King v. Gates

The appeal by defendant Calder from the judgment below overruling his demurrer to the complaint presents for determination the question whether now in this jurisdiction a wife may maintain an action for damages for injuries to her person caused by the negligence of her husband.

Prior to 1868 in North Carolina a married woman was not sui juris and was incapable of maintaining an action without the joinder of her husband (Roberts v. Roberts, 185 N.C. 566, 118 S.E. 9; Harvey v. Johnson, 133 N.C. 352, 45 S.E. 644), but in that year by the enactment of the Code of Civil Procedure, section 56, the…