Filius

Lat. A son; a child. Praesumitur quis esse filius, eo quod nascitur ex uxore; one is presumed to be another's child, because he is born of his wife. Bract. fol.

6, 88.

Filius est nomen naturae, sed haeres nomen juris. Son is a name of nature, but heir is a name [term] of law.

1 Sid. 193. 1 Powell on Devises, 230.

An alien may have a son, but no alien can have an heir. Id. ibid. See Haeres. A distinction was sometimes made in the civil law, between filii and liberi; the latter word including grandchildren, nepotes, the former not.

Inst. 1. 14. 5. But see Dig. 50. 16. 201.