ſpecific dotation was made at the church porch, then ſhe was endowed by the common law of the third part (which was called her dos rationabilis) of ſuch lands and tenements, as the huſband was ſeiſed of at the time of the eſpouſals, and no other; unleſs he ſpecially engaged before the prieſt to endow her of his future acquiſitions[1]: and, if the huſband had no lands, an endowment in goods, chattels, or money, at the time of eſpouſals, was a bar of any dower[2] in lands which he afterwards acquired[3]. In king John's magna carta, and the firſt charter of Henry III[4], no mention is made of any alteration of the common law, in reſpect of the lands ſubject to dower: but in thoſe of 1217, and 1224, it is particularly provided, that a widow ſhall be intitled for her dower to the third part of all ſuch lands as the huſband had held in his life time[5]: yet, in caſe of a ſpecific endowment of leſs ad oſtium eccleſiae, the widow had ſtill no power to waive it after her huſband's death. And this continued to be law, during the reigns of Henry III and Edward I[6]. In Henry IV's time it was denied to be law, that a woman can be endowed of her huſband's goods and chattels[7]: and, under Edward IV, Littleton lays it down ex-
- ↑ De queſtu ſuo. (Glanv. ibid.) de terris acquiſitis et acquirendis. (Bract. ibid.)
- ↑ Glanv. c. 2.
- ↑ When ſpecial endowments were made ad oſtium eccleſiae, the huſband, after affiance made, and troth plighted, uſed to declare with what ſpecific lands he meant to endow his wife, (quod dotat eam de tali manerio cum pertinentiis, &c. Bract. ibid.) and therefore in the old York ritual (Seld. Ux. Hebr. l. 2. c. 27.) there is, at this part of the matrimonial ſervice, the following rubric; "ſacerdos interroget dotem mulieris; et, ſi terra ei in dotem detur, tunc dicatur pſalmus iſte, &c." When the wife was endowed generally (ubi quis uxorem ſuam dotaverit in generali, de omnibus terris et tenementis; Bract. ibid.) the huſband ſeems to have ſaid, "with all my lands and tenements I thee endow;" and then they all became liable to her dower. When he endowed her with perſonalty only, he uſed to ſay, "with all my worldly goods (or, as the Saliſbury ritual has it, with all my worldly chatel) I thee endow;" which intitled the wife to her thirds, or pars rationabilis, of his perſonal eſtate, which is provided for by magna carta, cap. 26. and will be farther treated of in the concluding chapter of this book: though the retaining this laſt expreſſion in our modern liturgy, if of any meaning at all, can now refer only to the right of maintenance, which ſhe acquires during coverture, out of huſband's perſonalty.
- ↑ A. D. 1126. c. 7. edit. Oxon.
- ↑ Aſſignetur autem ei pro dote ſua tertia pars totius terrae mariti ſui quae ſua fuit in vita ſua, niſi de minori dotata fuerit ad oſtium eccleſiae. c. 7. (Ibid.)
- ↑ Bract. ubi ſupr. Britton. c. 101, 102. Flet. l. 5. c. 23. §. 11, 12.
- ↑ P. 7 Hen. IV. 13, 14.
