On Wed, 8 May 2002, James Hershman wrote:
>
> According to an attorney currently practicing in Bladen County, the term "free
> trader" means that the husband is granting the wife the privilege of conveying
> or mortgaging property without his signature. The husband is dropping dower
> rights, called in the 19th century, "dower and courtesy".

        Hi Jim - You are right about "free trader." The husband is
        giving the wife the right to engage in buying and selling without
        her having to get his written permission each time.

        A husband did not have "dower" rights.  Only wives had dower
        rights.

        A husband's rights in his wife's property were known as
        "curtesy" (not "courtesy". That had to do with interests that
        were inchoate during the wife's lifetime and became vested at
        her death.


        The husband who gave his wife "free trader" status may well have
        given up his curtesy interest, but while these issues overlap,
        they are not coextensive.


        Virginia Hench (law prof)

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