INTERESTING TO HUSBANDS

Kumara Times, Issue 1161, 18 June 1880, Page 3

INTERESTING TO HUSBANDS

<»- Gentlemen afflicted with extravagant wives may derive some consolation from a perusal of the Following decision given by the Court of Appeal in England ; —Mrs Mellon,'the wife of a man in a respectable position (manager of a railway hotel at Bradford), ordered some articles of dress of Messrs Debenham and Freeuody upon credit* which were sent in to her at her husband’s residence in the usual course. There was no Contention that the dresses were extravagant, or uusuitod to Mrs Mollor’s station, or overcharged, or objectionable in any way whatever. Indeed, Lord Justice Brain well seems to have thought that the very vague word “ necessaries ” might have been fairly applied to them, and no question as to their price was us much us raised. Nevertheless, when the bill was sent in, the husband refused to pay for them, alleging, quite truly and conscientiously, us it would appear, that he had strictly forbidden his wife to buy anything upon his credit, that she had disobeyed his commands* and that consequently he should not pay for the dresses. He adhered to this decision, and Messrs Debenham sued him for the money. The Court, however, decided that the husband was not liable, and Messrs Debenham, whose business, with that of every other silk mercer, is attacked by tire decision at the root, carried their plant up to the Court of Appeal. There, however, three Judges—i.ord Justice Bramwell, Lord Justice Baggallay, and Lord Justice Thesiger—unanimously agreed, in two elaborately reasoned judgments, that the Court below were right, and that if a husband prohibited his wife from pledging his credit, that prohibition ended his liability, even though it was privately given, and remained enti; ely unknown to the tradesmen concerned.