A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Legitim, -ime, n. [After L. lēgitima (pars).] The later name for the Barnis Part or ‘legal share of the father's free moveable property due on his death to his children’ (Bell's Dict. Law Sc., s.v.) —1681 Stair Inst. iii. viii. 44.
The bairns' part is their legitima, or portion natural, … which, because the law … determines it, it is called the legitim 1682 Fountainhall Decis. I. 198.
His whole estate being but 2000 merks, he could not give away £1000 of it to his wife, in prejudice of his children their legitime
