B
B. The second letter of the English alphabet: is used to denote the second of a series of pages, notes, etc.; the subsequent letters, the third and following numbers.
B. C. An abbreviation for "before Christ." "tu1I.l court," "bankruptcy cases," and "British Columbia."
B. E. An abbreviation for "Baron of the Court of Exchequer."
B. F. An abbreviation for bonum faw- lum, a good or proper act, deed, or decree; signifies "npproved."
B. R. An abbreviation for Bancus Regis, fKh|g's Bench.) or Banana Regime. (Queen's Bench) It is frequently found in the old books as a designation of that court. In more recent usage, the initial letters of the English names are ordinarily employed, 4. 9., Ii. B, or Q. B.
B. S. Barmus Superior. that is, upper bench.
"BABY ACT." A plea of infancy, interrosed for the purpose of defeating an action upon a contract made while the person was a minor. is vuigarlv railed "pleading the baby act" By extension, the term is appiiml to a plea of the statute of limitations.
BACHELERIA. In aid records. Com- muunity or yeoni.\n1-y, in contradistinction to bnronage
BACHELOR. The holder of the first or lowest degree conferrenl by a college or uni- \'ersli;_V. 1:. g., a bachelor of arts. bachelor of law. etc.
A l.ind of inferior knight; an esquire.
A man who has never been married.
BACK, v. To indorse; to sign on the back: to sign generally by way or accept- am-e or approval. Where a warrant issued in one county is presented to a magistrate of another county and he signs it for the purpose of making it erxecutory in his county. he is said to "bat-1:" it. 4 Bl Comm. 291. So an inrlorser of a note or bill is colioquinlly said to "back" it. Seabnry v. llunperford, 2 Hill (N. Y.) 80.
BACK, adv. To the rear: backward; in a reverse direction. Also, in arrear.
—Ba.ck lands. A term of no very definite import, but generally signifying lands lying back from (not contiguous to) a highway or a water- course. See Ryorss v. Whoeler. 3 Wend. (N. Y.) l50.—Back taxes. Those assessed for a previous year or years and remaining due and unpaid from the original tnx debtor. M. E. Church v. New O'rieans_ 107 La. 611. 32 Sont I01; Gaines v. Gnibraeth. 14 Leo (Tenn.) 361%. —Bsokwater. Water in a stream which. in consequence of some dam or obstruction below.
is detained or checked In its course, or flows back. Hodges v. Raymond, 9 Mass. 316: Cham- hers v. Kyie, S7 Ind. 85 Water caused to flow backward from a steam-vessel by reason of the action of its wheels or screw.
BACKBEAR. In forest law. Carrying on the back. One of the cases in which an oiiender against vert and venison might be arrested, as being taken with the mainour, or manner, or found carrying a deer oft on his back. Manwood; Cowell.
BACKBBEEND. Sax. Bearing upon the back or about the person. Applied to a thief taken with the stolen property in his immediate possession. Bract. 1, 3, tr. 2, c. 32. Used with hmullmbend, having in the hand.
BACKBOND. In Scotch law. A deed attaching a qualification or condition to the terms or a comeyance or other instrument. This deed is used when particular circum- stances render it necessary to express in a separate form the limitations or qua.li.flcations of a right. Bell. The instrument is equivalent to a declaration of trust in English conveyancing.
BACKING. by a magistrate.
Indorsement: indorsemenr
BACKING A WARRANT. See Baorc.
BACKSIDE. In English law. A term formerly used in conveyances and also in pleading; it imports a yard at the back part of or behind a house, and belonging thereto.
BACKWARDATION. In the language of the stock exchange. this term signifies a consideration paid for delay in the delivery of stock contracted for, when the price is lower for time than for cash. Dos Passos, Stock-Broir. 270.
BACKWARDS. In a policy of marine Insurance, the phrase "forwards and back- wards at sea" means from port to port in the course of the voyage, and not merely from one terminus to the other and back. 1 Tannt 475.
BACULUS. A rod, stair, or wand, used in old English practice in making livery of seisin where no building stood on the land, (Brant. 40:) a stick or wand, by the erection of which on the land involved in a real action the defendant was summoned to put in his appearance; this was called "buculus mmtiaior1'us." 3 Bl. Comm. 279.
BAD. Substantially defective; inapt; not good. The technioai word for unsound- ness in pleading.
—Bad debt. Generaliv Speaking. one which is M
uncollectibie. But technically, by statute in
