Matron

A married woman, generally an elderly married woman.

By the laws of England, when a widow feigns herself with child, in order to exclude the next heir, and a supposititious birth is expected, then, upon the writ de ventre inspiciendo, a jury of women is to be impanneled to try the question, whether with child or not. So when a woman was sentenced to death, and she declared herself to be quick with child, a jury of matrons is impanneled to try whether she be or be not with child.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.