coverture

Under the common law, the legal condition of a woman, whereby her legal existence was largely submerged into that of her husband so that he had almost unlimited control over her personal and real property and she could not enter into a legally binding contract or exercise any power or right over her own property without her husband’s consent. In every state except community property states, statutes have been enacted that have effectively abolished coverture by giving wives almost unlimited control over their personal and real property free of their husbands’ authority, claims, or interests.