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BILL continued. committed against some law or statute of the realm. Such bills are sometimes addressed or exhibited to the Lord Chancellor, especially where the wrongs done to the complainant are matters of conscience; and sometimes they are addressed and preferred to others having jurisdiction in the matter, according as the law whereon they are grounded directs. This bill contains a statement of the fact complained of, and of the damages thereby suffered, and a petition that process may issue against the defendant for redress. In criminal matters, when a grand jury, upon any presentment or indictment, consider the same to be probably true, they write on it two words, billa vera, in other words, they are said to find a true bill, and thereupon the accused party is said to stand indicted of the crime, and is bound to make answer to it; and if the crime concern the life of the person indicted, it is then referred to another inquest, called the jury of life and death, by whom, should he be found guilty, he stands convicted of the crime, and is by the judge condemned accordingly. Bill is also a common engagement for money given by one man to another; and is sometimes with a penalty, called a penal bill, and sometimes without a penalty, when it is termed a single bill. By a bill was commonly understood a single bond without a condition; and it was formerly the same as an obligation, save that it was called bill when in English, and an obligation when in Latin.

See following titles.

BILL FOR DISCOVERY: See title DISCOVERY.

BILL IN EQUITY OR CHANCERY. The method of instituting a suit in the Court of Chancery is by addressing a bill, in the nature of a petition, to the Lord Chancellor. This bill is neither more nor less than a statement of all the circumstances which gave rise to the complaint, and a prayer or petition for particular relief, according to the case made by the bill, or for general relief, according as the nature of the case may require. When this bill is drawn up or prepared, it is left with the proper officer of the Court in order to be filed, and this is what is termed filing a bill in Equity. Bills in Equity are all of the same general character, but some of them being of a secondary nature to the principal bill, have acquired names descriptive of that secondary nature, e.g., Cross Bills, Supplemental Bills, Bills of Revivor, Bills for Discovery, &c., all which titles see. Hitherto a bill has been a method of originating proceedings in Chancery, and indeed in cases where the summary-i.e.,

BILL IN EQUITY OR CHANCERY — continued.

statutory proceeding by petition or summons was not available, the bill was the only process, but at the same time a universal process, of initiating proceedings. However, now, under the Judicature Act, 1873, all actions and suits are to be commenced by a writ of summons; but the operation of the Act has been postponed.

BILL OF EXCEPTIONS. If during a trial a judge, in his direction to the jury, or in his decision, mistakes the law, either through ignorance, inadvertence, or design, the counsel on either side may require him publicly to seal a bill of exceptions, which is a statement in writing of the point wherein he has committed the error, and which statement, by fixing his seal thereto, he thus acknowledges (Smith's Action at Law, p. 82). This statement should be put in writing while the Court is sitting, and in the presence of the judge who tried the cause, and signed by the counsel on each side; after which it is formally drawn up and tendered to the judge to be sealed. À bill of exceptions is said to be in the nature of an appeal from the judgment or decision of the Court below to a Court of error. (Wright v. Sharp, 1 Salk. 288; Gardner v. Bailey, 1 Boss. & P. 32; Wright v. Tatham, 7 A. & E. 331). By the Judicature Act, 1873, bills of exception are abolished, and an appeal to the Court of Appeal substituted for them; but the operation of the Act has been postponed.

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BILL OF EXCHANGE. A bill of exchange is defined by Blackstone to be an open letter of request from one man to another, desiring him to pay a sum named therein to a third person on his account." The person who draws or makes the bill is called the drawer; the person to whom it is addressed is called the drawee; and when the drawee has undertaken to pay the amount (which undertaking he signities by writing across the bill of exchange the word "accepted" together with his name, with or without adding the place where the money is to be paid), then he is called the acceptor; the person to whom the money is ordered to be paid is called the payee; and if the payee transfers it over to another (which he does by simply writing his name across the back), he is then called the indorser, and the person to whom he thus transfers it is called the indorsee, which latter person may also, if he pleases, in his turn transfer it to another party (by the same process of signing his name on the back, or indorsing it, as it is termed), and thus it may be transferred from one person to another ad infinitum, the party transferring it always being called the indorser,

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he is then also termed the acceptor; and "George Montague" is the payee. When the acceptor of a bill of exchange is a man of substance and of good credit, it renders it easily negotiable, and consequently almost as valuable as a bank note. Chitty on Bills of Exchange.

