Estate In Dower

A species of life estate which a woman is, by law, entitled to claim on the death of her husband, in the lands and tenements of which he was seised in fee during the marriage, and which her issue, if any, might by possibility have inherited.

1 Steph. Com. 249. 2 Bl. Com. 129.

Cruise Dig. tit. vi.

2 Crabb's Real Prop. 124, § 1117. 4 Kent's Com. 35.

See Dower. In several of the United States, (Vermont, New-Hampshire, Connecticut, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia,) the title to dower has been reduced down to the lands whereof the husband died seised.

4 Kent's Com. 41. 1 Greenleaf's Cruise Dig. 166, note. 1 Hilliard's Real Prop. 126.

In England, by the late Dower Act, 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 105, seisin of the husband is not necessary.

2 Crabb's Real Prop. 130.