BARON and.FEM E. 747 
<^an prove to have actually come to her hands. Agreed If a-hufband makes his -wife an allowance for clothes, &c. 
per cur. Abr. Eg. Ca. zz), H zi. 1719. which is conftantly paid her, it is faid he /hall not be 
D confeffed a judgment to F, who ma.de his wife, the charged. 1 Sid. 109. And, if he forbids particular per- 
plaintiff, executrix, and died; (lie adminiflered, and mar- Ions to truft her, he .will not be chargeable : but a prohi- 
ried a fecond luifband, and then Ihe alone, without her 
htifband, acknowledged fatisfadtipn, though .no real fa- 
tisfadtion was made. The court h Id.that this was riot 
good. Sid. 31* A wife adminiftratrix under feventeen' 
/hall join with her hufband in an action. Mod. 297. If a 
feme executrix takes baron, and he releafes all actions, 
tliis fhall be a bar during the coverture without qtieftion. 
Br. RdeaJes, pi. 29. If a,feme executrix take baron, and 
the baron puts himfelf in arbitrament for death of the 
teflator, and award is made, and the' baron dies, the feme 
fliall be barred; period cur'. Brooke lays, that from 
hence it teems to him, that the releafe, of the baron with¬ 
out the feme is a good bar again It the feme,; giwdconceditur, 
anno 39 Hen. 15 ; and therefore there he excepted thofe 
debts in his releafe, otherwife they had been extinCt. Br. 
RtleaJ'es, 79. If a man marries an adminiftratrix to a for¬ 
mer hufband, who in her widowhood waited the a (lets of 
her intefiate, the hufband is liable to the debts of the in- 
teftate, during the life of the wife ; and this fliall be deem¬ 
ed a devajlavit in.him. Cro. Car. 603. 
VI. The Wife’s Contracts during Marriage.— 
Every gift, grant, or difpofition, of goods, lands, or other 
thing whatfoever, and all obligations and feoffments made- 
by a feme covert, without her luifband’s content, are void. 
1 Hen. V. 125. Fitz. Ccvnt. 18. The hufband is obliged 
to maintain his wife in neceflaries : yet they muff be ac¬ 
cording to his degree and efhrte, to charge him; and ne- 
ceflaries may be fuitable to a hufband’s degree of quality, 
but not to his eftate; alfo they may be neceflaries, but not 
ex vecrfJitate Xo charge the hufband. 1 Mod. 129. 1 Nelf. Abr. 
354. If a woman buys things for h-er neceffary apparel, tho’ 
without the confent of her hufband, yet the hufband (ball 
be bound to pay it. Browul. 47. And, if tiie wife buys 
any tiling for herfelf, children, or family, and the baron 
does any act precedent or fubfequent whereby lie fli'ews 
bis confent, lie may be charged thereupon. 1 Sid. 120. 
The expences of a feme covert’s funeral, paid by her fa-, 
ther, while her hufodnd had left her, and was.gone abroad, 
deemed neceflaries. H. Black. Rep. 90.' Though a wife is 
very lewd, if fhe cohabits with her hufband, lie is charge¬ 
able for all neceflaries for her, becaufe he took her for 
better, for worfe: and fo he is if he runs away from her, 
nr turns her away : bur, if (lie goes away from her huf¬ 
band, then, as foon as fuch reparation is notorious, who¬ 
ever gives her credit doth it at his peril, and the hufband 
is not liable, uriJefs he take her again. 1 Salk. 119. 1 Stra. 
647, 706. If a man cohabits with a woman, allows her 
to affume his name, and patfes her for his wife, though in 
fait be is nut married to her, yet he is liable to her con¬ 
tracts for neceflaries; and therefore ne ungues accouple is a 
bad plea in an action on the cafe for the debt of a wire; 
it is good only in dower or an appeal. Bull. N. P. 136. 
£fp, N. P. 124. 
Although a hufband be'bound, to pay his. wife’s debts 
for iier realonabie provifion, yet, if the parts from him, 
efpccially by reafon of any mifbehaviour, and he allows 
her a maintenance, he fhall never after be charged with 
her debts, till a new cohabitation ; but, if the hufband re¬ 
ceive her, or come after her, and lie with her but for a 
night, that may make him liable to the debts. Pafch. 3 
Ann. Mod. Caf. 147. If there be an agreement in writing 
between the hufband and wife to live feparate, and. that 
fhe (hall have a feparate maintenance, it fliall bind them 
both till they both agree to cohabit again; and, if the 
wife is Willing to return to her hulband, flie may; but it 
has been adjudged, that the hufband hath no coercive 
power over the wile to force her, though he may vifit her, 
and ufe all lawful means in order to a reconciliation. Mich. 
