{ "id": 11274023, "name": "FINGER v. HUNTER", "name_abbreviation": "Finger v. Hunter", "decision_date": "1902-06-13", "docket_number": "", "first_page": "529", "last_page": "532", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "130 N.C. 529" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "N.C.", "id": 9292, "name": "Supreme Court of North Carolina" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 5, "name_long": "North Carolina", "name": "N.C." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "95 N. C., 346", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 11274162 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/95/0346-01" ] }, { "cite": "95 N. C., 85", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 11273059 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/95/0085-01" ] }, { "cite": "38 L. R. A., 242", "category": "reporters:federal", "reporter": "L.R.A.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "121 N. C., 8", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8651952 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/121/0008-01" ] }, { "cite": "118 N. C., 377", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8653291 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/118/0377-01" ] }, { "cite": "118 N. C., 273", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "opinion_index": 0 }, { "cite": "74 N. C., 437", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8683003 ], "weight": 2, "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/74/0437-01" ] }, { "cite": "109 N. C., 220", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "N.C.", "case_ids": [ 8649984 ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/nc/109/0220-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 428, "char_count": 6776, "ocr_confidence": 0.4, "pagerank": { "raw": 2.331976244125731e-07, "percentile": 0.7912042362315332 }, "sha256": "7d90dfafdeab228d373ea7aa91ebcf508436673f07f2e32a43fcc2048193e676", "simhash": "1:83e1ad03fc964dfc", "word_count": 1155 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T15:31:43.301896+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "FINGER v. HUNTER." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "Clark, J.\nThe feme defendant, a married woman, bought of plaintiffs certain locks, hinges and sash-cords for the improvement of her house. They were so used, and a lien therefor was regularly filed against her said house and lot, and this action is brought against her (her husband being joined) for enforcement of the same. The sole question raised is whether the General Assembly had the power, under the Constitution, to' enact Chapter 617, Laws 1901. That statute reads as follows:\n\u201cSection 1781 of The Code of North Carolina is amended by adding to said section the following: And this section shall apply to the property of married women, when it shall appear that such building or buildings were built or repaired on her land, with her consent or procurement, and in such case she shall be deemed to have contracted for such improvements.\u201d\nThe Constitution, Article X, Section 6, provides that a married woman shall retain the same rights overher property as if she were unmarried, the only restriction being that she can not \u201cconvey\u201d without the written assent of her husband. The restraints upon her power to \u201ccontract\u201d rest upon the statute, not upon the Constitution, and of course can be removed by statute. There is no prohibition upon the Legislature to do. so, and indeed the Court in many instances has indicated to the Legislature that justice might be facilitated by more liberal legislation in that regard. In Weir v. Page, 109 N. C., 220, where the work was done on the wife\u2019s house, the contract being made by her husband without her authority, but she saw the work done without objection and appropriated the increased value, the Court said that in justice she ought to be made to pay, but for the statute. The Court, Davis, L, added that a married woman \u201chaving in relation to her separate estate all the rights of a feme sole, whether and to what extent her protecting disabilities ought to be removed and her Habilites in dealing with her separate estate as to all persons other than her husband, made commensurate with her rights, and whether such alterations in the law would not prevent much injustice and many frauds, are questions to. be addressed to the wise consideration and sound discretion of the law-making power.\u201d\nIn Pippen v. Wesson, 74 N. C., 437, it is said: \u201cThe Legislature may abolish all the incapacities of married women and give them full power to contract as femes sole.