DOWER (OF. Fr. Bonaire, Troy.
dutaire, from (iota rilon. dower. from Lat, dos, doweri. The common-law right of the wife to a one-third interest in the real estate of her hus band. It is limited to freehold estates of in heritance, and the (dia•et•r of the holding must be such the issue of the marriage. if any, might by possibility have inherited it. It ex tends, therefore, to all estates in fee simple of which the husband was seised at any time dur ing eoverture„ and to all such fees tail as are limited to the issue of the husband by the wife in question. This interest in her husband's real estate attaches at the moment of marriage or of the subsequent acquisition by the Inishand of the property, and continues thereafter during the life of the wife, passing through three stages or forms. I)uring the coverture and ownership of the property by the husband, she has an inchoate right of dower. 'Phis is a inert. right or possibility of obtaining the property by surviving her hushand. It is a right, however, which the courts will proteet, as between her and her lins• band. Ile cannot deprive her of it either by a •miveyance to a third persoo or by last will and testament. After the death of the husband, and before she has been put into possession 411 the specific one•third of his realty which should be !set apart for her, she has a right of action for the purpose of obtaining her dower. It is the duty of the husband's heirs. or purchasers, or other persons who may he in possession of the property, to set out or assign her one•third to lit r. and an action lies to emopel the performance of that duty. .Meer such assignment has been made, and she has been given possession of the land, she acquires an interest or estate therein during lice 110111 life, In connection with tier dower right she is also tilt t.ntititd to a resident-t in the chief house Or 1101110 of her husband for forty days after his death, provided she remain unmarried and chaste during that time, and in the meantime to have her reasonable sustenance out of his estate. This right is known as the widow•s quarantine. Ihmer attaches to real property only, and not to personal chattels. IL is strongly favored by the common act that the Mi.-band alone can do will ha• it, lf lie sell real estate to which his wife's dower right is attached without having her unite in the t muster. I lie purchaser takes subject to such right. It is not necessary that the husband shall be actually in possession of the propert:, in order to give the wife dower therein. The fat•t that he is seised, during the •overture, in fact Or in law, of a beneficial estate of inherit ance. legal or equitable, will be sufficient to sup
port her claim to ,loW cr. The right of dower in her husband's real estate is of great antiquity and has analogic. in most other systems of law. In our system it has passed through many stages. It is recognized as an indefeasible property right in the corona tion oath of Henry 1. (1100), though at that time and tor many years afterwards it might be varied by other forms of dower. which are HOW olosolcl•, dourm,ul at the ch it re h floor and doirmt at Ity fhc father's assent. These en abled the husband, by a declaration which formed part of the marriage service. to confer on his wife a dower right to the whole. or the any proportion of his lands which should be acceptable to her, and which, on his death. she might accept in lieu of the one-third accorded to her by the common law, if time she rejected the formal endowment, she was entitled to fall hack 011 her eommon-law dower.
'Ha. of the bridegrimin in our mar riage servie•, itli all illy worldly goods I thee N‘ II it'll is now of no legal effect whatever, is a curious sin-viral of this ancient practice.
_lit a much later period, When tile practice of conveying lands in trust, or to the use of others. had become outman' in England. the common-law right of dower was practically in abeyance, being replaced by a definite provision called a jointure. usually made in lieu thereof. This was rendered necessary by the fact that, under the system of uses, lands were commonly held by those who had only a beneficial interest therein and not the legal title, and there could be no dower in a purely beneticial, or equitable, estate. [tam the abolition of uses by the statute of in 15:35 (27 lien. e, 10) the right of dower revived. and it sinus expressly provided that the wife might fleet between her joint u re and her dower, bat should not be en titled to both. See VsE• Both in England and in many of the United States, modern statutes have materially modi fied the dower rights of the wife. Where flower is preserved by such statute:, the 1'1 given power. by his own act on. deed Mime. it 10 properly which he Ile' in' to during (lie In England by the Dower .‘el of 1S:1:1 (3 and 1 \\'ill, IV., c. 105) (lower is barred by any expression of intention by the loishand. whether direct or indirect, eontained in any 41...41 or will executed by that his wife shall not have dower in his lands or any part of them. In some of the United States in which a widow is given the right of inheritance, dower has been abolished.