This paper aims to verify whether in old regime France it existed – and which extent it had – a space within which a woman could play a role in areas traditionally precluded to her because of sexus infirmitas. It is well known that laws and customary practices, according to a long and deeply rooted tradition, restricted female management of family capital resources, showing a particular severity in the event of remarriage of the widow. However, if we focus on specific judicial decisions held between seventeenth and eighteenth century, one can easily see how the French jurisprudence, despite dealing with this legislation in many aspects discriminatory towards women, has not always shown an inflexible approach. On the contrary, some eminent courts made significant corrections to the most stringent dispositions on several occasions, with the effect of extending feminine capacity, in peculiar cases, beyond the marked limits.