Morals of the Church
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Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis

§ 4. On The Dominion Of Spouses According To The Law Of North America

21.

21. 1. The United States of America does not, even today, have a uniform law concerning the goods of spouses, but diverse laws are in force in diverse states.

  1. Nevertheless, generally there exists between spouses a perfect separation of goods, so that all the wife's goods are not only paraphernal, but also so that the wife has free administration and use of her own goods. Nevertheless common goods can also be constituted.

  2. The wife is not held to pay the husband's debts, nor the husband the wife's debts, unless nevertheless it is a question of debts contracted on account of the family.

  3. As dotal goods there can be considered the third part of the immovable goods which the husband possessed during marriage and which therefore cannot be alienated without the wife's consent. These dotal goods the wife can claim for herself after the husband's death, and therefore concerning this third part the husband cannot make a valid testament. In some states this right also belongs to the husband in the wife's immovable goods. "So in Maryland according to the new law of 1898 every husband shall acquire by virtue of his marriage an estate for his life in one third of the lands held or owned by his wife at any time during the marriage whether by legal or equitable title."43

  4. Since so great a liberty of disposing has been conceded to spouses in the United States, a difficulty will not easily occur for the confessor. If some nuptial pact exists, its clauses must be attended to.

43 Cf. Tanquerey, Suppl. pro Mai. Britannia p. 11, and Sabetti, Compend. theol. mor. n. 358.

Property Rights of Married WomenA married woman's property