Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/212

 WARFORD V. NOBLE. S05 �an imperfect interest — one that is begun and not completed. Take the case of those states where the wife bas only the right of dower in land of which the husband dies seized, and of which he has the absolute title : it has always been consid- ered in sueh cases that although the husband can deprive the wife of her right of dower by disposing of the property, still her right has been admitted and called an inchoate right of dower. And so in this state the right which the wife has in lands — an inchoate interest, as it is called — in any equita- ble claim which the husband may have, although he can deprive her of it, still it is an interest which becomes vested and complete if the husband dies holding an equitable claim, or if disposed of by judicial sale ; and it seems to me to be the duty of the court to give a liberal construction to these statutes for the benefit of married women. The law of this state does not give dower to the wife in the ordinary mean- ing of the term ; that is to say, it does not give a life inter- est in one-third of the real property of the husband, but gives her an absolute estate in one-third of the real estate of the husband, in the manner heretofore stated. �This case is a strong illustration of the propriety of such a construction. This is a case where the husband took posses- sion of the property with the wife, remaining on it for many years, cultivating it and making it their home, and yet if the wife has no interest in the land she is deprived of what wbuld be her ordinary right under the law of this state. �There is another question proper for the court to consider, and that is the fact that this was a case of bankruptcy, where, in one sense, it may be said that the whole estate which the bankrupt owned belonged to his creditors, and inasmuch as it was necessary to raise out of the assets of the estate a suffi- cient sum in order to pay the balance which was due, and that belonging to creditors, it should go for their benefit. �There is a law of this state which provides that if the hus- hand shall have made a contract for lands, and at the time of his decease the consideration in whole or in part shall not bave been paid, but af ter his death the same shall be paid out of the proceeds of his estate, the widow shall have one-third ����