wiſe capable of ſucceeding to the whole of his mother's eſtate, although ſhe was never married; the mother being ſufficiently certain, though the father is not[1]. But our law, in favour of marriage, is much leſs indulgent to baſtards.
There is indeed one inſtance, in which our law has ſhewn them ſome little regard; and that is uſually termed the caſe of baſtard eignè and mulier puiſnè. This happens when a man has a baſtard ſon, and afterwards marries the mother, and by her has a legitimate ſon, who in the language of the law is called a mulier, or as Glanvil[2] expreſſes it in his Latin, filius mulieratus; the woman before marriage being concubina, and afterwards mulier. Now here the eldeſt ſon is baſtard, or baſtard eignè; and the younger ſon is legitimate, or mulier puiſnè. If then the father dies, and the baſtard eignè enters upon his land, and enjoys it to his death, and dies ſeiſed thereof, whereby the inheritance deſcends to his iſſue; in this caſe the mulier puiſnè, and all other heirs, (though minors, feme-coverts, or under any incapacity whatſoever) are totally barred of their right[3]. And this, 1. As a puniſhment on the mulier for his negligence, in not entering during the baſtard's life, and evicting him. 2. Becauſe the law will not ſuffer a man to be baſtardized after his death, who entered as heir and died ſeiſed, and ſo paſſed for legitimate in his lifetime. 3. Becauſe the canon law (following the civil) did allow ſuch baſtard eignè to be legitimate, on the ſubſequent marriage of his mother: and therefore the laws of England (though they would not admit either the civil or canon law to rule the inheritances of this kingdom, yet) paid ſuch a regard to a perſon thus peculiarly circumſtanced, that, after the land had deſcended to his iſſue, they would not unravel the matter again, and ſuffer his eſtate to be ſhaken. But this indulgence was ſhewn to no otger kind of baſtard; for, if the mother was never married to the father, ſuch baſtard could have no colourable title at all[4].
