this particular, and allowed the wife her dower. But a ſubſequent ſtatute[1] revived this ſeverity againſt the widows of traitors, who are now barred of their dower, but not the widows of felons. An alien alſo cannot be endowed, unleſs ſhe be queen conſort; for no alien is capable of holding lands[2]. The wife muſt be above nine years old at her huſband's death, otherwiſe ſhe ſhall not be endowed[3]: though in Bracton's time the age was indefinite, and dower was then only due, "ſi uxor poſſit dotem promereri, et virum ſuſtinere[4]."
2. We are next to enquire, of what a wife may be endowed. And ſhe is now by law entitled to be endowed of all lands and tenements, of which her huſband was ſeiſed in fee-ſimple or fee-tail at any time during the coverture; and of which any iſſue, which ſhe might have had, might by poſſibility have been heir[5]. Therefore if a man, ſeiſed in fee-fimple, hath a ſon by his firſt wife, and after marries a ſecond wife, ſhe ſhall be endowed of his lands; for her iſſue might by poſſibility have been heir, on the death of the ſon by the former wife. But, if there be a donee in ſpecial tail, who holds lands to him and the heirs of his body begotten on Jane his wife; though Jane may be endowed of theſe lands, yet if Jane dies, and he marries a ſecond wife, that ſecond wife ſhall never be endowed of the lands entailed; for no iſſue, that ſhe could have, could by any poſſibility inherit them[6]. A ſeiſin in law of the huſband will be as effectual as a ſeiſin in deed, in order to render the wife dowable; for it is not in the wife's power to bring the huſband's title to an actual ſeiſin, as it is in the huſband's power to do with regard to the wife's lands: which is one reaſon why he ſhall not be tenant by the curteſy, but of ſuch lands whereof the wife, or he himſelf in her right, was actually ſeiſed in deed[7]. The ſeiſin of the huſband, for a tranſitory inſtant only, when the ſame act which gives
