Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

mulier puisne

[Law Latin] Hist. The younger lawful son, usu. distinguished from the bastard eigne ("the elder bastard son"). "The common law developed one exception to its harsh doctrine of bastardy. Where the eldest son was born out of wedlock (the bastard eigne) and the next son was born to the same parents after the marriage (the mulier puisne), and upon the ancestor's death the bastard eigne entered as heir and remained in undisturbed possession until his own death, the bastard eigne was treated as if he had been legitimate with respect to the inheritance of that land. The reason given by Littleton was that a person who was legitimate by the Canon law could not be bastardised posthumously, when he no longer had the opportunity to contest the issue." J.H Baker, An Introduction. to English Legal History 559 (3d ed. 1990).