1491

Any femme covert having dower rights in any houses, lands, or tenements within the borough, who comes with her husband, during his lifetime, before the borough bailiffs, or either of them, and makes a quitclaim to those houses, lands, or tenements, whether in a sealed document or without a document, and is separately questioned before the bailiffs then in office, or either of them, and record is subsequently made of this in the borough court roll, then by that record the woman is thereafter utterly and forever excluded and debarred from having dower rights in the same. By the ancient custom of the borough this is so, even if at the time she is questioned she has not reached the age of 21. Moreover, the custom is that if a woman who is a widow shall in her widowhood come before the bailiffs then in office, or either of them, and in regard only to her dower rights make a quitclaim to any lands or tenements within the borough, in which she has claim only by dower, and her act is recorded in the court rolls of the borough – even if, as mentioned, she has not reached the age of 21 – she shall, by the force of the enrolled record, be utterly and forever excluded and debarred from any claim, as regards dower, to interest or title.