See also titles ACCEPTANCE; INDORSE-
MENT; ACCOMMODATION BILL; FO-
REIGN BILL; USANCE; NOTICE OF
DISHONOUR; PROTEST.

BILL OF LADING. This is a document which is signed and delivered by the shipowner, or master as his agent, to the shippers in a general ship on the goods being shipped; or, speaking more practically, upon the goods being shipped, the mate gives the shipper an acknowledgment thereof, which is called the "mate's receipt," and the shipper takes that to the broker or captain of the ship, who exchanges it for the bill of lading.

Form of Bill of Lading:-A bill of lading is commonly made out in parts. One or more of these parts are sent by the shipper to the consignee of the goods, one is retained by the shipper in his own custody, and another is given to the master, shipowner, or captain. The bill, after mentioning the shipping of the goods in good order and condition, and their destination, undertakes to deliver same in like order and condition to the consignee or his assigns, upon payment by the latter of the agreed freight.

Incidents of Bill of Lading:-A bill of lading may be indorsed, and thereafter, upon being delivered, it passes to the indorsee the property in the goods to which it relates; and since the Act 18 & 19 Vict. c. 111, the indorsee may sue thereon in his own name, and not, as heretofore, in the

BILL OF LADING-continued. name of the indorser only. The actual holder of a bill of lading, although insolvent, may even defeat by a bonâ fide indorsement, accompanied with delivery of the bill of lading, the right of the unpaid consignor or vendor to stop the goods in transitu; and for this purpose it is not material that the indorsee knows that the consignor has not been paid for the goods in money, if he does not know that the consignee is insolvent, or that the bills given in payment are bad (Cuming v. Brown, 9 East, 506). No property, however, passes by the indorsement if there is fraud in the transfer, or if there is notice by the previous indorsement that the earlier transfer is conditional only, or if the indorsee knows of the insolvency of the consignee (Vertue v. Jewell, 4 Camp. 31). Nor can the bona fide indorsee for value interfere by virtue of the indorsement to him with the stoppage in transitu, if the person through whom the bill of lading came to him had no authority from the shipper or consignee to put it in circulation (Gurney v. Behrend, 3 E. & B. 622), the bill of lading being in this respect like an overdue bill of exchange. And it is expressly provided by the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 111, s. 2, that the extension which that Act gives to the rights and liabilities of the indorsee shall not affect in any way the right of stoppage in transitu. Where the bill of lading is negotiated by way of pledge, the right to stop in transitu may be gone at Law (and the better opinion seems that it is); but it remains in Equity, subject to the pledgee's rights in respect of his specific advance. In re Westzinthus, 5 B. & Ad. 817.

A bill of lading, after indorsement, is countermandable before actual delivery thereof or of the goods to the indorsee; but, after an indorsement and delivery of the bill of lading and invoice of the goods as a security against bills which are to be drawn by the indorsers on the indorsees, the indorsers cannot, after having obtained the acceptances, and whilst the balance of accounts is in favour of the indorsees, countermand the delivery of the goods, and the master of a ship would be liable in trover if he acted under any such order (Haille v. Smith, 1 B. & P. 563). But, semble, it would be otherwise if the balance of accounts were the other way.

BILL OF MIDDLESEX. A species of process by which actions were formerly commenced in the Court of Queen's Bench. It was a kind of precept directed to the sheriff of the county, commanding him to take the body of the defendant and have it, on a certain day therein-mentioned, in Court, wheresoever the lord the king should be

BILL OF MIDDLESEX-continued. in England (Boote's Suit at Law, 38). This mode of proceeding was abolished by the Uniformity of Process Act, 2 Will. 4, c. 39.

