DOWDEN. 418 DOWER. ■won his place as a .Shakespearean scholar by Shakspcrc, His Mind and Art (1875), which was followed by a Sliukspcj'r I'liincr (1877) : an edi- tion of the Soimels (1881); Introduction to ifliaksperc (1893) : a critical edition of Hamlet {SW) : anii ot h'oiiuu and -lulid llHOO). These works show a keen critical faculty and a genuine admiration of tlic f;reat dramatist, though per- haps the classiticatioii of the plays according to the supposed psychological periods of Shake- speare's life may appear fanciful. Among Dow- den's other critical and biograpliieal works, all excellent, are: Studies in Literature (1878): Koulhe;/ (1880): .S'/ic«f,i/ (I88tJ): Transcripts and Studies (1888): liorrf,siro;//i ( 1892-93) ; yew Studies in Literature (189,5): The French Revolution and English Literature (18971: A Historii of French Literature (1897). He pub- lished a volume of poems in 1876. DOWELL, Stkpiiex (1833-98). An English legal and liistorical writer. He was horn on the Isle of Wight, graduated at Oxford in 18,55, studied law at Lincoln's Inn. and in 18t!3 was appointed by Lord I'almerston assistant solici- tor to the lloard of Inland Revenue, an ofTice which he held until 1890. In addition to nu- merous legal and historical tracts he was the author of .several works on taxation, on which suliject he was admittedly for many years one of the highest autliorities in England, .mong these works are: The Income Tax Laics (1874; 3d ed. 1890) : A Sketch of the History of Taxes in England (1870) ; and .1 Historg of Taxation and Taxes in England, from the Earliest Times to the Present Dnii (4 vols., 1884), the standard work on this subject. DOWER (OF. doaire. Fr. douairc, Prov. do- tairr. from ML. dolariuin, dower, from Lat. dos, dower I. The conniionlaw 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 character of the holding nuist be such that 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 coverture, and to all such fees tail as are limited to the is>ue 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 subsecpient acquisition by the hnsl)and of the property, and continues thereafter during the life of the wife, passing throtigh three stages or forms. During the coverture and ownership of the property liy (he husband, slie has an inchoate right of dower. This is a mere right or possibility of obtaining the property by surviving lier liusl>anil. It is a right, liowevcr. which the courts will protect, as between her and lier hus- band. He cannot deprive her of it either by a conveyance to a third persoa or by last will and testament, .'fter the death of the husband, and before she has been p>it into possession of the specific one-third of his realty which should be set apart for her. she has a right of action for the piirpo'^e of olitaininp her dower. It is the duty of the husband's heirs, or purchasers, or otiier persons who may be in possession of the property, to set out or assign her one-third to lier. and an action lies to compel (he performance of that duty. .After such assignment has been made, and she has been given possession of the land, she acquires an interest or estate therein during her own life. In connection with her dower right she is also entitled to a residence in the chief house or home of her husband for forty days after his death, provided she remain unmarried and chaste during that time, and in the meantime to have lier reasonable sustenance out of his estate. This riglil is known as the widow's quarantine. Dower attaches to real properly only, and not to personal chattels. It is strongly favored by the common law. No act that the luisband alone can do will bar it. If he sell real estate to which his wife's dower right is attached without having her unite in the transfer, the purchaser takes subject to such right. It is not necessarj' that the husband shall be actually in jiossession of tlic luoperty in order to give the wife ilowcr tlu'icin. The fact that he is sci-sed, during the coverture, in fact or in law, of a benelicial estate of inherit- ance, legal or equitable, will be sullicient to sup- port her claim to dower. The wife's common-law right of dower in her husband's real estate is of great antiquity and has analogies 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 1, though at that time and for many years afterwards it might be varied by other forms of dower, which are now obsolete, as doumcnt at the church door and doirnunt bg the father's assent. These en- abled the husband, by a declaration which formed part of the marriage sen-ice, to confer on his wife a dower right to the whole, or the half, or any other proportion of his lands which sliould be acccptalilc to her. and which, on bis death, she might accept in lieu of the one-third accorded to her by the >'Oiiiiiioii law. If at that time she rejected the formal ciulowment. .she was entitled to fall back on her common-law dower. The declaration of the bridegroom in our mar- riage service, "with all my worldly goods I thee eiulow," which is now of no legal elfect whatever, is a curious survival of this ancient jiractice. At a much later period, when the practice of conveying lands in trust, or to the use of others, had become common in Kngland. the common-law right of dower was ])ractically 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 thercin and not the legal title, and there could be no dower in a purely beneficial, or equitable, estate. I'pon the abolition of uses bv the Statute of I'ses in 1535 (27 Hen. VIII.. c. 10) the right of dower revived, and it was expressly l>rovided that the wife might elect between her jointure and her dower, but should not be en- titled to both. See .Tointirk: I'.se. lioth in Kngland and in many of the United States, moilern statutes have materially modi- fied the dower rights of the wife. Where dower is prcseneil by such statutes, the husband is usually given power, by his own act or deed alone, to bar it as to property which be desires to sell during the coverture. In Kngland bv the Dower .Act of 1833 (3 and 4 Will. IV.. c.'l05) dower is barred by any expression of intention by the husband, whether direct or indirect, contained in any deed or will executed by him, that his
