Coverture

Under coverture a wife's rights and duties were mostly absorbed by her husband's. An unmarried woman, a feme sole, kept the right to own property and make contracts; a married woman became a feme covert. That is why married women rarely act alone in old deeds and lawsuits.

Married Women's Property Acts of the later 1800s chipped away at coverture, state by state, and later reforms ended it. Some traces lasted in a few states as late as the 1960s.