Black's Law Dictionary

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.

Fr. Low; inferior; subordinate. —Bas chevaliers. In old English law. Low, or inferior knights, by tenure of a base military fee, as distinguished from barons and bannerets, who wer

L. Fr. (Modern Fr. brebis.) Sheep. See Mlllen v. Fawen, Bendlpe, 171, "home ove petit chien chase barbitfs."

A plea of infancy, interposed for the purpose of defeating an action upon a contract made while the person was a minor, is vulgarly called "pleading the baby act." By extension, th

In old records. Commonalty or yeomanry, in contradistinction to baronage.

The holder of the first or lowest degree conferred by a college or university, e. g., a bachelor of arts, bachelor of law, etc. A kind of inferior knight; an esquire, A man who has

A term of no very definite import, but generally signifying lands lying back from (not contiguous to) a highway or a watercourse. See Ryerss v. Wheeler, 22 Wend. (N. Y) 150.

adv. To the rear; backward; In a reverse direction. Also, in arrear. —Bach lands. A term of no very definite import, but generally signifying lands lying back from (not contiguous

In forest law. Carrying on the back. One of the cases in which an offender against vert and venison might be arrested, as being taken with the mainour or manner or found carrying a

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 handhabend, havin

In Scotch law. A deed attaching a qualification or condition to the ternis of a conveyance or other instrument. This deed is used when particular circumstances render it necessary

Indorsement; indorsement by a magistrate.

See Back.

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.

Those assessed for a previous year or years and remaining due and unpaid from the original tax debtor. M. E. Church v. New Orleans, 107 La. 611, 32 South. 101; Gaines v. Galbraeth,

In the language of the stock exchange, this term signifies a consideration paid for delay in the delivery of stock contracted foe, when the price is lower for time than for cash. D

In a policy of marine insurance, the phrase "forwards and backwards at sea" means from port to port in the course of the voyage, and not merely from one terminus to the other and b

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 ; Chambers v. Kyle, 87

A rod, staff or wand, used in old English practice in making livery of seisin where no building stood on the land, (Bract. 40;) a stick or wand, by the erection of which on the lan

Substantially defective; inapt; not good. The technical word for unsoundness in pleading. —Bad debt. Generally speaking, one which is uncollectible. But technically, by statute in

Generally speaking, one which is uncollectible. But technically, by statute in some states, the word may have a more precise meaning. In Louisiana, bad debts are those which have b

The opposite of "good fnith," generally implying or involving actual or constructive fraud, or a design to mislead or deceive another, or a neglect or refusal to fulfill some duty

A mark or cognizance worn to show the relation of the wearer to any persen or thing; the token of anything; a distinctive mark of office or service.

A term used relatively to the law of fraudulent conveyances made to hinder and defraud creditors. It is defined as a fact tending to throw suspicion upon a transaction, and calling

In old English law. One who made a practice of buying com or victuals in one place, and carrying them to another to sell and make profit by them.

One which is unsound or insufficient in form or substance, or which does not technically answer or correspond with the pleading which preceded it in the action.

One which conveys no property to the purchaser of the estate ; one which is so radically defective that it is not marketable, and hence such that a purchaser cannot be legally comp

In old French law. One to whom judicial authority was assigned or delivered by a superior.

A sack or satchel. A certain and customary quantity of goods and merchandise in a sack. Wharton.

In English law. A bag or purse. Thus there is the petty-bag-office in the common-law jurisdiction of the court of chancery, because all original writs relating to the business of t

In the law of carriers. This term comprises sucji articles of personal convenience or necessity as are usually carried by passengers for their personal use, and not merchandise or

A chest or coffer. Fleta.

Fr. In French and Canadian law. A lease of lands. —Bail h cheptel. A contract by which one of the parlies gives to the other cattle to keep, feed, and care for, the borrower receiv

Capable of being bailed; admitting of ball ; authorizing or requiring bail. A bailable action is one in which the defendant cannot be released from arrest except on furnishing bail

A contract of letting lands.