BILL OF PEACE. These are bills in the nature of bills quia timet (which title see), but which are most commonly brought after the right has been tried at Law. The bill is brought for the purpose of establishing and perpetuating a right claimed by the plaintiff, the right being of a nature to be controverted by different persons, at different times, and by different actions. The design of the bill is to secure repose from perpetual litigation, or the fear thereof, and is justified by the doctrine of public policy that there should be an end to litigation. Thus, the lord of a manor may bring such a bill against his tenants in regard of an encroachment; and see Sheffield Waterworks Co. v. Yeomans, L. R. 2 Ch. App. 8, and compare Earl of Bath v. Sherwin, Prec. Ch. 26.

BILL OF RIGHTS. The statute 1 Will. & Mary, stat. 2, c. 2, is so termed because it declares the true rights of British subjects. The short contents of it are as follows: After reciting the various unconstitutional and illegal acts of the preceding Stuart reigns, it goes on to enact as follows:

(1.) The suspending power, when ex

ercised by the Crown without the assent of Parliament is illegal ; (2.) The dispensing power, as of late exercised, is illegal ;

(3.) Levying money by prerogative is
illegal ;

(4.) The subjects have a right to petition
the Crown, and all commitments
for so petitioning are illegal;
(5.) Raising or maintaining a standing
army within the kingdom in time
of peace is illegal, if done without
the assent of Parliament;
(6.) Freedom of speech in Parliament
secured; and

(7.) Excessive bail, excessive fines, &c.,

&c., discouraged.

BILL OF SALE. Is an instrument whereby one person called the assignor assigns, or purports to assign, to another person called the assignee, personal property or chattels, either conditionally, i.e., by way of mortgage, or absolutely, i.e., by way of sale or gift outright. See titles ASSIGNMENT OF PERSONAL PROPERTY; CONVEYANCES.

Under the Bills of Sale Act, 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 56), every bill of sale requires to be registered within twenty-one days from the making thereof, otherwise the same is void as against execution creditors,

BILL OF SALE-continued.

the trustee in bankruptcy, and others. Under the Amendment Act, 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 96), it requires to be re-registered every five years. And even then, without possession taken prior to an act of bankruptcy, it is void as against the trustee in bankruptcy. Badger v. Shaw, 2 El. & El. 472, following Stansfield v. Cubitt, 27 L. J. (Ch.) 266.

This strictness of the law is due to the fact, that fictitious bills of sale are often given for the purpose of effectuating a fraud. In Edwards v. Harben (2 T. R. 587), following Twyne's Case (1 Sm. L. C. 1), the retention of possession by the maker was accepted as un index of fraud. The bill of sale is, however, in all cases good as between the parties. Bessey v. Windham, 6 Q. B. 166. A parlia

BILL, PARLIAMENTARY. mentary bill has been described as the "draft or skeleton of a statute." Bills are divided into two classes, viz, public and private bills. The former are such as involve the interests of the public at large, and when passed by all the three branches of the Legislature, become a portion of the public statutes of the realm; the latter are such as have reference to the interests of private individuals, and are frequently introduced to enable them to undertake works of public utility at their own risk; such, for instance, are the various bills introduced for the purpose of establishing railway companies; such also are those of naturalization, for change of name, for divorce, &c. See May's Treatise on Parl., although all, or the majority, of these latter purposes, are now partly accomplished in virtue of public or general statutes, see Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, &c.

A bill of par

BILL OF PARTICULARS. ticulars, or, as it is frequently termed, a particular of plaintiff's demand, is a statement in writing of what the plaintiff seeks to recover in his action. Its object is to furnish the defendant with a better or more specific statement of the plaintiff's cause of action than is to be collected from the

declaration or summons. The bill of particulars "differs from the declaration, inasmuch as the one discloses the nature and legal effect of the plaintiff's claim, the other its component ingredients." Lush's Pr. 374; Pylie v. Stevens, 6 Mee. & W. 814, per Curiam.

BILL OF REVIVOR: See title REVIVOR.

BIRTH. By the statute 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 86, it is provided that the certified copies of entries, purporting to be sealed with the seal of the Registrar-General's office, shall be evidence of the birth [death, or marriage], to which the same relates, without

BIRTH-continued.

any further or other proof of such entry. An affidavit of identity must, however, accompany the extract as proof of the birth [death, or marriage]. Parkinson v. Francis, 15 Sim. 160.

In criminal law, the concealment of a birth is, under 24 & 25 Vict. c. 100, s. 60, a misdemeanour; and as such is punishable with imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour.

