dower ex assensu patris

Dower by the consent of the father,–a form of dower wherein the husband endowed his wife openly at the time of the marriage and at the door of the church, with lands upon which she might enter upon his death without further ceremony, but in this case it was the father of the bridegroom who was seised in fee of the lands in question, and the father's consent, expressly given, was a necessary part of the son's right to designate such lands as the dower of his wife. By this form of dower, a wife might enter upon her dower after the death of her husband although the father still lived.