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30 S.C. Eq. 434

Spiva v. Jeter

Court of Appeals of South Carolina

Decided December 15, 1857

Court of Appeals of South Carolina · decided 1857-12-15

BEFORE DUNKIN, OH., AT UNION, JUNE SITTINGS, 1857. A statement of tbis case is contained in tbe circuit decree, wbicb is as follows: DUNKIN, Ch. This bill was filed by the widow of David Spiva, who died in the West, some two years since. The purpose is to obtain dower in a tract of land, called the David Myers tract, conveyed by the husband during the coverture, to wit: on the 16th Nov., 1846, to A. Y. Jeter, the father of the defendant.

Decided 1857-12-15

¶1The opinion of the Court was delivered by

DuNKIN, Ch.

¶2It is not supposed, or contended, that the paper executed 26th September, 1844, was a release of dower. It was no more than an agreement, and, assuming that the defendant, when he purchased from the plaintiff’s husband, was made acquainted with this ante-nuptial arrangement, he must be presumed to have understood the character, and effect of the instrument. The obligation of the plaintiff to release any interest she might acquire, rested in contract, and *439depended on the fidelity with which the conditions of the contract were fulfilled by her future husband. ,Under the circumstances detailed in the evidence, neither the husband, nor his heirs, would have any claim- to the interference of this Court, in enforcing the execution of the contract; and the purchaser from him, having a knowledge that the dower had not been released, would have no higher equity to insist on the performance of the agreement; and to invoke the aid of this Court in restraining the plaintiff from the prosecution of her legal rights.

¶3It is ordered and decreed, that the appeal be dismissed.

Johnstok, Dargaw and Wardlaw, CC., concurred.

¶4Appeal dismissed.

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