Final answer:
A wife's life estate in her deceased husband's land is historically referred to as a dower. It allows the widow to use or earn income from the land throughout her lifetime, ensuring financial stability after the husband's death.
Such property rights and inheritance laws were acknowledged in the Han legal system.
Step-by-step explanation:
If the owner of the land was the husband, the wife has a life estate called a dower. Historically, a dower is a provision accorded by law, where the wife is granted a life estate in a portion of the property, which was owned by her deceased husband.
This estate ensures that the widow can maintain her standard of living after the death of her husband, by providing her with the right to the income or use of the land during her lifetime.
Under Han practice and law, property rights were shared between husband and wife in various ways. The management of the household budget, ownership of land, and the legal right to inherit property were all recognized for women.
These laws reflected the balanced approach to inheritance and property ownership in the context of family and marital relationships during the imperial period in China.
In Han practice and law, if the owner of the land was the husband, the wife would have a life estate called a dowry.
A dowry was a form of property that the wife brought with her into the marriage and remained her property even after the husband's death. It could be inherited by her children, rather than her husband's children, if she passed away.