JOINTURE. A competent livelihood of freehold for the wife, of lands and tene ments, to take effect, in profit or possession, presently after the death of the .husband, for the life of the wife at least.
Jointures are regulated by the statute of 27 Hen. VIII. c. 10, commonly called the statute of uses.
To make a good jointure, the following circumstances must concur, namely : It must take effect, in possession or profit, im mediately from the death of the husband. It must be for the wife's life, or for some greater estate. It must be limited to the wife herself, and not to any other person in trust for her. It must be made in satis faction for the wife's whole dower, and not of part of it only. The estate limited to the wife must be expressed or averred to be in satisfaction of her whole dower. It must be made before marriage. See Grogan v. Garrison, 27 Ohio St. 60, where it is said that it may also be made after marriage. A jointure attended with all these circumstanc es is binding on the widow, and is a com plete bar to the claim of her dower ; or, rather, it prevents its ever arising. See 4 Kent 55.
But there are other modes of limiting an estate to a wife, which, Lord Coke says, are good jointures within the statute, provided that the wife accepts them after the death of the husband. She may, however, reject them, and claim her dower ; Cruise, Dig. tit.
7; 2 Bla. Com. 137. See Dowan. It is held that a jointure cannot be affected by a post nuptial agreement ; McCaulley's Ex'rs v. McCaulley, 7 Houst (Del.) 102, 30 Atl. 735.
Any reasonable provision which an adult person agrees to accept in lieu of dower, it is said, will amount to an equitable jointure, and although it may be wanting in the requi sites of a legal jointure, in equity it will bar dower; Rieger v. Schaible, 81 Neb. 33, 115 N. W. 560, 17 L. R. A. (N. S.) 866, 16 Cas. 700 ; Stilley v. Folger, 14 Ohio 610.
A widow may,, by provisions of an ante nuptial contract, waive her right to an allow ance when the rights of minor children are not involved; Kroell v. Kroell, 219 Ill. 105, 76 N. E. 63, 4 Ann. Cas. 801. If such a con tract was intended by the parties to oper ate as an equitable jointure, it will be up held as such ; Mintier v. Mintier, 28 Ohio St. 307.
In its more enlarged sense, a jointure signifies a joint estate limited to both hus band and wife. 2 Bla. Com. 137. See 14 Viner, Abr. 540; Washb. R. P.
See MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT.
JOUR (Fr.). Day. It is used in our old law-books : as, tout jours, forever. It is also frequently employed in the composition of words : as, journal, a day-book; journey man, a man who works by the day; journeys account.