“If the heir or his guardian do not assign her dower within the term of quarantine, or do assign it unfairly, she has her remedy at law, and the sheriff is appointed to assign it. Or if the heir (being under age) or his guardian assign more than she ought to have, it may be afterwards remedied by writ of admeasurement of dower.” 2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 136 (1766).
de admensuratione dotis
de admensuratione dotis (dee ad-men-s[y]uu-ray-shee-oh-nee doh-tis), n. [Law Latin “of the admeasurement of dower”] Hist. A writ available to an heir (or the heir’s guardian if the heir is an infant) to reduce the dower of the ancestor’s widow who, while the heir was an infant, was assigned more dower than she was entitled to.