BISHOP. A dignitary of the church who has episcopal jurisdiction within his diocese, but which jurisdiction he commonly exercises through his chancellor or commissary.

See titles ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS;

ARCHBISHOP.

BLASPHEMY. To revile at or to deny the truth of Christianity as by law established is a blasphemy, and as such is punishable by the common law. Under the stat. 9 & 10 Will. 3, c. 32, cited in the Stats. Rev. as 9 Will. 3, c. 35, any professed Christian who denies the Holy Trinity, or generally the Christian religion, may be indicted for the same, and upon conviction is liable to be deprived of office and incapacitated for holding future office; but the prosecution requires to be commenced within four days of the blasphemy spoken; and is to be desisted from, and all the penalties are to be removed, upon the defendant's renunciation of his heretical opinions.

BLOCKADE. A blockade in law must be an actual or effective blockade, and not a paper blockade merely; in other words, a port is blockaded when a squadron is in the vicinity of it for the purpose of preventing ingress into and egress from it, and not when it is merely declared to be under blockade. A violation of blockade requires three things-(1.) That the blockade be effective; (2.) That the accused had notice thereof; and (3.), That he made ingress or egress in disregard of the blockade.

BOARDING-HOUSE. The keeper of such a house is bound to take ordinary care of the goods of his guest therein, and will be liable for negligence occasioning loss (Dancey v. Richardson, 2 El. & Bl. 144); but his liability is not so extreme as that of an innkeeper (Holden v. Soulby, 8 W. R. 438). A contract for board and lodging is not a contract regarding land within the meaning of the Statute of Frauds. Wright v. Stavart, 8 W. R. 413.

BOARD OF HEALTH. Under the stats. 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63 (Public Health Act, 1848), 21 & 22 Vict. c. 98 (Local Government Act, 1858), and other Acts amending same, local boards are constituted for the

BOARD OF HEALTH-continued. better securing the public health, and who for that purpose exercise certain powers as to sewers, drains, buildings, slaughterhouses, &c.

One of the admi

BOARD OF TRADE. nistrative departments of the Government, constituted by the Acts 22 Geo. 3, c. 82, and 24 & 25 Vict. cc. 45 & 47, and possessing under various statutes a very general jurisdiction and superintendence over railways, merchant shipping and seamen, harbours, fisheries, &c.

BOARD OF WORKS. The name of a board of officers appointed for the better local management of the metropolis. They have the care and management of all grounds and gardens dedicated to the use of the inhabitants in the metropolis; also, the superintendence of the drainage; also, the regulation of the street traffic, and generally of the buildings of the metropolis.

An

BOCKLAND (Sax. for bookland). inheritance or possession held by the evidence of written instruments. It was one of the titles by which the English Saxons held their lands, and, being always in writing, was hence called bockland, which signifies terram codicillariam, or librariam, deed land or charter land. It was the same as allodium, being descendible according to the common course of nature and nations, and devisable by will. This species of inheritance was usually possessed by the thanes or nobles. Spelman on Feuds.

BONA NOTABILIA. Such goods as a party dying had in another diocese than that wherein he died, and as amounted at the least to £5, which, whoever had, must have had his will proved before the archbishop of that province, unless, by composition or custom, other dioceses were authorized to do it, where bona notabilia were rated at a greater sum. If, however, a person happened to die in another diocese than that wherein he lived, while on a journey, what he had about him of the value of £5 was not bona notabilia. Book of Canons, 1 Jac. Can. 92, 93; Cunningham. But now under the Court of Probate Act, 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 77), ss. 3-4, the distinction of goods as bona notabilia has been abolished. 1 Wms. Exors. 279-280.

BONA VACANTIA. Goods in which no one claims a property but the king; such as royal fish, shipwrecks, treasure trove, waifs, strays, &c. Where a person dies possessed of personal property, intestate, and leaving no next of kin, the Crown becomes entitled upon office found to all such property. This title of the Crown is in virtue of its prerogative, and in this respect differs from the

BONA VACANTIA-continued. title of the Crown to land by escheat. See Middleton v. Spicer, 1 Bro. C. C. 201; Burgess v. Wheate, 1 Eden, 177.

