justice may order such opposite party, or if the same be a body corporate, then some officer thereof, to make answer on oath, at or before a time to be fixed in said order, as to what document he so has to the matter in dispute between the parties, or what he knows as to the custody of such document, and if in his possession or control whether he objects to the production of the same and the grounds of such objection, and thereupon such court or justice may require the production of said document, or may compel the party having the same in his possession or control to allow the applicant to inspect the same, and if necessary to take examined copies of the same, and may make such further order thereon as shall be just. This present motion is not framed in accordance with the statute and it must be dismissed. ABSTRACTS OF RECENT DECISIONS. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES.1 SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA.' COURT OF ERRORS AND APPEALS OF MARYLAND. SUPREME COURT OF OHIO.5 BANK. See Corporation. Right to Commissions.-Brokers in whose hands property is placed for sale, in order to earn commissions on account of the sale of such property, must either have sold it or been the procuring cause of the sale. If the purchaser, who was spoken to by them, had abandoned all idea of the trade, and they had no influence at all in bringing it about, they would not be entitled to commissions, although the purchaser may subsequently have bought from the owner: Doonan v. Ives, 71 or 72 Ga. 1 Prepared expressly for the American Law Register, from the original opinions filed during Oct. Term 1884. The cases will probably appear in 113 U. S. Rep. 2 From J. H. Lumpkin, Esq., Reporter; the cases will probably appear in 71 or 72 Ga. Rep. From J. Shaaff Stockett, Esq., Reporter; to appear in 62 Md. Rep. 5 From E. L. DeWitt, Esq., Reporter; the cases will probably appear in 41 or 42 Ohio St. Rep. COMMON CARRIER. Passenger Train-Fare of Child-Ejection from Railway TrainMeasure of Damages-Punitive Damages.-A passenger on a railway train is responsible for the fare of a child under his charge, and upon refusal to pay the same, may, together with the child, be ejected from the train, although he had paid his own fare: Phila., Wil. and Balt. Railroad Co. v. Hoeflich, 62 Md. If a conductor on a railway train finds a child sitting beside a female passenger, and knows that the father of the child is in the car, or could know upon proper inquiry, he has no right to hold the female passenger responsible for the child's fare: Id. A passenger wrongfully ejected from a railway train is entitled to recover from the railway company such damages as in the judgment of the jury, under all the circumstances of the case, would be a proper compensation for the unlawful invasion of his rights as a passenger, and for the injury to his person and feelings: Id. A passenger on a railway train, though forcibly and wrongfully ejected from the train by an officer of the railway company, is not entitled to punitive damages, if the wrongful act were committed in the discharge of a supposed duty, or without any evil or bad intention: Id. To entitle a person to punitive damages for a wrongful act, there must be an element of fraud or malice, or evil intent, or oppression, entering into and forming part of the act: Id. CONSTITUTIONnal Law. Local Law-General Law Local in form.-The clause of the constitution providing that "all laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation throughout the state," is not directory but mandatory, and a statute in violation of it is void: Ex parte Falk, 41 or 42 Ohio St. A statute providing punishment for an act which is malum in se wherever committed, being a law of a general nature, cannot be made local on the ground that the inhibited act is a greater evil in a large city than in other parts of the state: Id. Rev. Stats., sect. 1924, which provides punishment by fine and imprisonment against any person found in any city of the first grade of the first class, or within four miles thereof, having burglar's tools in his possession, is a law of a general nature within the inhibition of the constitution, but being local in form it is void: Id. CORPORATION. Liability of Trustees or Directors for failure to file Report.-Where a state statute required that every manufacturing, &c., corporation formed under it should publish and file a report of its capital and debts within twenty days after the first of the year; and provided that in case of failure to do so all the trustees of the company should be liable for "all the debts of the company then existing." Held, where there had been such a failure, that the trustees were not liable for the amount of a judgment recovered in a suit in tort against the company before the first of the year in question: Chase v. Curtis, S. C. U. S., Oct. Term 1884. Fraud of Officer-Liability of Corporation.-Where a transaction with an incorporated banking association properly pertains to the business of such an association, neither the abuse or disregard of his authority by its managing officer or agent, nor his fraud or bad faith will be permitted to be shown in defence of such bank in an action against it by an innocent party growing out of such transaction: Citizens' Sav. Bank v. Blakesley, 41 or 42 Ohio St. DAMAGES. See Common Carrier. DIVORCE. See Husband and Wife. - DOMICILE. See Husband and Wife. EQUITY. See Specific Performance. Bond of Trustees—Injunction against Suit.-Where the trustees of a corporation gave a bond, secured by a mortgage on the corporate property, which, in strict legal effect, bouud them individually, a court of equity will enjoin an action at law against them thereon, if it appears that there was no intention on their part to become personally liable: Mups v. Cooper, 39 N. J. Eq. Agreement between Father and Sons-Allowance for Services.-It appearing that two sons had worked their father's farms, under an agreement that they should do so until they had accumulated for him a fund of $12,000, and then they should have the farms free of rent during his life, and that the specified sum had been gathered about a year before the father's death, and thereafter the sons had enjoyed the use of the farms free until their father died: Held, that the sons had no reason to complain, on appeal, that the chancellor had made too small an allowance to them for services rendered under that contract: Larison v. Polhemus, 39 N. J. Eq. Parties who, in their pleadings and proofs, have insisted that they were not accountable to him for the rental value of land of which the ancestor died seised, because they were in possession as equitable owners, cannot, at the hearing, shift their ground, and claim that they were tenants of the ancestor's widow, who might have been entitled to hold the land until her dower was assigned, but who has disclaimed such a right: Id. FRAUDS, STATute of. Promise to Pay for Goods Furnished to Another-Original Undertaking-G. wished to procure credit from P., but was refused. M., who had G. in his employment at the time, told P. to let G. have goods and he would see it paid. The credit was given to M. and was refused to be given to G.: Held, that such promise on the part of M. was an original undertaking, and not an agreement to answer for the debt or default of another. His promise to see it paid was the same as a promise to pay it himself, and so both parties understood the transaction at the time: Maddox v. Pierce, 71 or 72 Ga. HUSBAND AND WIFE. Purchase by Wife at Judicial Sale-Personal Liability-Power to bind separate Estate.