Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 January 1889 — MATTERS OF LAW. [ARTICLE]

MATTERS OF LAW.

Decent Decisions Of the Indiana Supreme Court. (1) Linder section 5,119, R. <B. Ifißl, a contract entered into by a married woman ai surety is void as to her. (2) Where a married woman, as security for her husband, joins with! him in the execution of a mortgage upon her real estate and after wards dies, leaving children to whom a part of the mortgaged land descends, they stand in her shoes, and in a suit to foreclose the mortgage they may set up their mother’s coverture and suretyship as a defense. But in such case the husband is"estopped to make such defense. f Where a judgment creditor has purchased real estate at a Sheriff’s Bale undor his judgment, and after obtaining a Sheriff’s deed, sues for partition against one who claims the whole of the land nnder the foreclosure of a mortgage given by the judgment debtor" subsequent to the renderation of the judgment, tht defendant may defeat the sale to the plaintiff by showing the gross inadequacy of price, coupled with a failure to exhaust the personal property of the judgment debtor and a failure to offer the land in parcels instead of solido. A railroad company which has constructed its road along a public highway and negligently failed to restore it to its former condition, thus making its use unsafe and dangerous, iB liable to one who, who while lawfully upon t|ie highway, is injured without fault on his part. The failure to restore the highway is a violation of the statute (Section 3,903, R. S., 1888.) In this case the rail, road company dug an excavation in the highway six feet deep and fifteen long feet and threw up embankments nine ieet nigh, leaving no way for persons on the highway except upon the embankment. It was necessary for the plaintiff £o travel upon the highway in order to reach her home; She was riding a horse on her way home when a hand-car came along, the horse became frightened; the hand car was not stopped; the plaintiff was thrown from the horse and injured. Held: (1) That the company is liable. (2) A man who has managed or assisted in managing them, may express an opinion as to the rate of speed a handcar was moving on a specified occasion. The act of 1885, acts of 1885, p. 203, relating to the repair of public bridges, does not relieve a county from liability for damages caused by a defective bridge where the bridge could have been repaired for $75. Counties are liable for damages resulting from a negligent failure on their part to keep bridges on the public highway in good repair, without regard to the cost of the repairs. Although a duty is imposed by the act of 1885 upon townships to make repairs where the same can be done for $75, yet the County Commissioners must nevertheless see to it that all the bridgea upon public highways are kept in good repair. (1) In a complaint to enforce a ditch lien, it is sufficient, in making any one a party defendant, to allege that he has or claims to have some interest in the propety described in the complaint. It then devolves upon a person thus made a party, to assert whatever title he may have or claim. (2) A proceeding under the ditch law of 1879 (Acts 1879, page 234) is a proceeding in rem, and it ia not essential to the vilidity of an assessment thereunder.; that notice should have been given to the owners of the lands assessed, any further than they were known to the petitioner or shown by the transfer boox in the Auditor’s (1) Action by the administrator, ot a bona fide assignee of certificates issued by the Trustee of the School Township for school supplies. Section 6006 R. S. 1881, providing that without an order from the County Commissioners, a Township Trustee cannot incur a debt, the aggregate amount of which shall be in excess of the “fund on hand to which the debt is chargable, and of the fund to be derived from the tax assessed against this township for the year in which debt is to be incurred.” Held That the word “year” means? calendar year, that, as applicable to the case at bar, the phrase “fund on hand” means the amount of the special school revenue in the hands of the Trustee; and that the to be derived from the tax against the township for the year in which the debt iB to be incurred” means the special school revenue tax to be collected durnig that year. (2) Under the act of 1883, acts 1883, p. 114, the debt involved in this case, although unauthorized by sectifin 6006, having been contracted in 1882, ia legalized.

A Drawn Battle. Time. Poldoody: Did you hear about my fight with the editor of the Budget? Fudge: Nol Who whipped? " “It was a drawn battle.” “Neither whipped?” “Neither of ns was there. I hired * - man to do the whipping, the editor hired a man to receive him, and they nearly killed each other,” -p Felthan: Comparison, more than reality, makes men happy, and can make the wretched.