Jointure, in English law, meant originally an estate settled on husband and wife jointly for their lives. Such settlements were made as a substitute for dower, which is that portion of property to which, on her husband's death, the widow is entitled for the maintenance of herself and children—one-third and upwards of the estate for life. The term jointure now includes an estate limited to the wife. The requisites of a jointure are: (1) That it must commence and take effect immediately on the husband's death; (2) it must be for the wife's life, at least; (3) it must be given to the wife herself, and not merely to trustees for her; (4) it must be expressed to be made in satisfaction of her whole dower; (5) it must be made before marriage. The mode of giving a jointure in modern marriage settlements is usually by way of a rent-charge on the husband's real estate. If a jointure be created out of an estate before marriage, the husband cannot sell the estate afterwards, so as to defeat the jointure. A jointure is not lost by the treason or felony of the husband, nor by the elopement and adultery of the wife.
In Scotland the word jointure is also frequently used in a similar sense to denote a conventional provision for a widow, consisting either of an annuity to her or of a liferent assignation of rents, or of a liferent of lands, called a locality. In whatever way the jointure is constituted it also excludes the widow's terce, unless it is otherwise expressed.