Samuel Freeman Miller,
Phipps v. Sedgwick Place — Opinion of the Court
“ It answers the demands of justice in such cases if the creditor, finding the property itself in her hands or in the hands of one holding it with notice, appropriates it to pay his debt. But, if it is beyond his reach, the wife should no more be made liable for it than if the husband himself had spent it in support of his family, or even of his own extravagance. ”
Samuel Freeman Miller,
Phipps v. Sedgwick Place — Opinion of the Court
“ While the statutes of New York have recognized certain rights of the wife to deal with and contract in reference to her separate property, they fall far short of establishing the principle that out of that separate property she can be made liable for money or property received at her husband's hands, which in equity ought to have gone to pay his debts. ”
Samuel Freeman Miller,
Phipps v. Sedgwick Place — Opinion of the Court
“ While the books of reports are full of cases in which real or personal property conveyed to the wife in fraud of the husband's creditors has been pursued and subjected to the payment of his debts after it had been identified in her hands, or in the hands of voluntary grantees or purchasers with notice, we are not aware of any well-considered case of high authority where the pursuit of the property has been abandoned, and a judgment in personam for its value taken against the wife. ”
