This included a commentary and update
of Littleton, published in 1627; old and current statutes; a
description of the criminal law; and lastly an explanation of the
court system, the last two published in 1644. Coke declared that
"a man's house is his castle".
Coke waged a long battle with his wife over her extensive property
and the selection of a husband for their daughter. In his
institutes, he described the doctrine of coverture as "With
respect to such part of the wife's personality as is not in her
possession, as money owing or bequeathed to her, or accrued to her
in case of intestacy, or contingent interests, these are a
qualified gift by law to the husband, on condition that he reduce
them into possession during the coverture, for if he happen to
die, in the lifetime of his wife, without reducing such property
into possession, she and not his representative will be entitled
to it. His disposing of it to another is the same as reducing it
into his own possession." He further states that "The interest of
the husband in, and his authority over, the personal estate of the
wife, is, however, considerably modified by equity, in some
particular circumstances. A settlement made upon the wife in
contemplation of marriage, and in consideration of her fortune,
will entitle the representatives of the husband, though he die
before his wife, to the whole of her goods and chattels, whether
reduced into possession or not during the coverture.
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