FEME

L. Fr. A woman. In the phrase “baron et feme” (q. v.) the word has the sense of “wife.. Feme covert. A married woman. Generally used in reference to the legal disabilities of a married woman as compared with the condition of a feme sole. Hoker v. Boggs 63 111. 161. Feme sole. A single woman including those who have been married but whose marriage has been dissolved by death or divorce and for most purposes those women who are judicially separated from their husbands. Mozley & WTiitley; 2 Steph. Comm. 250. Kirkley v. Lacey 7 Houst. (Del.) 213 30 Atl. 994. Feme sole trader. In English law. A married woman who by the custom of London trades on her own account independently of her husband; so called because with respect to her trading she is the same as a feme sole. Jacob; Cro. Car. 68. The term is applied also to women deserted by their husbands who do business as femes sole. Rhea v. Rhenner 1 Pet. 105 7 L. EM. 72.”