Reports of cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas during part of Galveston session, and part of Tyler session, 1859. Volume 23. Page: 30

                                
29               DE BILANE v. LYNCI.        [Galveston,
in the cultivation of his own land, and thus add to his separate
property by the use of her separate property.
The principle which lies at the foundation .of the whole
system of community property is, that whatever is acquired
by the joint efforts of the husband and wife, shall be their
common property. It would be an unnecessary consumption
of time, to quote authorities for this proposition.
It is true, that in a particular case, satisfactory proof might
be made, that the wife contributed nothing to the acquisitions;
or, on the other hand, that the acquisitions of property
were owing wholly to the wife's industry. But from the
very nature [29] of the marriage relation, the law cannot
permit inquiries into such matters. The law, therefore, conclusively
presumes that whatever is acquired, except by gift,
devise or descent, or by the exchange of one kind of property
for.another kind, is acquired by their mutual industry. If a
crop is made by the labor of the wife's slaves on the wife's
land, it is community property, because the law presumes
that the husband's skill or care contributed to its production;
or, that he, in some other way, contributed to the common
acquisitions.
It cannot be objected, that this rule will subject the corpus
of the wife's estate to be diminished for her support, while
the husband enjoyed the proceeds or fruits of her property.
The law (Hart. Dig. art. 2416) provides, that the wife may
have so much of the proceeds of her separate property set
apart for the support of herself, and for the nurture and education
of her children, as the courts of the country may deem
necessary, under the circumstances of any particular case.
On the other hand, as was before said, a literal construction
of the words of the statute, "the increase of land," would
enable the husband to make acquisitions of separate property,
by the use of the separate property of his wife. And in this
way his children by another wife might become rich, while
her children by another husband might remain comparatively
poor. The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
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