Language In Clarissa, Evelina And Pride And Prejudice

(2) . Eileen Spring discusses primogeniture with a focus
on its effects on heiresses. She observes that
"landowner" is a word that in the eighteenth century did
not include a widow or daughter, as females were never to
be part of the discussion of language of inheritance. At
a husband's death, a wife, under the auspices of common
law, however, became a powerful entity. She often had
the power to take over a family business and control its
money, stocks and bonds-personalty-lef t behind by the
deceased. The lot of a widow underscores the difference
in power between settlement laws and common law, the
regulation of realty, or an estate, and the distribution
of personalty (Law, 8-12) .
Strict settlement's rigid succession of male heirs
was guaranteed through a list of successors who would
inherit should an eldest son not be alive or born at the
time of a father's death. The list often included
cousins, uncles, and nephews, or sometimes even included
males from a wife's family, such as her brother or uncle.
The guarantee of male succession of property was coupled
with a provision for wives and children through
settlement portions, leaving money and settlements, or
jointures, for their future support, alleviating the
legal and sibling squabbles so prevalent in previous