Also known as: et uxor · and wife
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Latin abbreviation for et uxor meaning and wife. It identifies a married woman as a joint party or grantee alongside her husband in pleadings, deeds, and case captions.
Ewan Eckhart and his wife receive a deed granting land to them and their issue in a jurisdiction permitting joint tenancies for such family conveyances. The grant satisfies the statutory conditions because it runs to two persons who are or might become spouses together with a designated class of their issue. The couple and qualifying descendants therefore hold the estate as joint tenants with rights of survivorship.
Edward Everett and his wife discuss business plans in their bedroom with no third parties present. When the government later subpoenas the wife to disclose those conversations, the court applies the marital communications privilege. The presumption of confidentiality shifts the burden to the government to overcome it, protecting the content of the private exchanges made during the marriage.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Ella Emerson and her husband receive a conveyance of land in a jurisdiction that recognizes tenancy by the entirety for qualifying grants. The deed names the two spouses and their issue as the recipients. Because the grant satisfies the statutory prerequisites, the couple holds the estate as tenants by the entirety with the attendant protections of survivorship and immunity from unilateral partition.
Eric Espinoza and his wife sue a medical institution after separating to obtain possession of cryopreserved embryos created during their marriage. Their original consent form characterized the embryos as the couple's personal property subject to removal on demand. The court treats the embryos as property governed by the contract and enforces the progenitors' disposition rights under that agreement.
Eugene Ellsworth and his wife seek medical advice on contraception from a licensed physician. State law criminalizes providing such information to married couples. The court holds that the statute violates the right of marital privacy protected by the penumbras of the Bill of Rights, rendering the law unconstitutional as applied to the couple.
Emma Erickson, the niece of a testator's wife, sues to enforce a promise the testator made to his wife to provide for the niece in his will. The court recognizes that moral obligations arising from the marital relationship support enforcement of the covenant in favor of the intended beneficiary even though she was not a party to the original agreement.
The abbreviation identifies a wife as a joint party or grantee with her husband. It appears in conveyances running to spouses and their issue and in captions listing both spouses as plaintiffs or defendants.
Supporting sources
The abbreviation itself does not create ownership form. When a deed uses language such as to A and B who are or might become husband and wife and their issue, the jurisdiction's rules determine whether joint tenancy or tenancy by the entirety arises.
Supporting sources
The privilege protects confidential spousal communications regardless of how the parties are captioned. The abbreviation simply signals that both spouses are involved. The privilege analysis turns on whether the statements were made privately during the marriage.
Supporting sources
…110 Stat. 2419, defining marriage for all federal-law purposes as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” 1 U.S.C. §7. The new and widespread discussion of the subject led other States to a different conclusion. In 2003, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held the State’s…