 Such a pregnancy could delay or prevent the late husband’s property from passing to his father or brother, if he died without male heirs.Civil matrons juries were composed of twelve knights and twelve matrons, summoned by a writ "de ventre inspiciendo" ("to inspect the belly").Civil juries of matrons appear to have largely died out by the turn of the 19th century and became obsolete with the Married Women's Property Act 1882.