A period of time (theoretically forty days) during which a vessel, coming from a place where a contagious or infectious disease is prevalent, is detained by authority in the harbor of her port of destination , or at a station near it, without being permitted to land or to discharge her crew or passengers. Quarantine is said to have been first established at Venice in 1484. Baker, Quar. 3. In real property . The space of forty days during which a widow has a right to remain in her late husband’s principal mansion immediately after his death. The right of the widow is also called her “quarantine.” See Davis v. Lowden, 56 N. J. Eq. 126, 38 Atl. 648; Glenn v. Glenn, 41 Ala. 580; Spinning v. Spinning, 43 N. J. Eq. 215, 10 Atl. 270.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
