feme-sole Law.
(ˈfɛmsəʊl)
[a. AF. feme soul(e a woman alone.]
a. A woman who has not the protection of a husband; an unmarried woman, a spinster; a widow. b. A married woman who with respect to property is as independent of her husband as if she were unmarried.
Also attrib., as feme-sole merchant, feme-sole trader, a married woman who uses a trade alone, or without her husband (Webster).
| [1528 Perkins Prof. Bk. (1532) 2 Mes si feme soule soit executrix. Ibid. 2 b, Si feme soul..fist fait del graunt.] 1642 Ibid. (transl. of prec.) i. §20 If..the wife as a feme sole..grant a rent. 1714 Scroggs Courts-leet (ed. 3) 90 If the Cattle of a Feme-sole be taken, and afterwards she marry. 1845 Ld. Campbell Chancellors (1857) I. vii. 121 The Queen Consort..being privileged as a feme sole. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy-bk. Prop. Law xii. 73 She becomes, after the judicial separation..a feme sole, a single woman, with respect to property. |