him the eſtate conveys it alſo out of him again, (as where by a fine land is granted to a man, and he immediately renders it back by the ſame fine) ſuch a ſeiſin will not intitle the wife to dower[1]: for the land was merely in tranſitu, and never reſted in the huſband. But, if the land abides in him for a ſingle moment, it ſeems that the wife ſhall be endowed thereof[2]. And, in ſhort, a widow may be endowed of all her huſband's lands, tenements, and hereditaments, corporeal or incorporeal, under the reſtrictions before-mentioned; unleſs there be ſome ſpecial reaſon to the contrary. Thus, a woman ſhall not be endowed of a caſtle, built for defence of the realm[3]: nor of a common without ſtint; for, as the heir would then have one portion of this common, and the widow another, and both without ſtint, the common would be doubly ſtocked[4]. Copyhold eſtates alſo are not liable to dower, being only eſtates at the lord's will; unleſs by the ſpecial cuſtom of the manor, in which caſe it is uſually called the widow's free-bench[5]. But, where dower is allowable, it matters not, though the huſband aliene the lands during the coverture; for he alienes them liable to dower[6].
3. Next, as to the manner in which a woman is to be endowed. There are now ſubſiſting four ſpecies of dower; the fifth, mentioned by Littleton[7], de la plus belle, having been aboliſhed together with the military tenures, of which it was a conſequence. 1. Dower by the common law; or that which is before deſcribed. 2. Dower by particular cuſtom[8]; as that the wife ſhall have half the huſband's lands, or in ſome places the whole, and in ſome only a quarter. 3. Dower ad oſtium eccleſiae[9]: which is
- ↑ Cro. Jac. 615. 2 Rep. 67. Co. Litt. 31.
- ↑ This doctrine was extended very far by a jury in Wales, where the father and ſon were both hanged in one cart, but the ſon was ſuppoſed to have ſurvived the father, by appearing to ſtruggle longeſt: whereby he became ſeized of an eſtate by ſurvivorſhip, in conſequence of which ſeiſin his widow had a verdict for her dower. (Cro. Eliz. 503.)
- ↑ Co. Litt. 31. 3 Lev. 401.
- ↑ Co. Litt. 32. 1 Jon. 315.
- ↑ 4 Rep. 22.
- ↑ Co. Litt. 32.
- ↑ §. 48, 49.
- ↑ Litt. §. 37.
- ↑ Ibid. §. 39.
