coverture

American  

[kuhv-er-cher] / ˈkʌv ər tʃər /

noun

1. a cover or covering; shelter; concealment.

2. Law.  the status of a married woman considered as under the protection and authority of her husband.

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coverture British  

/ ˈkʌvətʃə /

noun

1. law the condition or status of a married woman considered as being under the protection and influence of her husband

2. rare  shelter, concealment, or disguise

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Etymology

Origin of coverture

1175–1225; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French. See covert, -ure

Example Sentences

"If you want to be cynical — there a lot of policies attacking women — the way it struck me, almost, was a kind of return to coverture," Zug said in a phone interview, referencing the colonial legal practice that held women had no legal identity of their own.

From Salon

The concept of “coverture,” as legal commentator William Blackstone opined, made “the husband and wife … one person under law.”

From Salon

Early American women were subject to laws steeped in coverture’s assumptions of gendered inequality, and these restrictions continued long after the United States won its independence from Britain.

From Salon

While husbands were charged with the protection of their wives under coverture, early American law and society justified the use of violence by husbands against wives, as a “moderate correction,” to enforce women’s submission and obedience.

From Salon

Married women could not own property, sign contracts, or file lawsuits under the doctrine of “coverture,” which subsumed their legal identity into that of their husband.

From Slate