Trustees of Poor v. Pratt
Court of Appeals of Maryland
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Queen Annes county. This was an action at law for dower in a tract of land called “Ruthburgfi,” brought by the appellee, as widow of her late husband, Henry R. Pratt, against the appellants.
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Appeal from the Circuit Court for Queen Annes county. This was an action at law for dower in a tract of land called “Ruthburgfi,” brought by the appellee, as widow of her late husband, Henry R. Pratt, against the appellants. Plea, ne unques seisie que dower. ' The case was submitted to the court below upon an agreed statement of facts, the material parts of which are these: Henry R. Pratt was married to the appellee in May 1819, and was, before and at that time, seized in fee of two tracts of land in Queen Annes county, distant several miles from each other, the one called “Ruthburgh,”…
1Opinion of the Court
Mason, J'.,
delivered tire opinion of this court.
This is an action at law, for dower, instituted by the appellee.
The prominent and controlling question of the case is, whether a sale of real estate, under an execution upon a judgment rendered against a party prior to his marriage, would defeat the claim of his widow to dower?
This question is conclusively settled, upon authority, in the affirmative. Kent, in his Commentaries, 4th Vol., page 50, thus states the law: “As a general principle, it may be observed that the wife’s dower is liable to be defeated by every subsisting claim or…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Lessee of Clarke v. CourtneySupreme Court of the United States · 1831
- Scott v. HowardNew York Supreme Court · 1848
- Lawson v. SnyderCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1851
3Cited by3 opinions
- Stephenson v. PurchaseMichigan Supreme Court · 1921
- Phillips v. KeelsHamilton Circuit Court · 1890
- Phillips v. KeelsOhio Circuit Courts · 1890