puisne

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See also: puisné

English

Etymology

PIE word
*pós

From Anglo-Norman puisné (“later, more recent; junior; weakly”)  and Middle French puisné (“born after (a specified person); younger, youngest; one who is born after (a specified person)”) (modern French puîné (“cadet (born after a sibling); a cadet (someone born after a sibling)”)), from puis (“after; since”) + né (“born”). Puis is derived from Old French pois (“after; since”), from Vulgar Latin *postius (“afterward”), from Latin posteā (“afterwards; hereafter; thereafter; next, then”), from post (“after; since”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pós (“afterwards”)) + ea (“these (things)”); and né from Latin nātus (“born”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

puisne (comparative more puisne, superlative most puisne)

  1. (obsolete) Younger; junior.
  2. (obsolete) Insignificant, petty; ineffectual.
    • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, , published 1677, →OCLC:
      it is not conceptible that in an infinite , or indeed in a very long period of Revolutions of Mankind , those or any things of this kind discoverable would have been of so late a puiſne a discovery
    • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CCXVII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: , volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: S Richardson;  , →OCLC:
      But this intrigue of the ancient is a piece of private history, the truth of which my beloved cares not to own, and indeed, affects to disbelieve. As she does also some puisne gallantries of her foolish brother […] .
  3. (law) Inferior in rank, as designation of any justice, judge etc. other than the most senior.
    the puisne barons of the Court of Exchequer
  4. (now law) Coming later in time; subsequent, secondary.
    • a. 1677 (date written), Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, , published 1677, →OCLC:
      a puisne date to eternity

Usage notes

  • The legal term is now used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions such as England, Australia, Canada, Sri Lanka, and formerly in Hong Kong. The equivalent term in the United States is associate justice.

Alternative forms

Noun

puisne (plural puisnes)

  1. A person of puisne rank.

References

  1. ^ “puisne, adj. and n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2020; “puisne, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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