Bouvier's Law Dictionary and Concise Encyclopedia

A term of reproach originally applied to the disability of infancy when pleaded by an adult in bar of recovery upon a contract made while he was under age, but extends to any plea

The commonalty as distinguished from the baronage. Cunningham, L. Diet.

In modern use, one who has taken the first degree (baccalaureate) in the liberal arts and sciences, or in law, medicine, or divinity, in a college or university. A man who has neve

A bond of indemnification given to a surety. In Scotch Law. A declaration of trust; a defeasance; a bond given by one who is apparently absolute owner, so as to reduce his right to

In forest law, the crime of having, on the back, game unlawfully killed.

Indorsement Indorsement by a magistrate. Backing a warrant becomes necessary when it is desired to serve it in a county other than that in which it was first issued. In such a case

A yard at the back part of or behind a house, and belonging thereto. The term was formerly much used both in conveyances and in pleading, but is now of infrequent occurrence except

See Backadation.

That water in a stream which, in consequence of some obstruction below, is detained or checked in its course, or re-flows. The term is usually employed to designate the water which

Vicious, evil, wanting in good qualities: the reverse of good. See Riddell v. Thayer, 127 Mass. 487; Tobias v. Harland, 4 Wend. (N. Y.) 537.

A mark or sign worn by some persons, or placed upon certain things, for the purpose of designation. Some public officers, as watchmen, policemen, and the like are required to wear

A term used in the law of conveyances made to hinder and defraud creditors. It is defined as a fact tending to throw suspicion upon a transaction, and calling for an explanation. B

(From the French bagage, a bundle, and thence is derived bagagier, a carrier of goods). One who buys corn and victuals in one place and carries them to another to sell and make a p

An uncertain quantity of goods and merchandise, from three to four hundred. Jacob. the collection of a certain tribute or toll upon all manner of wares brought to that city to be s

Such articles of apparel, ornament, etc., as are in daily use by travellers, for convenience, comfort, or recr< "It includes whatever the passenger takes with him for his personal

An action in which the defendant is entitled to be discharged from arrest only upon giving bond to answer.

Process under which the sheriff is directed to arrest the defendant and is required by law to discharge him upon his tendering suitable bail as security for his appearance. A capia

A specialty by which the defendant and other persons become bound to the sheriff in a penal sum proportioned to the damages claimed in the action, and which is conditioned for the

A court auxiliary to the court of King's Bench at Westminster, wherein points connected more particularly with pleading and practice were argued and determined. Wharton, Law Diet 2

Formerly at the Old Bailey, in London, a small room taken from one of the corners of the court, and left open at the top, in which certain malefactors were placed during trial. Cen

One to whom goods are bailed; the party to whom personal property is delivered under a contract of bailment His duties are to act in good faith, and perform his undertaking, in res

In Scotch Law. An officer appointed to give infeftment. In certain cases it is the duty of the sheriff, as king's bailie, to act: generally, any one may be made bailie, by filling

A person to whom some authority, care, guardianship, or jurisdiction is delivered, committed, or intrusted. Spelman, Gloss. A sheriff's officer or deputy. 1 Bla. Com. 344. A court

The jurisdiction of a sheriff or bailiff. 1 Bla. Com. 344. A liberty or exclusive jurisdiction which was exempted from the sheriff of the county, and over which the lord appointed

In Canadian Law. The unpaid vendor of real estate. His claim is subordinate to that of a subsequent hypothecary creditor claiming under a conveyance of prior registration: 1 Low. C

In Old French Law. One to whom judicial authority was assigned or delivered by a superior. Black, L. Diet.

He who bails a thing to another. The bailor must act with good faith towards the bailee; Story, Bailm. § 74; permit him to enjoy the thing bailed according to contract; and in some

See Legitim.

To bait is to attack with violence; to provoke and harass. 2 A. & E. Encyc. 63; L. R. 9 Q. B. 3S0. BAL/ENA. A large fish, called by Blackstone a whale. Of this the king had the hea

The amount which remains due by one of two persons, who have been dealing together, to the other, after the settlement of their accounts. In the case of mutual debts, the balance o

In International Law. A distribution and an opposition of forces, forming one system, so that no state shall be in a position, either alone or united with others, to impose its wil

A statement made by merchants and others to show the true state of a particular business. A balance sheet should exhibit all the balances of debits and credits, also the value of m

A quantity or pack of goods or merchandise, wrapped or packed in cloth and tightly corded. Wharton. A bale of cotton means a bale compressed so as to occupy less space than if in;

In Civil Law. A teacher; one who has the care of youth; a tutor; a guardian. Du Cange, Bajultis; Spelmau, Gl BALI V A (spelled also Balliva). Equivalent to Balivatus. Bolivia, a ba

That which is used for trimming a ship to bring it down to a draft of water proper and safe for sailing. Great Western Ins. Co. v. Thwing, 13 WalL (U. S.) 674, 20 L. Ed. 607.

A toll paid for the privilege of taking up ballast from the bottom of the port. This arises from the property In the soil; 2 Chitty, Coram. Law 16. V

A fortress or bulwark; also BALLIVO AMOVENDO (L. Lat. for removing a bailiff). A writ to remove a bailiff out of his office.

Originally a ball used in voting; hence, a piece of paper, or other thing used for the same purpose; whole amount of votes cast. The act of voting by balls or tickets. Webster. A b

In Old English and Civil Law. A proclamation; a public notice; the announcement of an intended marriage. Cowell. An excommunication; a curse, publicly pronounced. A proclamation of

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

Advocates; countors; Serjeants. Applied to advocates in the common pleas courts. 1 Bla. Com. 24. BANCUS (Lat). A bench; the seat or bench of justice; a stall or table on which good

A man outlawed; one under ban.

