from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
PIN MONEY. Money allowed by a man to his wife to spend for her own personal
comforts.
2. When pin money is given to, but not spent by the wife, on his death
it belongs to his estate. 4 Vin. Ab. 133, tit'. Baron and Feme, E a. 8; 2
Eq. Cas. Ab. 156; 2 P. Wms. 341; 3 P. Wms. 353; 1 Ves. 267; 2 Ves. 190; 1
Madd. Ch. 489, 490.
3. In the French law the term Epingles, pins, is used to designate the
present which is sometimes given by the purchaser of an immovable to the
wife or daughters of the seller to induce them to consent to the sale. This
present is not considered as a part of the consideration, but a purely
voluntary gift. Diet. de Jur. mot Epingles.
4. In England it was once adjudged that a promise to a wife, by the
purchaser, that if she would not hinder the bargain for the sale of the
husband's lands, he would give her ten pounds, was valid, and might be
enforced by an action of assumpsit, instituted by husband and wife. Roll.
Ab. 21, 22.
5. It has been conjectured that the term pin money, has been applied to
signify the provision for a married woman, because anciently there was a tax
laid for providing the English queen with pins. Barringt. on the Stat. 181.