Marital Rights

Marital rights. Rights of a husband. Where a woman, during a trety for marriage, made a settlement of property without the concurrence of her intended husband, the husband after the marriage was entitled to have such settlement set aside as a 'fraud on his marital rights' (see Strathmore v. Bowes, (1789) 1 Ves Jun 22; 1 Wh. & T.L.C.); but the Married Women's Property Act, 1882 (see MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY), has virtually abolished this right of the husband, which was founded on the rule of the Common Law (abrogated by that statute) that the property of the wife became by marriage the property of the husband. The term is sometimes used as meaning conjugal rights (q.v.).