwards v. Sheridan
Supreme Court of Connecticut
This was an action upon a promissory note, payable to Maria Edwards, the wife of the plaintiff, Lewis B. Edwards, and given to her while a married woman. The suit was brought in the joint names of the husband and wife, to the county court for New Haven county, where the plaintiffs obtained a verdict. The defendant then moved in arrest of judgment, and his motion was sustained by that court.
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This was an action upon a promissory note, payable to Maria Edwards, the wife of the plaintiff, Lewis B. Edwards, and given to her while a married woman. The suit was brought in the joint names of the husband and wife, to the county court for New Haven county, where the plaintiffs obtained a verdict. The defendant then moved in arrest of judgment, and his motion was sustained by that court. The plaintiffs thereupon, by motion in error, removed the case to the superior court, where it was reserved for the advice of this court.
1Opinion of the CourtWaite, C. J.
By a uniform course of judicial decisions, for nearly forty years past, it has become the established common law in this state, that choses in action, accruing to the wife, during the coverture, vest absolutely in the husband, and do not, upon his decease, survive to her. Consequently suits, for the recovery of the moneys due upon them, must be brought in his name, and not in their joint names. And even if it be shown that a promissory note was given to a wife, upon the sale of her land, the note and the avails of it, aside from the provisions of any statute, vest absolutely in the husband,…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Deming v. WilliamsSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1857
- Sims v. RicketsIndiana Supreme Court · 1871
- Smith v. Bank of New EnglandSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1878