The husband in a common-law marriage; a man who contracts an informal marriage with a woman and then holds himself out to the community as being married to her. See common-law marriage under MARRIAGE(1).
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husband. A married man; a man who has a lawful wife living. • Etymologically, the word signified the house bond, the man who, according to Saxon ideas and institutions, held around him the family, for which he was legally responsible. [Cases: Husband and Wife 1.] common-law husband. The husband in a common-law marriage; a man
A marriage that takes legal effect, without license or ceremony, when two people capable of marrying live together as husband and wife, intend to be married, and hold themselves out to others as a married couple. • The common-law marriage traces its roots to the English ecclesiastical courts, which until 1753 recognized a kind of
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legal-unities doctrine. Hist. The common-law rule that a wife had no separate existence from her husband. — Also termed doctrine of legal unities; unities doctrine of marriage. See MARRIED WOMEN’S PROPERTY ACTS; SPOUSAL-UNITY DOCTRINE.
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elective share. Wills & estates. The percentage of a deceased spouse’s estate, set by statute, that a surviving spouse (or sometimes a child) may choose to receive instead of taking under a will or in the event of being unjustifiably disinherited. — Also termed forced share; statutory share; statutory forced share. See RIGHT OF ELECTION.
separate property. 1. Property that a spouse owned before marriage or acquired during marriage by inheritance or by gift from a third party, and in some states property acquired during marriage but after the spouses have entered into a separation agreement and have begun living apart or after one spouse has commenced a divorce action.
assignment-of-income doctrine. Family law. The common-law principle that the person who has earned income is the person taxed on it, regardless of who receives the proceeds. • Under this doctrine, future income assigned to another is taxable to the assignor. For example, in Lucas v. Earl, 281 U.S. 111, 50 S.Ct. 241 (1930), the Court
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spousal-unity doctrine. Hist. 1. Family law. The common-law rule that a husband and wife were a legal unity. • Under the spousal-unity doctrine, the husband had all rights to the possession, management, control, and alienation of property. The wife had no interests in property. — Also termed doctrine of spousal unity. See MARRIED WOMEN’S PROPERTY
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merger doctrine. 1. Copyright. The principle that since an idea cannot be copyrighted, neither can an expression that must inevitably be used in order to express the idea. • When the idea and expression are very difficult to separate, they are said to merge. For example, courts have refused copyright protection for business-ledger forms (Baker
A common-law estate in which each spouse is seised of the whole of the property. • An estate by entirety is based on the legal fiction that a husband and wife are a single unit. The estate consists of five unities: time, title, interest, possession, and marriage. The last of these unities distinguishes the estate
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