A writ which lay for a widow, when it was judicially ascertainedthat a tenant to the king was seised of tenements in fee or fee-tail at the dayof his death, and that he held of the king in chief. In such case the widow might comeinto chancery, and then make oath that she would not marry without the king’s leave,and then she might have this writ. These widows were called the “king’s widows.”Jacob; Holthouse.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
