Note 155 — Book V.

From the extreme brevity and quaintness of the original, it is a matter of some doubt, what the true meaning of the passage is. Lord Littleton gives the passage thus. “We are told by Glanville, that in his time, if a freeman married a woman born in Villenage and who actually lived in that state, he lost thereby the benefit of the Law (that is all the legal rights of a freeman,) and was considered as a Villein by birth, during the lifetime of his wife, on account of her Villenage.” This, however, is at best but a loose paraphrase of Glanville. His Lordship was aware of it, and to confirm his representation of what is said, as he terms it, so indistinctly by Glanville, he refers to Bracton, fol. 5. Mr. Reeves makes this severe penalty upon the Husband to arise, not from the wife living in a state of Villenage, but her holding property in Villenage. The fact is, the text expresses neither Lord Littleton’s Explanation, nor that given by Mr. Reeves. I do not flatter myself to have succeeded better. In Britton’s time, the wife was enfranchised during the coverture. (78. b.) Vide Co. Litt. 123. a. and 137. b. and Mr. Hargrave’s notes thereon.