Legal Opinion

Sellmeyer v. Welch

Supreme Court of Arkansas

Decided May 15, 1886PublishedCited by 3 opinions

APPEAL from Clay Circuit Court. Hon. W. H. Cate, Circuit Judge. The instruction given by the court is clearly erroneous. A married woman has the right to spend her personal wages as she pleases, and if she chooses to spend them in the payment of board for her husband and son, it is her own concern, as she has a perfect right to do so.

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APPEAL from Clay Circuit Court. Hon. W. H. Cate, Circuit Judge. The instruction given by the court is clearly erroneous. A married woman has the right to spend her personal wages as she pleases, and if she chooses to spend them in the payment of board for her husband and son, it is her own concern, as she has a perfect right to do so. The proposition is too plain to require citation of authorities. . The court seems to have failed to note the distinction between the executed and executory contracts of married women. Courts sometimes refuse to enforce executory contracts of married women, but…

1Opinion of the Court

Cockrill C. J.

1. Married Woman: — Her earnings, etc.

Mrs. Welch, a married woman, sued Sellmeyer on an account for $135 for her services as cook for himself and laborers on a railroad. Sellmeyer pleaded payment.

Upon the trial, Mrs. Welch testified that she had contracted with Sellmeyer, who was a railroad contractor, to cook for him and his hands, not to exceed fifteen in number, for the sum of $25 per month, and the board of herself and family; the said family consisting of a husband and son; that she cooked for about forty hands for a period of three months; that her services were reasonably…

2Cited by3 opinions

  1. Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. HumbleSupreme Court of the United States · 1901
  2. Texas Co-op. Inv. Co. v. ClarkTexas Commission of Appeals · 1922
  3. Crenshaw v. CollierSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1901

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