Coverture - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: coverturecoverture
coverture [Anglo-French, literally, shelter, covering, from Old French, from covert, past participle of covrir to cover] : the inclusion of a woman in the legal person of her husband upon marriage under common law NOTE: Because of coverture, married women formerly did not have the legal capacity to hold their own property or contract on their own behalf. These disabilities have been removed for the most part by statute. ...
Coverture
Coverture, the condition of a woman during marriage, because she was then presumed to be under the influence of her husband, so as to be excused from punishment for crimes committed in his presence, except treason, murder, and manslaughter [see Reg. v. Manning, (1849) 2 C&K 903]; but the presumption maybe rebutted [Reg. v. Torpey, (1871) 12 Cox CC 45]. The Criminal Justice Act, 1925 (c. 86), s. 47, abolishes this presumption of coercion by the husband, but on a charge for any offence other than treason or murder, it shall be a good defence to prove that the offence was committed in the presene of, and under the coercion of the husband. See further HUSBAND AND WIFE....
Anticipation
Anticipation, doing or taking a thing before the appointed time. For anticipation of an invention see PATENTS. A married woman may be restrained by the terms of a will or settlement from aliening, by way of anticipation, property settled to her separate use during coverture. Such a clause absolutely disables her from selling, mortgaging or dealing with the property in anticipation, but it does not apply to income actually accrued due, Hood Barrs v. Heriot, 1896 AC 174, and on the determination of the coverture the restraint is at an end, Tullett v. Armstrong, (1839) 4 My&Cr 377; 1 Beav 1. Such a provision is only effective during coverture; it cannot affect dispositions in favour of a man, Brandon v. Robinson, (1871) 18 Ves 429, or a feme sole. The restraint may be applied either to corpus or income, usually only to the latter; in a marriage settlement the wife's income is almost invariably directed to be paid to her, without power of anticipation.' The L.P. Act, 1925, s. 169, repeatin...
Entireties, tenancy by
Entireties, tenancy by. Before the (English) L.P. Act, 1925, where an estate was conveyed or devised to a man and his wife during coverture, they were said to be tenants by entireties, that is, each was said to be seized of the whole estate, and neither of a part. The consequence was, that the husband's con-veyance alone would not have had any effect against his wife surviving him. The husband being seised of the whole estate during coverture either in his own right or jure uxoris, could of course part with that interest; but to make a complete conveyance of all the interests held in entirety, the wife must concur. Tenants by entireties were seised pre tout, and not per my et per tout. As a consequence of this doctrine if lands were given to a husband and his wife and a third person, the husband and wife, being reckoned only as one person, took one-half and the third person the other half; but under s. 37 of the (English) Law of Properties Act, 1925, the husband, wife and third person ...
Husband and wife
Husband and wife. the Common Law treated them, for most purposes, as one person, giving, with exceptions comparatively unimportant, the whole of a woman's property to her husband for his absolute use, and a husband could not make a grant to his wife at the Common Law, though he might do so: (1) under the Statute of Uses, by granting an estate to another person for her use; (2) by creating a trust in her favour; (3) by the custom of particular places; (4) by surrendering copyholds to her use; and (5) by will.Equity, however, from very early times, by the doctrines of 'separate use,' 'trusts,' and 'equity to a settlement,' very largely modified the Common Law in favour of the wife; and the statute law has, by s. 1 of the Law Reform (Married Women and Tortfeasors Act), 1935 (25 & 26 Geo. 5, c. 30), almost completely abolished the property distinction between an unmarried and a married woman. See MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY.At Common Law, a gift of either realty or personal-ity to a husband a...
Limitation of actions and prosecutions
Limitation of actions and prosecutions. By various statutes, of which the first was 21 Jac. 1, c. 16, the (English) Limitation Act, 1623, and the principal succeeding ones, the Real Property Limitation Act, 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 42), the (English) Civil Procedure Act (3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 27) [see Read v. Price, (1909) 2 KB 724], and 37 & 38 Vict. c. 57, the (English) Real Property Limitation Act, 1874, certain periods are fixed within which, upon the principle Interest reipublic' ut sit finis litium, particular actions must be brought or proceedings taken.In the case of simple contract the remedy on the contract is barred, leaving the creditor free to enforce his claims by other means which may be still available, such as enforcing a lien, subsequent acknowledgment by the debtor or appropriation of payments, but not by way of set-off (9 Geo. 4, c. 14, s. 3). In regard to land, the right to it is destroyed after the statutory period and neither re-entry nor acknowledgment after the laps...
Mahr (dower)
Mahr (dower), Mahr (dower) is neither dowry nor price for marriage: As explained in an old judgment by Justice Syed Mahmood, maher is 'not the exchange or consideration given by the man to the woman, but an effect of the contract imposed by law on the husband as a token of respect for its subject: the Woman'. Giving a correct appraisal of the concept of maher, the Privy Council once described it as 'an essential incident to the status of marriage'. On another occasion it explained that maher was a 'legal responsibility' of the husband. These judicial observations evidence a correct understanding of the Islamic legal concept of maher. Its substitute, a valid retirement, or by death, which by terminating the marriage, puts an end to all the contingencies to which it is exposed; and on the other hand the woman becomes entitled to it as soon as she has surrendered her person. Justice Mahmood has described the nature of mahr in Abdul Kadir Salima. According to him: Dower (mahr), under the M...
Tail
Tail [fr. tailler, Fr., to prune]. An estate-tail was formerly a freehold of inheritance and is now an equitable interest which may be created after 1925 in respect of personalty as well as realty by way of trust and which (if not barred or disposed of by will after 1925) will devolve inequity on the person who would have taken realty as heir of the body or as tenant by the curtesy if the Law of Property Act, 1925, had not been passed [s. 130 (4) (ibid.)]The limitation of an estate so that it can be inherited only by the fee owner's issue or class of issue, Black's Law dictionary 7th Edn., p. 1466.An estate-tail in land now constitutes a settlement. [(English) Settled Land Act, 1925, s. 1]With this and other statutory modifications under the (English) Law of Property Act, 1925, the rules relating to this form of estate are still applicable (a) in the investigation of all titles to land in existence on the 31st December, 1925; (b) in the construction of equitable interests into which th...
Coverture
Covering shelter defense hiding...
Baron and feme
Baron and feme [fr.], husband and wife. A wife being under the protection and influence of her Baron, lord, or husband, is styled a feme-covert (f'mina viro cooperta), and her state of marriage is called her coverture. See HUSBAND AND WIFE....
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