Mourning. There are several aspects to consider in this matter that relate to jurisprudence : namely, the respective obligation to wear mourning between husband and wife; the mourning garments that must be worn by each; the penalties for the women who live immodestly during the year of mourning or who remarry before or after the year of mourning ; and finally the regulations that have been established for the period of mourning and the mourning laws that govern members of the King’s household.

In accordance with the provisions of the code, the surviving woman was required to wear mourning for her husband lugubria sumer [ assume an attitude of sadness ] for one year under the canonical threat of infamy; the year at that time being only ten months.

By the stipulations of the code, women were forbidden to wear any ornamentation on their mourning garb.

In France, in the regions practicing common law as in those regions under the written law, the woman is required to wear mourning for her husband for a year, and since no one is required to wear mourning at his own expense, the legatees of the husband have to furnish the woman with the clothing and accoutrements of mourning for her and her domestics, commensurate with the status and the resources of the deceased.

Whatever is given to the woman for her mourning is in no way considered a survivor’s benefit, but as an indemnity and debt to be paid by virtue of the mortgage implied in her contact of marriage. This settlement is thus honored and established as being a part of the funeral expenses, except in the parliament of Bordeaux where the woman has no such dispensation.

As for the husband, he is not required to wear mourning for his wife, in accordance with the pronouncement of Tacitus in speaking of the customs (mœurs) of the Germans, from whom the French take their origin. feminis lugere honestum est, viris meminisse [the mourning for a wife is sincere, it recalls her strengths] so it is that if a man wears mourning garments for his deceased wife, as it is the practice among us, it is out of a sense of consideration for her rather than from duty. Only within the jurisdiction of the city of Dijon is the man required to wear mourning for his wife, and in such an instance the survivors of his wife are obliged to furnish him with appropriate mourning garments.

In addition to the obligation of the wives to wear mourning for their husbands, there is yet another observation that must be made in this regard. In those countries where the practice is governed by written law, the woman who lives immodestly during her year of mourning or who remarries before the end of this year loses not only her right to mourn, but all the rights she has to the property of her husband, irrespective of the type of lien. Her children are denied the rights of succession as are her relatives beyond the third degree and she is forbidden any part in the management of the estate. Moreover, she can give her second husband no more than one third of her property .

There was even at one time the canonical penalty of infamy levied against those women who remarried before the end of the year of mourning . However, this penalty was subsequently abolished.

In respect to the other penalties, they were at one time observed in the whole kingdom, as it is apparent through the differences accorded to women who married before the end of their year of mourning . There were such in the stipulations of the charters from the time of Philip-le-Long. M. Bretonnier in his questions thus reports a comparable dispensation accorded under Louis XIV. However it must have been in relation to the rights that a woman had claim to in those regions under written law. For in those days the penalties for a second marriage contracted during the period of mourning occur only in those several departments that are under the rule of written law.

From the decrees of M. de Lamoignon, the widow who married within the year of mourning was obliged to surrender her dowery. However, this aspect of the law never attained the degree of public approval that would have affirmed the wisdom of these decisions.

Those persons who remarried after a year of mourning are subject only to usual penalties of their second wedding. See Second Marriages.

We have already seen above that the year of mourning for the woman was formerly only ten months. Under the emperors it was changed to 12 months, as in the civil realm.

In France, the ordinance of 23 June 1716 reduced to one half the term of mourning for the court and its members, and also since, by another ordinance of 8 October 1730 they again reduced to one half the time stipulated by the ordinance of 1716, with the result that the longest periods of mourning last only three months. Exceptions to this reduction were made for the mourning for husbands and wives, fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers and others of whom one is the heir or the legatee. These alone are exempted and must remain under the ordinance of 1716

The members of the royal household, of the queen, and the royal children and the princes of blood who own have a dwelling on the king’s estates have the right to mourning coats and dress upon the decease of the kings and queens they serve. The officers responsible for the royal accounts and the treasury have equally the right to mourning , being considered members of the king’s household. See the laws 1. 8. & 9. ff. de his qui not. infam. & the lawi 15 . In code ex quibus causis infam. irrog. l . 1. cod. de secund. nupt . Loisel, instit. coût. liv. I. tit. ii. regl. 29. & 33. A discourse on the penalties for second marriage, of Dupin; A discourse on nuptial benefits . ch. 11. (A)