Derechos de la viuda en la Valencia foral

Abstract

This article is about the rights of widows over their deceased husbands’ goods. We can not forget that, because of regulations regarding the separation of properties, these women are in a defenceless situation if they lack their own property, having to depend in most cases on their husbands’ testament. The severity of the system has to be alleviated with dowries, in order that when their husbands die women without inheritance could have at least a certain security. They are in a situation of economic vulnerability, especially grave when their husbands die without property. In this case, the widow’s rights are important in order to ameliorate the economic suffering they experience in their juridical capacity. These rights are intended to protect them but are also a means of control over them, particularly during the year of mourning, because of the intent to obstruct new weddings, especially when there are children.