THE WIFE AS AGENT

Evening Star, Issue 19061, 2 October 1925, Page 3

THE WIFE AS AGENT

A TENEMENT TECHNICALITY LAW POINT UPSETS CLAIM When a wife acts as the agent ol her husband she is not liable in the event of litigation resulting from her act as agent, according to a decision given by Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., yesterday. c This point was raised by air 15. h. Irwin while defending a claim made by Catherine Hamilton, an elderly widow (Mr J. F. Ward), against M. A. Austin, married woman, for possession of a tenement and £4 2s rent due. The proceedings had been taken against the wife because it was considered that' she, and not her husband, was the responsible tenant. Mr Irwin claimed a nonsuit, on the ground that the husband, and not the wile, should be sued. Mrs Hamilton gave evidence that was occasionally interrupted by supplementary details from an unsworn witness at tho roar of the court. Mrs Hamilton’s evidence was that she purchased the house for £7lO with the object of letting rooms, as she had no other income and no other means of making a livelihood. She did not know Hie tenant. She asked Mrs Austin if siie could have a room, but the reply was that the rooms were all occupied. Mrs Hamilton thereupon remarked that if she had known that she would not have bought the house. She also stated that the tenant had been paying 16s per week rent, and this she raised to 255, observing that sbo could not get a decent room at that price. T . ~ t . She admitted to Mr Irwin that she had placed the house in hands ol agents, and had asked for £750. °ln submitting his point that the wife was merely the agent of her husband, Mr Irwin quoted a case that bad been brought before the Master of Hie Rolls in England, in which the wife, behoving her husband alive, although he was in reality, dead, had continued to allow tho butcher lo call. Tho court had hold that she was not responsible tor the debt incurred. Remarking that because a married woman must have some place in which to live a house was as much a necessity as bread or milk, the Magistrate upheld the contention that Mrs Austin, as tenant of the house, was acting as’tho agent of her husband. The claim should be _ against the husband. He would nonsuit plaintiff, with costs (£1 Is). .