aubaine

[Fr. aubaine = an escheat to the crown from aubain = a stranger not naturalised. From Lat. alibi elsewhere, and suff. -anus. Comp. also alien us = an alien.] Droit d'aubane , or Jus alb in at us : A so-called right which the King of France formerly po e ed to seize the goods of any alien dying within his dominions, unle the person deceased had in his lifetime been formally promised an exemption from the operation of the law. ( Black stone : Comment ., bk. i., ch. 10.) The natural effect of this unjust and absurd law was to prevent foreigners from settling in France, and thus to deprive the king and the country of all a istance from intellect not of native growth. It was repealed in 1819. âube, s. [ALB.]