| a. | 1. | (Law) Eldest; firstborn. | |||
| 2. | Entailed; belonging to the eldest son.
| ||||
EIGNE, persons. This is a corruption of the French word aine, eldest or
first born.
2. It is frequently used in our old law books, bastard eigne. signifies
an elder bastard when spoken of two children, one of whom was; born before
the marriage of his parents, and the other after; the latter is called
mulier puisne. Litt. sect. 399.