La condición jurídica de la mujer en el Derecho Civil-Foral de Bizkaia

Abstract

Women –within the family and society in Bizkaia– occupies a pre-eminent place that for all intents and purposes makes her equal to husbands and peers. She participates on an equal footing with the husband in the properties of the marriage and shares with him brotherhood and company in all his properties, so the husband requires his wife's consent to be able to dispose of such properties in a valid manner. In case of the solution of the marriage because of the death of the husband, if alkar poderoso were conferred, the wife acquires universal use of the properties, and she can additionally this those of her husband's inheritance and choose in his name a heir to his properties. Also –on the basis of the principle of freedom of election of a successor– the wife may be chosen as successor in the family matrimony, displacing the principle of masculinity or progenitorship, common in another systems. The aspects described in other complementary aspects are analysed in terms of the contents of the Statutes (Fueros) of Bizkaia (14th to 16th centuries) and of notary and judicial documents (17th to 19th centuries), extracted from the Historical Archives of Bizkaia.