Interesting to Husbands.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 144, 28 November 1884, Page 2

Interesting to Husbands.

Gen tlemeu afflicted with extrWvagaiit v /ives may derive some consolation i roni a perusal of the following decision: given by the Court! of Ap peal iin England :— -Mrs Me|l6r, the wife »of a man m a respectable positi*>i*. o manager of a Railway hotel at Biadtortl), ordered some articles of di»s»'of Messrs Debenham and Freebody r upuu credit, which were sent m ,to-..hc}v at; her husband's residence m the iisual course. There was i no conWnti.on that the dresses were iextrttvagaii'c, or unsuited to Mrs Mellor's station or oTenr-chi«rged, oi lohjectionableinany way whatever. Indeed, Lord Justice B ram well seems, to have thought that ;the very, vagije word "accessaries " might have been fairly applied to them, aud no question as tpi, their price was so much as raised, Nevertheless, when the bill was sent m, the hiiß-band refused to pay for them, alleging . quite truly and ' conscientiously, asit would appear, that he had ftrictly forbidden his wife to buy anything upon his credit, that she had disobeyed his commands, and that consequently ho should not pay for the dresses. He adhered to this decision, and Messrs Denbenham sued him for tfji.o. money. The court, however, decided that the husband was not liable, and Messrs Debenham, whose bu,sinoss r with that of. every other silk raerceV-, is attacked l»y the decision at the root, carried their plaint up to t&.o Courc of Appeal. There, however, th,ree Judges— Lord Justice Bramwell, lidrd Justice Baggallay, and Lord Justice Thesiger-— unanimously agreed, m two elaborately reasoned judgments, that the court below was right, and that if a husband prohibited his wife from pledging his credit, the prohibition ended Sis liability, even though it was privately given, and remained entirely unknown to the tradesmen concerned.