¶1There is no doubt that an actual cotporeal seisin, or a right to such seisin, in the husband during the coverture, is indispensable to entitle his widow to dower; and that a legal seisin of a vested remainder is not sufficient for that purpose. As in this case there was an interposing estate for life, which was not determined until after the death of the husband, it is very clear that the tenant was not entitled to dower. The proceedings in the Probate Court are void ; and judgment must therefore be entered on the verdict.
7 Mass. 253
Eldredge v. Forrestal
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Decided March 15, 1811
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1811-03-15
<p>An actual corporeal seisin, or a right to such seisin, in the husband, during the coverture, is necessary to entitle the widow to dower: a legal seisin of a vested remainder is not sufficient.</p>
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1811-03-15
How this case has been cited
Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently March 1911
8 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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