14. In English law, a draft of a patent for a charter, commission, dignity, office, or appointment.
Such a bill is drawn up in the attorney general's patent bill office, is submitted by a secretary of state for the King's signature, when it is called the "King's bill," and is then countersigned by the secretary of state and sealed by the privy seal, and then the patent is prepared and sealed. Sweet.
BILLA. L. Lat. A bill; an original bill.
—Billa excambii. A bill of exchange.—Billa exonerationis. A bill of lading.—Billa vera. (A true bill.) In old practice. The indorsement anciently made on a bill of indictment by a grand jury, when they found it sufficiently sustained by evidence. 4 Bl. Comm. 306.
BILLA CASSETUR, or QUOD BILLA CASSETUR. (That the bill be quashed.) In practice. The form of the judgment rendered for a defendant on a plea in abatement, where the proceeding is by bill; that is, where the suit is commenced by capias, and not by original writ. 2 Archb. Pr. K. B. 4.
BILLET. A soldier's quarters in a civilian's house; or the ticket which authorizes him to occupy them.
In French law. A bill or promissory note. Billet à ordre, a bill payable to order. Billet à vue, a bill payable at sight. Billet de complaisance, an accommodation bill. Billet de change, an engagement to give, at a future time, a bill of exchange, which the party is not at the time prepared to give. Story, Bills, § 2, n.
BILLETA. In old English law. A bill or petition exhibited in parliament Cowell.
BI-METALLIC. Pertaining to, or consisting of, two metals used as money at a fixed relative value.
BI-METALLISM. The legalized use of two metals in the currency of a country at a fixed relative value.
BIND. To obligate; to bring or place under definite duties or legal obligations, particularly by a bond or covenant; to affect one in a constraining or compulsory manner with a contract or a judgment. So long as a contract, an adjudication, or a legal relation remains in force and virtue, and continues to impose duties or obligations, it is said to be "binding." A man is bound by his contract or promise, by a judgment or decree against him, by his bond or covenant, by an estoppel, etc. Stone v. Bradbury, 14 Me. 193; Holmes v. Tutton, 5 El. & Bl. 80; Bank v. Ireland, 127 N. C. 238, 37 S. E. 223; Douglas v. Hennessy, 15 R. I. 272, 10 Atl. 583.
BIND OUT. To place one under a legal obligation to serve another; as to bind out an apprentice.
BINDING OVER. The act by which a court or magistrate requires a person to enter into a recognizance or furnish bail to appear for trial, to keep the peace, to attend as a Witness, etc.
BIPARTITE. Consisting of, or divisible into, two parts. A term in conveyancing descriptive of an instrument in two parts, and executed by both parties.
BIRRETUM, BIRBETUS. A cup or coif used formerly in England by judges and serjeants at law. Spelman.
BIRTH. The act of being born or wholly brought into separate existence. Wallace v. State, 10 Tex. App. 270.
BIS. Lat. Twice.
Bis idem exigi bona fides non patitur; et in satisfactionibus non permittitur amplius fieri quam semel factum est. Good faith does not suffer the same thing to be demanded twice; and in making satisfaction [for a debt or demand] it is not allowed to be done more than once. 9 Coke, 53.
BISAILE. The father of one’s grandfather or grandmother.
BISANTIUM, BESANTINE, BEZANT. An ancient coin, first issued at Constantinople; it was of two sorts,—gold, equivalent to a ducat, valued at 9s. 6d.; and silver, computed at 2s. They were both current in England. Wharton.
BI-SCOT. In old English law. A fine imposed for not repairing hanks, ditches, and causeways.
BISHOP. In English law. An ecclesiastical dignitary, being the chief of the clergy within his diocese, subject to the archbishop of the province in which his diocese is situated. Most of the bishops are also members of the House of Lords.
BISHOPRIC. in ecclesiastical law. The diocese of a bishop, or the circuit in which he has jurisdiction; the office of a bishop. 1 Bl. Comm. 377–382.
BISHOP'S COURT. In English law. An ecclesiastical court, held in the cathedral of each diocese, the judge whereof is the bishop's chancellor, who judges by the civil canon law; and, if the diocese be large, he has his commissaries in remote parts, who hold consistory courts, for matters limited to them by their commission.
BISSEXTILE. The day which is added every fourth year to the month of February,
