
THE HOLLINGSWORTH REGISTER	VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2.

-26- Miller vs Hollingsworth


The following case is from Reports of Cases in Law and Equity Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa, by Edward H. Stiles, Reporter, Volume Xii. (Ottumwa: 1873), pp. 224-229. Your editor located it in the Law Library, State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, August 3, 1978. The papers in the case were first found at the office of the Clerk of the District Court in Newton, Jasper County, the day before. Appeals usually are put into print as soon as possible to reflect the latest precedents for the legal profession. What is ironic is that this might have been found ten years ago if your editor had but made a thorough perusal of the works in the local Los Angeles law libraries! This case is remarkable because it gives information not otherwise available about Frederick Hollingsworth's whereabouts just before he died, and contradicts all of our suspicions about them up until now. December Term, 1871. Miller v. Hollingsworth 1. Mechanic's lien: HUSBAND AND WIFE. A mechanic's lien rests upon contract made with the owner of the land, or his authorized agent; and its enforcement must be by ordinary proceeding. The principles of equity jurisprudence do not apply. 2. The agency of the husband to contract for lumber on the part of the wife will not be presumed from the marital relation alone; nor from the fact that the lumber was used by the husband in the erection of a house upon land of the wife. Appeal from Jasper District Court. Thursday, February 22 (1872). Action for the enforcement of the mechanic's lien upon real estate of the defendant for $163, the value of 5,000 feet of lumber sold to defendant, as is alleged, through her agent, F. Hollingsworth, and used in the erection of a dwelling-house on the defendant's premises, to wit: The south � of the south-west �, and the north-west � of the south-west � of section 1, township 81, range 20, west. (See editor's comments following article.) The answer admits ownership of the premises, and denies the other allegations. The cause was tried by the court, and the following facts were found. "1. In the spring of 1868, Frederick Hollingsworth and the defendant, Elizabeth, were husband and wife and lived with their family in Jasper county, about twenty-five miles from the land on which plaintiff seeks to establish his lien, to wit: The south half and the north-west quarter of the southwest quarter of section 1, township 81, range 20. The title to this land was, at that time, and still is, in the defendant, and she is the owner thereof in her own right. It was then uncultivated and unoccupied."

Continued on Page 27 \| Return to 14-2 TOC \| Return to Main Index

The following case is from Reports of Cases in Law and Equity Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Iowa, by Edward H. Stiles, Reporter, Volume Xii. (Ottumwa: 1873), pp. 224-229. Your editor located it in the Law Library, State Capitol, Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday, August 3, 1978. The papers in the case were first found at the office of the Clerk of the District Court in Newton, Jasper County, the day before. Appeals usually are put into print as soon as possible to reflect the latest precedents for the legal profession. What is ironic is that this might have been found ten years ago if your editor had but made a thorough perusal of the works in the local Los Angeles law libraries! This case is remarkable because it gives information not otherwise available about Frederick Hollingsworth's whereabouts just before he died, and contradicts all of our suspicions about them up until now.

December Term, 1871. Miller v. Hollingsworth

1. Mechanic's lien: HUSBAND AND WIFE. A mechanic's lien rests upon contract made with the owner of the land, or his authorized agent; and its enforcement must be by ordinary proceeding. The principles of equity jurisprudence do not apply.
2. The agency of the husband to contract for lumber on the part of the wife will not be presumed from the marital relation alone; nor from the fact that the lumber was used by the husband in the erection of a house upon land of the wife.

Appeal from Jasper District Court. Thursday, February 22 (1872).

Action for the enforcement of the mechanic's lien upon real estate of the defendant for $163, the value of 5,000 feet of lumber sold to defendant, as is alleged, through her agent, F. Hollingsworth, and used in the erection of a dwelling-house on the defendant's premises, to wit:
The south � of the south-west �, and the north-west � of the south-west � of section 1, township 81, range 20, west. (See editor's comments following article.)

The answer admits ownership of the premises, and denies the other allegations.

The cause was tried by the court, and the following facts were found.

"1. In the spring of 1868, Frederick Hollingsworth and the defendant, Elizabeth, were husband and wife and lived with their family in Jasper county, about twenty-five miles from the land on which plaintiff seeks to establish his lien, to wit: The south half and the north-west quarter of the southwest quarter of section 1, township 81, range 20. The title to this land was, at that time, and still is, in the defendant, and she is the owner thereof in her own right. It was then uncultivated and unoccupied."

Continued on Page 27 | Return to 14-2 TOC | Return to Main Index

THE HOLLINGSWORTH REGISTER

VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2.