Some of the nations seem to have provided that children must not be disinherited except for very strong reasons; for example, the law of the Visigoths[336] forbids more than one third of their estate being alienated by mother or father, grandmother or grandfather.  The Alemanni permitted a free man to leave all his property to the Church and his heirs had no redress[337]; but the Bavarians compelled him before entering monastic life to distribute among his children their proportionate parts.[338]

[Sidenote:  Property of the married woman.]

We may pass now to the property rights of the married woman.  The relation of her husband to the dowry I have already explained.  The dowry was conceived as being ultimately for the children; only when there were no children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren did the woman have licence to dispose of the dowry as she wished:  this was the law among the Visigoths.[339] The dowry, then, was to revert to the children or grandchildren at the death of the wife; if there were none such, to the parents or relatives who had given her in marriage; these failing, it escheated to the Crown—­so according to Rotharis.[340] By the laws of the Visigoths[341] when the wife died, her husband continued in charge of the property; but, as under the Roman law, he had to preserve it entire for the children, though he might enjoy the usufruct.  When a son or daughter married, their father must at once give them their share of their mother’s goods, although he could still receive the income of one third of the portion.  If son or daughter did not marry, they received one half their share on becoming twenty years of age; their father might claim the interest of the other half while he lived; but at his death he must leave it to them.  When a woman left no children, her father or nearest male kin usually demanded the dowry back.[342]

When the husband died, his estate did not go to wife, but to his children or other relatives.[343] If however, any property had been earned by the joint labour of husband and wife, the latter had a right to one half among the Westfalians; to one third among the Ripuarians; to nothing among the Ostfalians.[344] Children remained in the power of their mother if she so desired and provided she remained a widow.  A mother usually had the enjoyment of her dowry until her death, when she must leave it to her children or to the donor or nearest relative.[345] If the husband died without issue, some nations allowed the wife a certain succession to her husband’s goods, provided that she did not marry again.  Thus, the Burgundians gave her under such conditions one third of her husband’s estate to be left to his heirs, however, at her death.[346] The Bavarians, too, under the same conditions allowed her one half of her husband’s goods[347] and even if there was issue, granted her the right to the interest of as much as one child received.[348]