\u201d This is cited with approval in Bank v. Howell, 118 N. C., 273, where the Court sets out in full the brief New York statute which confers upon married women the unrestricted power to contract, and broadly intimates to the General Assembly that-the passage of a similar statute here \u201cmight cure many abuses which now exist, and would be more in accord with the liberal intent of the constitutional provision as to married women. Constitution, Article N, Section 6.\"\u2019\nThe Code, Sec. 1827, authorizes a married woman to contract fully, as to all matters, by complying with certain requirements, thus making her a free-trader. Section 1832 .gves her the same full power without complying with those requirements in certain cases, and this was held constitutional. Hall v. Walker, 118 N. C., 377; Brown v. Brown, 121 N. C., 8, 38 L. R. A., 242. Section 1826 disables her to make certain contracts without the written assent of her husband, thus recognizing her full power to contract if not thus restrained. These and other sections all show that the restriction upon a married woman\u2019s power to contract is statutory, and the General Assembly, when it has moved at all, has gone in the direction of greater freedom to contract.\nThe defendant contends that, as the Constitution forbids a married woman to \u201cconvey\u201d without the written assent of her husband, therefore if the General Assembly can empower her to \u201ccontract\u201d without the husband\u2019s written assent, she can be made liable on her contract (as here), and thus \u201cshe can do indirectly what she could not do directly.\u201d But the Constitution makers knew the broad distinction between \u201ccontracts\u201d and \u201cconveyances,\u201d and the Legislature can not be held under inhibition to permit the former because there is a prohibition of the latter. Eor near two and a half centuries the law has invalidated oral conveyances of land, but it has never been conceived that an oral contract (unless otherwise made invalid) could not be enforced, because to do so might subject the debtor\u2019s real property and thus \u201cdo indirectly what can not be done directly.\u201d\nThe power of the General Assembly to remove all disabilities upan, married women and give them as full power to contract'as if single, is stated in Pippen v. Wesson, supra, and bas been uniformly recognized down to the present. When the Court has divided on the subject, it has only been whether the Legislature, in a given case, had restricted the power to contract, or, in view of the constitutional provision, had the authority to restrict it.\nThe proceeding being for a lien under $200, was properly brought in the Justice\u2019s Court. Smaw v. Cohen, 95 N. C., 85. Besides, the statute making a married woman in these circumstances liable for her contract, she is liable to an action before a Justice of the Peace just.as she would be if a free-trader, or for an ante-nuptial debt. Neville v. Pope, 95 N. C., 346.\nUpon the facts found, judgment should have been t entered for the plaintiffs.\nReversed.", "type": "majority", "author": "Clark, J." }, { "text": "Douglas, J.,\nconcurring in result.\nI concur in the result of the opinion of the Court upon the understanding that it does not conflict with the previous opinions of this Court, in some of which my own views are fully expressed.\nHowever there are some expressions in the opinion which do not seem necessary to a decision of the ease, and which may be capable of misinterpretation in the future. Hence my motive for concurrence only in the result.", "type": "concurrence", "author": "Douglas, J.," } ], "attorneys": [ "Clarhson & Buis, and Plummer Stewart, for the plaintiffs.", "McCall & Nixon, for the defendants." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "FINGER v. HUNTER.\n(Filed June 13, 1902.)\n1. HUSBAND AND WIFE \u2014 Married, Woman- \u2014 Separate Property-\u2014 Mechanics\u2019 Lien \u2014 The Code, Secs. 1781, 1826, 1827, 1832 \u2014 Acts 1901, Chap. 617 \u2014 The Constitution, Art. X, Sec. 6.\nActs 1901, Chap. 617, amending Tlie Code, Sec. 1781, so as to allow a laborer\u2019s lien to be taken on the property o\u00ed a married woman, is constitutional.\n2. JURISDICTION \u2014 Justices of the Peace \u2014 Mechanics\u2019 Liens \u2014 Married, 'Women \u2014 Acts 1901, Chap. 617.\nAn action against a married woman for less than $200 for material used in building a house must be brought before a justice of the peace.\nActioN by Finger & Pickens against H. L. Hunter and wife, beard by Judge S. R. Starbuck, at February Term, 1902, of the Superior Court of MbceleNbueg County. From a judgment for the defendants, the plaintiffs appealed.\nClarhson & Buis, and Plummer Stewart, for the plaintiffs.\nMcCall & Nixon, for the defendants." }, "file_name": "0529-01", "first_page_order": 567, "last_page_order": 570 }