elizabeth murray homepage masthead

Menu:

Historical Dictionaries

History Today

Oxford Dictionaries Online

American Heritage Dictionary Online

Dictionary.com

Coverture

Coverture, in legal terms, refers to the position of a married woman. A married woman in the colonial period was known as a "feme covert." The doctrine of coverture assumed that husband and wife functioned as one legal entity, with the status and authority attached to the husband. A wife had limited legal rights under this system. See also "feme covert" in the glossary.