Dowry

The dowry (in Latin dos) was property - possibly including land, goods, and movable property - commonly transferred to the bridegroom or his family by the bride or her family as her contribution to maintaining the marital house­hold.

A dowry could be constituted before, at the time of, or after a wedding (Javolenus, D. 23.4.1pr.), but always in connection with a marriage. Dowry agreements were usually signed by the groom’s father and the bride’s father before the wedding took place. If the groom was independent, he could him­self be a party to the contract. If the bride was independent, she needed the consent of her guardian to make the agreement, since it involved a transfer of property. There were general rules about restitution of a dowry in case of death or divorce, but the parties could also include other arrangements in the agreement. Paul (D. 23.4.12.1) wrote that the dowry agreement often included the obligation to use the promised dowry to support the woman, as well as clauses regarding restitution.

While the husband was legal owner and administrator of the dowry, it was considered separate from his own property, and in some sense, as the jurist Tryphoninus affirmed, it still belonged to the wife (D. 23.3.75: mulieris tamen est). A dowry was the wife’s business (res uxoria). The husband’s control over the dowry was very limited. Without his wife’s consent, the husband could not alienate dowry land or free dowry slaves. If he died or the marriage ended by divorce, the dowry reverted to his wife. If the wife died, the dowry con­stituted by the bride’s father or grandfather (dos profecticia) fell to her family or her children. A dos adventicia, however - i.e., a dowry with a different origin - remained in the hands of the husband. A specific action for the res­titution of a dowry to a wife (the so-called actio rei uxoriae) lay against the husband.