BOND. Is a contract by specialty to pay a certain sum of money. It is either single, ie., simple, in which case the money is absolutely to be paid; or double, i.e., conditional, in which case the money is only conditionally payable, and ceases to be payable or becomes absolutely payable according to the event which is expressed in the condition. If the condition is entire and unlawful, the bond is void (Collins v. Blantern, 1 Sm. L. C. 325); but if the condition is severable, and part of it is good, the bond is valid to that extent (Yale v. Rex (in error), 6 Bro. P. C. 61). In the case of alternative conditions, if one becomes impossible, the other, as a general rule, becomes absolute (Da Costa v. Davis, 1 B. & P. 242). The chief varieties of bonds are the following:-Bonds of Indemnity, Post Obit Bonds, Voluntary Bonds, Administration Bonds, Bail Bonds, Bottomry Bonds, Debentures, Guaranties, Replevin Bonds, Bonds in Restraint of Trade, Resignation Bonds, and Lloyd's Bonds, most of which will be found explained under the appropriate titles.

See also title OBLIGATION.

BOROUGH: See title REPRESENTATION.

BOROUGH ENGLISH. The custom which prevails in certain ancient boroughs and copyhold manors, of lands descending to the youngest son instead of to the eldest. The reason of this custom seems to be, that in these boroughs people chiefly maintain and support themselves by trade and industry; and the elder children, being provided for out of their father's goods, and introduced into his trade in his lifetime, were able to subsist of themselves without any land provision, and therefore the land descended to the youngest son, he being in most danger of being left destitate. It is called borough English, because, as some hold, it first prevailed in England. Unlike Gavelkind, the mode of descent in borough English is confined to lineal descendants, and does not extend to collaterals.

See titles GAVELKIND; TENURES.
BOTTOMRY.

Is in the nature of a mortgage of a ship, when the owner takes up money upon it to enable him to carry on his voyage, and pledges the keel or bottom of the ship (partem pro toto), as a security for the repayment thereof. which case it is understood, that if the ship be lost, the lender loses also his whole money; but if it return in safety, then he shall receive back his principal, and also

In

BOTTOMRY-continued.

the premium or interest agreed upon, however it may exceed what was once the legal rate of interest. And this is allowed to be a valid contract in all trading nations, for the benefit of commerce, and by reason of the extraordinary hazard run by the lender; and in this case, the ship and tackle, if brought home, are answerable (as well as the person of the borrower) for money lent. Park on Insurance.

See also titles RESPONDENTIA; SHIP

PING.

BOUGHT AND SOLD NOTES. These are the notes which a broker of stock or goods sends respectively to the vendor and purchaser for whom he has been engaged in the particular sale. They furnish the evidence of the contract, and, if they agree, bind the principals, the broker having authority to sign for both. Fisenden v. Levy, 3 F. & F. 477.

BOUNDARIES. The boundaries of boroughs are at present regulated by the stats. 2 & 3 Will. 4, c. 64, and 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 103. Upon a question of boundaries, evidence of reputation, although in the nature of hearsay, is receivable.

See title HEARSAY EVIDENCE.

BOURSE DE COMMERCE. In French law, is an aggregation sanctioned by Government of merchants, captains of vessels, exchange-agents, and courtiers, the two latter being nominated by the Government in each city which has a bourse.

BRAWLING. Under the 27 Geo. 3, c. 44, any suit for this offence was to be brought in the Ecclesiastical Court within eight months; but under the stat. 23 & 24 Vict. c. 32, the Ecclesiastical Courts were deprived of all their jurisdiction in the matter in the case of lay persons, and the justices of the peace were invested with authority to punish the offence as a misde

meanour.

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE. A breach of privilege is a contempt of the High Court of Parliament, whether relating to the House of Lords or to the House of Commons. Both branches of the Legislature act on the same grounds, both declare what are and what are not breaches of their privileges, when the question is raised, and both punish, by commitment or otherwise, as the Courts of Law and Equity do for contempt of Court. sistance to the officers of the Houses of Parliament has, in almost all cases, been treated as a breach of the privileges of Parliament. The presence of strangers is a breach of privilege, though permitted on

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