Jointure

A competent livelihood of freehold for the wife, of lands and tenements, to take effect, in profit or possession, presently after the death of the husband, for the life of the wife at least. Jointures are regulated by the statute of To make a good jointure, the following circumstances must concur, namely: It must take effect, In possession or profit, Immediately from the death of the husband. It must be for the wife’s life, or for some greater estate. It must be limited to the wife herself, and not to any other person In trust for her. It must be made In satisfaction for the wife’s whole dower, and not of part of it only. The estate limited to the wife must be expressed or averred to be In satisfaction of her whole dower. It must be made before marriage. See Grogan v. Garrison, 27 Ohio St. GO, where It Is said that It may also be made after marriage. A jointure'attended with all these circumstances Is binding on the widow, and is a complete bar to the claim of her dower; or, rather, it prevents Its ever arising.

See 4 Kent 55.

But there are other modes of limiting an estate to a wife, which. Lord Coke says, are good Jointures within the statute, provided that the wife accepts them after the death of the husband. She may, however, reject them, and claim her dower; Cruise, Dig. tit. 7; 2 Bla. Com. 137, See Doweb. It is held that a jointure cannot be affected by a postnuptial agreement; Mc Caulley’s Ex’rs v. Mc Caulley, 7 Houst. (Del.) 102, 30 Atl. 735. Any reasonable provision which an adult person agrees to accept in lieu of dower, it is said, will amount to an equitable jointure, and although It may be wanting in the re<iuisltes of a legal jointure, in equity it will bar dower; Rieger v. Schalble, 81 Neb. 33, 115 N. W. 560, 17 L. R. A. (N. S.) 86G, 16 Ann. Cas. 700; Stilley v. Folger, 14 Ohio 610. A widow may, by provisions of an antenuptial contract^ waive her right to an allowance when the rights of minor children are not involved; Kroell v. Kroell, 219 111.

105, 76 N. B. 63, 4 Ann. Cas. 801.

If such a contract was intended by the parties to operate as an equitable jointure, it will be upheld as such; Mintier v. Mintier, 28 Ohio St. 307, In its more enlarged sense, a jointure signifies a joint estate limited to both busband and wife.

2 Bla. Com. 137. See 14 Viner, Abr. 540; Washb. R. P.

See Mabbiage Settlement.

JOUR (Fr.). Day. It is used in our old law-books: as, tout jours, forever. It is also frequently employed in the composition of words: as, journal, a day-book; journeyman, a man who works by the day; journeys account •