Words / D / Law

dower

noun/ˈdaʊə/

C2CEFR level
90/100Rarity: very rare
TechnicalRegister

A widow's common-law right to a life interest in a portion of her deceased husband's land.

Before modern statute, a widow could claim dower in a third of the freehold her husband held during the marriage.

Topic: Property in Legal English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More law words: Property