JOINDER OF PARTIES, in law, is a phrase signifying that persons having as common interest and a common responsibility in any matter or subject are to be joined.
j in any action at law relating thereto. Such joinder arises generally out of joint con tract, ownership, or wrong done. When two or more persons are joined in a contract,. they must be joined also in any action arising therefrom. If one of two joint partiea die, the rule gives way, and the survivor either sues or is sued as the case may be. When the parties are so numerous that they cannot all be brought into court, one of them may sue for the benefit of the whole; as where an administrator is called to render an account to many creditors of moneys in his hands, one creditor may bring an action not only for himself, but also for all the others. In cases of tort the parties responsible are not necessarily all joined as defendants, but where two or more persons are jointly injured they should be joined as plaintiffs, but not where the injury is to the person. The practice in respect to husband and wife is modified by the rule of the
common law which merges the legal existence of the latter in that of the former. But by the common law they must be joined for torts committed by the wife before or during marriage, and must join as plaintiffs for personal injuries to the wife, or injuries to her property before marriage. And they must join and be joined in actions or con tracts made by the wife before marriage, in actions arising from the wife's position as executrix and administratrix, and in many other cases. In New York and several other states, however, this rule has been set aside in many cases by recent legislation, which recognizes the personality of the wife in the same way as if alie-were unmarried: In courts of law a failure to make the proper persons parties is fatal to the action; but courts of equity are not so strict.