Cea. 1. Med. Ca. in L. IB E. 22. Where there is a fepara- 
tion by confent, and the wife hath a feparate allowance, 
Shofe who truft her do it u pon her own credit. 1 Salk, 1 16. 
3 
ltion in general, by putting her in the newfpapers, is no 
legal notice not to fruit her. 1 Vent. 42. 
If may now fafely be afliimed as’a principle, that “where 
the hyfband and wife'part by confent, and Ihe has a fepa¬ 
rate maintenance from her hulband, the Ihall in all cafes 
be fubjedt to her own debts.” This was firli finally deci¬ 
ded and fettled in fhe cafe of Riiigftead v. Lady Lanefbo- 
rough, M. 23 Geo. III. and H. 23 Geo. III. where in ac¬ 
tions againft the defendant for goods fold fhe pleaded co¬ 
verture ; and the plaintiff’s replication “ that the lived fe¬ 
parate and apart from her hufband, front whom fhe had a- 
feparate maintenance, and -fo was liable to her own debts,” 
was on demurrer hoiden to be good ; and the plaintiff had 
judgment. In tiie above cafe the plea alfo dated, that 
the lui(band lived in Ireland, which being out of the pref- 
cefs of the court, Come ftrel's was laid on it in the deciiion; 
but, in the cafe-of Darnell v. Brooks, H. 24 Geo. III. it 
was decided, as a general principle, that the hufband. was 
not liable in, any cafe where the wife lived apart, and had 
a feparate maintenance ; and this principle was recognized 
in Corbett v. Poelnitz, which followed it. 1 Term Rep. 5. 
It has been faid, that, when the hufband and wife live 
apart, the wife muft have a feparate maintenance from the 
hufband, in order to difeharge him. 4. Burr. 2078. But 
this opinion feems much fliaken by that of lord Mansfield, 
in 1 Term Rep, 5-11, where he fays, the cafes (already 
mentioned) do not reft on one or two circumfbmce's, but 
on the great principle which the court has laid down 
“ that where a woman has a feparate efrate, and acts and 
receives credit as a feme I'ole, fhe fhall be liable as fuch.” 
A principle which extends further than the fails in any 
cafes yet determined. And it teems* that now a determi¬ 
nation in 12 Mod. 603, where coverture and life of the 
hufband in Ireland was given in evidence in an aition a- 
gainft a woman who had traded twelve years as a widow, 
is not law. 
The baron in an account fliall not be charged by the re¬ 
ceipt of his wife, except it came to his ufe. 1 Danv. 707. 
Yet, if flie ufually receives and pays money, it will 'bind 
him in equity.' Abr. Caf. Eq. 61. And why not in law, in 
an aition for money had and received ? Lor go As fold 
to a wife, to the ufe of the hulband, the hulband fliall be 
charged, and be obliged to pay for the fame. Sid. 425. If 
the wife pawn her clothes for money, and afterwards bor¬ 
rows money to redeem them, the hufband is not charge¬ 
able unlefs he were dpnfenting, or that the fir ft Into came 
to his ufe. 2 Skew. 283. If, a wife takes up clothes, at 
(ilk, &c. and pawns them before made into clothes, the 
hufband fliall not pay for them, becaufe they never came 
to his ufe ; otherwife if made up add worn, and then-pawn¬ 
ed. 1 Salk. 118. A wife may life the goods of her huf¬ 
band, but flie may not: difpote of them: and; if fhe takes 
them away, it is not felony, for flie cannot by our law fleal 
the goods of her hufband ; but, -if ihe delivers them to an 
adulterer, and he teceives them, it will be felony in him. 
3 Inf. 308. • 
'It the baron is beyond fea in any voyage, and during 
his abfence the wife buys heceffaries, this is a good evi¬ 
dence for a jury to find that the baron ajjumpfit. Sid. 127. 
A hufband who has abjured the realm, of who is byini fil¬ 
ed', is thereby civiliur mortuus ; and being dif'ablcd to Cue 
or be fued in right of his wife, fhe muft be considered as a 
feme foie ; for it Would be unreafonable that flie fb'ould 
be remedilefs on her part, and equally hard on thofe who 
had any demands on her,-that, not -being able to have 
any redrefs from the hufband, they -fliould not have any 
aga'irift her. Bro. Baron and Feme, 66. Co. Lit. 133. Moor 851. 
3 Bul/l. 188. 2 Fern. 104. Inainimpfit the defendant prov¬ 
ed that flie was married, and her hufband alive in France, 
the plaintiff had judgment, upon which, as a verdict 
againft evidence, fhe moved for anew trial, but it was de- 
