Note 185 — Book VI.
John Beames translation
Yet, from the form of the writ, book 12. c. 20. as given by our author, we may collect, that the Land assigned to the Widow, as her Dower, was to have a messuage upon it, unless, as the Writ says, land had been, in the first place, specifically nominated, on which there was no messuage. This inference is corroborated by Bracton. (97. b.) It was certainly a qualification of the severity of the Rule, which would turn the Widow out of that House she might possibly long have occupied with her Husband as its mistress. The Widow had further advantages under the 7th chap. of Mag. Car. These different regulations in favor of the Widow, tended to restore the common Law as it stood in the Reign of Canute. Ubi Maritus habitavit absque lite et absque controversia, habitent uxor et infans ubique absque lite. (LL. Canuti, 70. Ed. Wilkins.)