Lufkin v. Curtis

Decided May 15, 1816

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1816-05-15

<p>In a conveyance of land by a married man, words of release by the wife are necessary to bar her of her dower. It is not sufficient that she executes and acknowledges the deed, her name being introduced only in the conclusion, and the purpose of her signing and sealing not being declared.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1816-05-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently April 1911

12 state decisions

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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By the Court.

¶1The mortgage deed relied on by the tenant is

¶2wholly insufficient to bar the demandant of her claim of dower. It contains no release of her right, nor any declaration for what reason she executed it. To have been valid for the purpose contended for by the tenant, it should have contained words importing a release of «ier claim of dower; which has been recognized as sufficient.

¶3Tenant defaulted.

¶4[See Leavitt vs. Lamprey, 13 Pick 382.—Melvin vs The Proprietors of Locks and Canals, 16 Pick. 137. — Powell & ux. vs. Monson & Brimfield Manuf. Co. 3 Mason, R 347. —Ed.]