jointure
/ˈdʒɔɪntʃə
/noun Law
An estate settled on a wife for the period during which she survives her husband, in lien of a dower.The unmarried and widows often engaged in litigation related to marriage settlements, jointures, uses and trusts....
- We must destroy them and we must form jointures and bring the best teachers and the best equipment under one roof.
- Through an unusual jointure, announced in October, it became the dance programming division of the Trust.
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'junction, joint'): from Old French, from Latin junctura (see juncture). In late Middle English the term denoted the joint holding of property by a husband and wife for life, whence the current sense.