Definition
A bastard eigne (also spelled bastard ainé) is an illegitimate child born before the marriage of his parents who subsequently intermarry. The term is Old French for "bastard elder" or "bastard eldest." In the classic fact pattern: a man fathers a child outside of marriage, later marries the child's mother, and then has a second child within that marriage. The first child is the bastard eigne; the second is called the mulier puisne (since-born of the wife), or simply mulier — a legitimate child born after the lawful marriage. The distinction carried significant legal consequences under the old English common law of inheritance, particularly regarding the capacity to hold and transmit land.
Common Language
Wiktionary: "A bastard eldest son whose parents marry each other afterwards."
The word "bastard" in ordinary modern English is primarily used as a general term of abuse. In its older common and legal senses, it referred specifically to a child born outside lawful wedlock — not a term of mere insult but a legal status with concrete consequences for property, inheritance, and family standing. The term "eigne" (or ainé) is Old French for elder or eldest. Neither word retains its technical legal force in modern common usage, making the combined phrase essentially dead legal jargon today. Researchers encountering the term in historical sources should resist reading modern colloquial connotations backward into the record.
Common Confusion
Bastard eigne is frequently paired with — and should be distinguished from — mulier puisne. The mulier puisne is the younger, legitimate child born within the marriage, while the bastard eigne is the elder, illegitimate child born before it. The confusion matters because old common law occasionally protected the bastard eigne's possession of land against the mulier puisne's claim of right: if the bastard eigne entered and held land as heir, and the mulier puisne did not disturb that possession during the bastard's lifetime, the mulier's heirs lost the right to challenge it. This is not a case of two equals — the terms describe two distinct legal statuses in direct opposition, with inheritance rights that could shift based on possession and inaction.
Why It Matters in Research
This term is a creature of old English real property law and appears almost exclusively in pre-nineteenth-century sources. Researchers will encounter it in treatises on tenure, descent, and legitimacy — particularly in materials engaging Littleton's Tenures and Coke upon Littleton. Several points are worth flagging:
First, the term does not survive as an operative legal category in American law. American jurisdictions generally rejected the common law rule that kept bastard eigne disabled from inheritance even after parental marriage. Most American states moved toward legitimation by subsequent marriage, collapsing the distinction between bastard eigne and mulier puisne for inheritance purposes. Encountering the term in American sources likely signals an historical or comparative discussion, not a live legal doctrine.
Second, the possession rule — under which a bastard eigne who entered land and held it unchallenged could defeat the mulier puisne's superior right of blood — is easy to misread. It is not that the bastard eigne had a good title; it is that the mulier's failure to assert a claim in time barred the heirs. This is an early application of something resembling limitation doctrine, not a recognition of the bastard's legitimacy.
Third, spelling variation is a practical research trap. Historical sources render this term as bastard eigné, bastard ainé, bastard eigne, and bastard aîné interchangeably. Searching only one spelling in a full-text corpus will miss variants.
Fourth, researchers should note that the term assumes a specific fact pattern: both the pre-marital birth and the subsequent marriage of the biological parents. A child born outside marriage whose parents never married does not fit this category and would simply be termed a bastard or filius nullius under old common law.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four historical dictionaries surveyed are in close agreement on the core definition, all citing Blackstone's Commentaries Book II at page 248 as the primary authority. This convergence suggests the definition was stable across the period these dictionaries represent and that Blackstone is the single most reliable reference point for the rule.
Bouvier adds the useful clarification that eigne is a modernized spelling of the Old French ainé, preserving the meaning of "elder." Burrill goes furthest in citing Perkins and Coke upon Littleton alongside Littleton's Tenures directly, grounding the term in the foundational real property sources. Rapalje & Lawrence is the most stripped-down of the four, offering the clearest plain statement of the distinction without elaboration.
None of the four dictionaries addresses the possession-protecting rule with adequate detail for research purposes. That rule — protecting a bastard eigne in possession against the mulier puisne's later claim — is present in Blackstone and Coke but is understated or absent in the dictionary treatments. Researchers who rely solely on dictionary definitions will miss the doctrine's operative edge.
Jurisdictional Note
The bastard eigne / mulier puisne distinction was a rule of English common law and does not operate as live doctrine in any American jurisdiction. American states broadly adopted legitimation by subsequent marriage of the parents, rendering the distinction obsolete for purposes of inheritance. The term appears in American legal literature only in historical, comparative, or treatise contexts.