-A married woman who purchases real estate at a trustee's sale, made under the sanction and direction of a court of equity, and who pays a part of the purchase-money, but fails to pay the balance, is personally liable therefor: Fowler v. Jacob, 62 Md. A decree in personam against a feme covert, as purchaser of real estate sold under a decree in equity, to enforce the payment of the balance of the purchase-money, means only, that unless by a given time she pays such balance, any of her separate property which she would have the right to pledge in order to pay or secure a debt, may be taken in execution to pay what she owes on her purchase, or that such property is liable therefor: Id. A married woman has the power to charge her separate property with the payment of her debts, and whether she does so or not, is a question of intent and this intent may be shown on the face of the obligation creating the debt, or it may be shown aliunde: Id. Divorce-Wife's Counsel Fees-Liability of Estate of Deceased Husband.-A widow cannot maintain an action against the administrator of her deceased husband, for the amount of the fees charged by her counsel for prosecuting a suit against him for a divorce a mensa et thoro, pending which suit he died: McCurley v. Stockbridge, 62 Md. But counsel themselves are entitled to recover from the administrator of the deceased husband, reasonable fees for services rendered the wife in a suit against the husband for a divorce, if it be made to appear affirmatively that the suit was reasonably and justifiably instituted: Id. Assignment of Account to Wife.-A son advanced money to his mother for her support during her life, under an agreement that he should be repaid at her death out of her estate. The son procured from his wife the money advanced, agreeing that she should have the account against his mother. Equity will enforce the claim in behalf of the wife Titus v. Hoagland, 39 N. J. Eq. The parol assignment to the wife being unknown to the mother, a counter-claim which she had against her son at her death will be set off against this claim of the wife: Id. Domicile-Descent of Property-Community.-Under the laws of France, by a marriage without a contract as to property, a community of property between the husband and wife is established as an incident of the marriage. During coverture the husband has the control and management of the community property, and he may dispose of his share of the common property by his will; but the wife's share-that is, the one-half of the community property-the husband cannot dispose of, and she will be entitled to it on his death: Harral v. Harral, 39 N. J. Eq. A person sui juris may change his domicile as often as he pleases. To effect such a change, naturalization in the country he adopts as his domicile is not necessary: Id. To effect a change of domicile there must be a voluntary change of residence; the residence at the place chosen for the domicile must be actual; to the factum of residence there must be added animus manendi, and that place is the domicile of a person in which he has voluntarily fixed his habitation, not for a mere temporary or special purpose, but with a present intention of making it his home, unless, or until some thing uncertain or unexpected shall happen to induce him to adopt some other place as his permanent home: Id. By the laws of France, the marriage of a foreigner in France without any contract as to property, followed by the establishment of a conjugal domicile in that country, will subject the property of the married persons to the community law, and a government authorization under article xiii. of the code is not necessary to the establishment of such a domicile: Id. H., whose birthplace was in Connecticut, went to Europe in 1869, for the purpose of acquiring the German language, and completing his professional studies. In 1872 he went to Paris, where he remained; and, in February 1877, married a French woman in Paris, without any contract as to property. Immediately after the marriage he rented a house at Suresnes, a village near Paris, for two years, and took up his residence there with his wife. In May 1878, he was brought to this country, and sent to a hospital for the insane, at Philadelphia, where he died in 1881. Held, that by his marriage in France, and the establishment of his conjugal domicile there, his personal property became subject to the community law, and that his widow, on his death, was entitled to the one-half part thereof, notwithstanding that by his will, made before. the marriage, he had bequeathed the whole of it to others: Id. INJUNCTION. See Equity. When it will Issue to Restrain Waste on Property in LitigationWhere irremediable mischief is being done or threatened, going to the destruction of the substance of the estate, such as the extracting of ores from a mine, or the cutting down of timber, or the removal of coal, an injunction may issue to restrain the same as waste, though the title to the premises be in litigation. The authority of the court is exercised in such cases, through its preventive writ, to preserve the property from destruction pending legal proceedings for the determination of the title: Ehardt V. Boaro (No. 2), S. C. U. S., Oct. Term 1884. INSURANCE. Mutual Beneficial Society-Payment to Family or Heirs-Right to Appoint by Will.-A certificate of membership issued by an association organized under the provisions of the Revised Statutes, sect. 3630,"for the purpose of mutual protection and relief of its members, and for the payment of stipulated sums of money to the families or heirs of the deceased members," which, by its terms, is made payable to the assured member, "or any person designated by his will or his heirs, if no person is designated herein or by will," within ninety days after proof of death of the assured member, does not authorize such member, by testamentary appointment, to constitute a person a beneficiary of such insurance, who is not of the family of the assured, or may not, upon his death, become his heir: Nat. Mut. Aid Assoc. v. Gonser, 41 or 42 Ohio St. A bequest by an assured member of such a company, of the proceeds of his certificate of membership to a stranger or a creditor, does not constitute such legatee an "heir" of the testator, in the statutory sense of that term: Id. Warranty-Avoidance of Policy by False Statement-Fraudulent Intent Necessary-Where a policy of insurance provides that any false VOL. XXXIII.-44 |