A lease for more than nine years; the same as bail emphyteotique (see infra) or an emphyteutic lease.

In the law of contracts. One to whom goods are bailed; the party to whom personal property is delivered under a contract of bailment. Phelps v. People, 72 N. Y. 357; McGee v. Frenc

An emphyteutic lease; a lease for a term of years with a right to prolong indefinitely ; practically equivalent to an alienation.

A contract by which one of the parlies gives to the other cattle to keep, feed, and care for, the borrower receiving half the profit of increase, and bearing half the loss. Duverge

A contract partaking of the nature of the contract of sale, and that of the contract of lease; it is translative of property, and the rent is essentially redeemable. Clark's Heirs

In the Scotch law. A bailie is (1) a magistrate having inferior criminal jurisdiction, similar to that of an alderman, (q. v.;) (2) an officer appointed to confer infeoffment, (q.

In a general sense, a person to whom some authority, care, guardianship or jurisdiction is delivered, committed or intrusted; one who is deputed or appointed to take charge of anot

In English law. Officers who perform the duties of sheriffs within liberties or privileged jurisdictions, in which formerly the king's writ could not be executed by the sheriff. Sp

In old law. A bailiff's jurisdiction. a bailiwick; the same as ia4lium. Spelman. See Bailiwick. In old English law. A liberty, or exclusive jurisdiction, which was exempted from th

The territorial jurisdiction of a sheriff or bailiff. 1 Bl. Comm. 344. Greenup v. Bacon, 1 T. B. Mon. (Ky.) 108.

In Canadian law. The unpaid vendor of real estate.

A contract of letting houses.

A delivery of goods or personal property, by one person to another, in trust for the execution of a special object upon or in relation to such goods, beneficial either to the bailo

A contract in which the bailor agrees to pay an adequate recompense for the safe-keeping of the thing intrusted to the custody of the bailee, and the bnilee agrees to keep it and r

The party who hafts or delivers goods to another, in the contract of bailment. McGee v. French, 49 S. C. 454, 27 S. E. 487.

In old Scotch law. A poor Insolvent debtor, left bare and naked, who was obliged to swear in court that he was not worth more than five shillings and five-pence.

In Scotch law. A known term, used to denote one's whole issue. Ersk. Inst. 3, 8, 48. But it is sometimes used in a more limited sense. Bell.

In Scotch law. Children's part; a third part of the defunct's free movables, debts deducted, If the wlfe survive, and a half if there be no relict.

In English law. Procuring them to be worried by dogs. Punishable on summary conviction, under 12 A 13 Viet C. 92, § 3.

The amount remaining due from one person to another on a settlement of the accounts involving their mutual dealings; the difference between the two sides (debit and credit) of an a

When it is desired to ascertain the exact state of a merchant's business, or other commercial enterprise, at a given time, nil the ledger accounts are closed up to date and balance

The standard-bearer of the Knights Templar.

Small galleries of wood or stone on the outside of houses. The erection of them is regulated in London by the building acts.

In Spanish law. Waste land; land that is neither arable nor pasture. White New Recop. b. 2, tit. 1, c. 6, § 4, and note. Unappropriated public domain, not set apart for the support

A pack or certain quantity of goods or merchandise, wrapped or packed up in cloth and corded round very tightly, marked and numbered with figures corresponding to those in the bill

Fr. In French marine law. A buoy.

In the civll law. A teacher; one who has the care of youth; a tutor; a guardian. Du Cange; Spelman.

L. Lat. In old English law. A balliwick or jurisdiction.

In marine insurance. There is considerable analogy between ballast and dunnage. The former is used for trimming the ship, and bringing it down to a draft of water proper and safe f

A toll paid for the privilege of inking up ballast from the bottom of a port or harbor.

An ancient writ to remove a bailiff from his office for want of sufficient land in the balliwick. Reg. Orig. 78.

In the law of elections. A slip of paper bearing the names of the offices to be filled at the particular election and the names of the candidates for whom the elector desires to vo

A case made of wood for receiving ballots.

