Filiolus

In old records. A godson. Spelman. FILIUS (Lat.) A son; a child. As distinguished from heir, filius is a term of nature, haeres a term of law. 1 Powell, Dev. 311. In the civil law the term was used to denote a child generally. Calv. Lex.; Vicat. Its use in the phrase nullius filius would seem to indicate a use in the sense of le£:itimate son, a bastard being the legitimate son of nobody; though the word is usually rendered a son, whether legitimate or illegitimate. Vicat. Filium eum definimus qui ex viro et uxore ejus nascitur, we define him to be a son who is born of a man and his wife. Dig. 1. 6. 6. Praesumitur quis esse filius eo quod nascitur ex uxore, one is presumed to be another's child because he is bom of his wife. Bracton, fols. 6, 88. An alien may have a son, but no alien can have an heir. Id. 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 according to Paulus and Julianus, they were of equally extensive import. Dig. 50. 16. 84; Id. 50. 16. 201.

In old records. <A godson; Spelman.