bastard eignen.
/ˌbɑːstəd ˈeɪn/, /ˌbastəd ˈeɪn/, U.S. /ˌbæstərd ˈeɪn/ Law. Now historical.
A child born out of wedlock to parents who subsequently married and produced a younger, legitimate child. Cf. mulier puisne n. at mulier n.2
ΚΠ
a1625 H. Finch Law (1627) i. v. 67 The maxime of a bastard eigne, is that the mulier puisne must make an entrie vpon him, or else he gaineth the right.
1677 W. Wycherley Plain-dealer iv. 65 Thou art but my base Child; and, according to the Law, canst not inherit it: nay, thou art not so much as Bastard eigne.
1703 J. Brydall Lex Spuriorum xi. 104 If a Man hath Issue a Bastard eigne and dies, the Bastard entreth, and dies seized,..the Collateral Heir of the Father is bound.
1881 Amer. Law Reg. 29 710 Whatever might have been the common-law privileges of the bastard eigne and mulier puisne, they appear to have been destroyed by the statute..which enacts that ‘no descent cast shall defeat any right of entry’.
1945 Mod. Law Rev. 8 211 The rule against bastardising after the death of the spouses did apply to other cases, and did not in any sense apply to the case of the bastard eigne.
1981 A. A. Leff in Yale Law Jrnl. (1985) 94 2141 At common law, if a couple had a bastard son, then intermarried, and then had another son, the elder was a bastard eigné and had some rights of inheritance to real property.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.a1625