1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Coverture

COVERTURE (a covering, an old French form of the modern couverture), a term in English law applied to the condition of a woman during marriage, when she is supposed to be under the cover, influence and protection of her husband, and so immune in certain cases from punishment for crime committed in the presence and on the presumed coercion of her husband. (See further Husband and Wife.)