Fr. In medical jurisprudence. A test for pregnancy by palpation with the finger inserted in the vagina to the mouth of the uterus. The tip of the finger being quickly, jerked upwar

A large fish, called by Black-stone a "whale." Of this the king had the head and the queen the full as a perquisite whenever one was taken on the coast of England. 1 Bl. Comm. 222.

in the Roman law. Those who stole the clothes of bathers in the publlc baths. 4 BL Comm. 239.

1. In old English and civil law. A proclamation; a public notice; the announcement of an intended marriage. Cowell. An excommunication; a ctirse, publicly pronounced. A proclamatio

In Canadian and old French law. Pertaining to a ban or privileged place; having qualities or privileges derived from a ban. Thus, a banal mill is one to which the lord may require

In Canadian law. The right by virtue of which a lord subjects his vassals to grind at his mill, bake at his oven, etc. Used also of the region within which this right applied. Guyo

Bench; the scat of judgment; the placo where a court permanently or regularly sits. The full bench, full court. A "sitting in banc" is a meeting of all the judges of a court, usual

In old English law. Advocates; counters; serjeants. Applied to advocates in the common pleas courts. 1 Bl. Comm. 24; Cowell.

The king's bench ; the supreme tribunal of the king after parliament. 3 Bl. Comm. 41.

Ital. See Banc. A seat or bench of justico; also, in commerce, a word of Italian origin signifying a bank.

L. Lat. In old English law and practico. A bench or scat in the king's hall or palace. Fleta, lib. 2, c. 16, § 1. A high seat, or seat of distinction; a seat of judgment, or tribun

The queen's bench. See Queen's Bench.

The upper bench. The king's bench was so called during the Protectorate,

In old Scotch law. A proclamation calling out a mllitary force.

An outlaw; a man banned or put under a ban; a brigand or robber. Banditti, a band of robbers.

A malefactor. Bract. L 1 t 8, a 1. Also a public denunciation of a malefactor; the same with what was called "hutesium," hue and cry. Spelman.

In English law. A knight made in the field, by the ceremony of cutting off the point of his standard, and making it, as it were, a banner. Knights so made are acoounted so honorabl

Courts for the administration of the bankrupt laws. The present English bankruptcy courts are the London bankruptcy court, the court of appeal, and the local bankruptcy courts crea

Deodands, (q. V.)

In criminal law. A punishment inflicted upon criminals, by compelling them to quit a city, place or country for a specified period of time or for life. See Cooper v. Telfair, 4 Dal

1. A bench or seat; the bench or tribunal occupied by the Judges; the seat of judgment; a court The fuil bench or fuil court; the assembly of all the Judges of a court A "sitting i

In mercantile law. Notes, checks, bank-bills, drafts, and other securities for money, received as cash by the banks. Such commercial paper as is considered worthy of discount by th

A sum of money placed with a bank or banker, on deposit, by a customer, and subject to be drawn out on the latter's check. The statement or computation of the several sums deposite

A promissory note issued by a bank, payable to the hearer on demand, and designed to circulate as money. Townsend v. People, 4 111. 328; Low r. People, 2 Park. Cr. R. (N. Y.) 37, S

A book kept by a customer of a bank, showing the state of his account with it.

See Check.

Accommodations allowed to a person on security given to a bank, to draw money on it to a certain extent agreed upon.

A private person who keeps a bank; one who is engaged in the business of banking. People v. Doty, 80 N. Y. 228; Auten v. Bank, 174 U. S. 125, 19 Sup. Ct. 628, 43 L. Ed. 920; Richmo

O. Eng. Bankrupt; insolvent; indebted beyond the means of payment.

A commercial instrument resembling a bank-note in every particular except that it is given by a private hanker or unincorporated banking institution.

The business of receiving money on deposit, loaning money, diseount-ing notes, issning notes for circuiation, collecting money on notes deposited, negotiating bills, etc. Bank v. T

A promissory note issued by a bank or authorized banker, payable to bearer on demand, and intended to circulate as money. Same as Bank-Bill, supra.