Opinion
(Fall Riding, 1797.)
A widow cannot enter upon and occupy what part of her husband's lands she pleases, without an assignment of dower.
TRESPASS, and on not guilty pleaded upon trial, the case appeared to be that Williamson was seized of the lands in which, etc., and died seized in 1780, and afterwards his widow married, and her son, the heir of Williamson, assigned dower by metes and bounds which were specified in a deed signed by the son and his mother. Some time afterwards Cox, the second husband, died, and the widow cleared the lands and cultivated them beyond those bounds.
The deed ascertaining the boundaries is not binding, being signed by the defendant during her coverture with the second husband; neither is her acceptance of dower during coverture an estoppel to her to claim more, as it might have been had the acceptance been during her widowhood; but she ought to have had a new assignment of dower if she was dissatisfied with the former; she cannot enter upon and occupy what part she pleases without assignment; and, therefore, her entering upon the land beyond those bounds, and clearing and cultivating them, was a trespass.
Verdict for the plaintiff.
Cited: Harrison v. Wood, 21 N.C. 440; S. v. Thompson, 130 N.C. 681.