Final answer:
Real property owned before marriage is usually considered separate property of the original owner and not jointly owned by the couple.
Step-by-step explanation:
Real property owned by a husband or a wife prior to their marriage is generally considered separate property and not subject to division upon divorce; it is presumed to be the exclusive property of the spouse who owned it before the marriage. During the Han period, the notion of shared rights to property between husband and wife was established, with the wife often managing the household budget and having the ability to own land and legally retain her dowry.
Coverure was a legal doctrine in eighteenth-century America, whereby a married woman had no independent legal or economic status from her husband. In many cases, a husband could manage the property a wife brought into the marriage and retain profits from it, but he could not sell real property without her consent.
In contrast, by the late 19th century, most states in the U.S. began to recognize the right of women to own and control property after marriage, which was a significant shift from the practice of coverture where a woman's legal rights and obligations were subsumed under her husband's upon marriage.