A malefactor. Bracton, L 1, t 8, c. 1.

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 Dall. (U. S.) 14,

Bank notes, checks, and other securities for money received as cash by banks in the place where the word is used. In the United States, the notes issued by the national banks have

A fund which merchants, traders, and others have deposited into the common cash of some bank, to be drawn out by checks from time to time as the owner or depositor may require.

This term in an action on a bill of exchange is equivalent to expenses of noting and may be especially endorsed as a liquidated demand; [1893] 1 Q. B. 31S.

A credit with a bank by which, on proper security given to the bank, a person receives liberty to draw to a certain extent agreed upon. In Scotland also called a cash account. Such

A promissory note given by a private banker or banking institution, not incorporate, but resembling a bank note in all other respects. 6 Mod. 29; 3 Chit. Comm. Law 590.

A promissory note, payable on demand to the bearer, made and issued by a person or persons acting as bankers and authorized by law to issue such notes. The definition is confined t

Originally and strictly, a trader who secretes himself or does certain other acts tending to defraud his creditors. 2 Bla. Com. 471. A broken-up or ruined trader. Everett v. Stone,

The state or condition of a bankrupt. See Insolvency.

The capital of a bank. In England the sum is applied chiefly to the stock of the Bank of England.

A certain space surrounding towns or cities, distinguished by peculiar privileges. Spelman, Gloss. It is the same as the French uanlieue.

In Canadian Law. See Ban-

A small flag bearing a device or symbol and intended to be carried or waved. L. R. 2 P. C. 387. A canvas, particolored or bearing party words and stretched across a street is a ban

A degree of honor next after a baron's, when conferred by the king;

One outlawed or banished. Calvinus, Lex.

Public notice or proclamation of a matrimonial contract, and the intended celebration of the marriage of the parties in pursuance of such contract, to the end that persons objectin

A ban.

To Actions. A perpetual destruction of the action of the plaintiff. It is the exceptio peremptoria of the ancient authors. Co. Litt. 303 b; Steph. PI. App. xxviii. It is always a p

Associations of members of the bar have been organized in most of the states. The first of them was in Mississippi in 1825, but it is not known to have had a continued existence. O

Barbers were incorporated with the surgeons of London, but not to practice surgery, except the drawing of teeth; 32 Hen. VIII. c. 42. The business of a barber involves the public h

A fee taken by the sheriff, time out of mind, for every prisoner who is acquitted. Bacon, Abr. Extortion. Abolished by stats. 14 Geo. III. c. 26; 55 Geo. III. c. 50; 8 & 9 Vict. c.

It signifies a contract or agreement between two parties, the one to sell goods or lands, and the other to buy them. Hunt v. Adams, 5 Mass. 358, 4 Am. Dec. 68.

A contract or bargain by the owner of land, in consideration of money or its equivalent paid, to sell land to another person, called the bargainee, whereupon a use arises in favor

The grantee of an estate in a <lred of bargain and sale. The person to whom property is tendered in a bargain.

The person who makes a bargain; he who is to deliver the property and receive the consideration.

A man, whether slave or free. Si quis homicidium perpetraverit in barone libero seu servo, if any one shall have perpetrated a murder upon any man, slave or free. A freeman or free

A general title of nobility. 1 Bla. Com. 39S; a particular title of nobility, next to that of viscount. The lowest title in Great Britain. Originally barons comprehended all the no

A term used to the entire nobility of England of all ranks.

See Barons of thi: Exchequer.

A British title of hereditary rank next below that of a baron; it is the only title of hereditary knighthood. It is given by patent, not by investiture. The order was fouuded in 16

Man and woman; husband and wife. It ts doubtful if the words had originally In this phrase more meaning than man and woman. The vulgar use of man and woman for husband and wife sug

C-HTQ1 r. Ports. —

The Judges of the exchequer. See Exchequer.

The dignity of a baron; a species of tenure; the territory or lands held by a baron. Spelman, Gloss. It is possible that this tenure was distinct from that of knight service. 2 Hol

One who commits barratry. BARRATRY (Fr. barat, baraterie, robbery, deceit, fraud). Sometimes written Barretry. The offence of frequently exciting and siir- •ring up quarrels and su

A measure of capacity, equal to thirty-six gallons.

A debt which bears no interest.

The incapacity to produce a child. This, when arising from impotence which existed at the time the relation was entered into, is a cause for dissolving a marriage; 1 Fodere, Med. L

A contract by which parties exchange goods for goods. It differs from a sale in that a barter is always of goods for goods; a sale is of goods for money, or for money and goods. In

In Old English Law. The demesne land of a manor; a farm distinct from the mansion. Sometimes it is used for the manor house itself; and in some places for out houses and fold yards

Knights by tenure of a base military fee, as distinguished from bannerets, who were the chief or superior knights. Kennett, Paroch. Ant.; Blount.

It is a game of skill within the criminal offense of betting on such a game; Mace v. State, 58 Ark. 79, 22 S. W. 1108. Prohibition of base ball playing on Sunday does not violate t

An inferior court, that is, not of record, as the court baron. Cunningham.

A fee which has a qualification annexed to it, and which must be determined whenever the annexed qualification requires. A grant to A and his heirs, tenants of Dale, continues only

A floor partly beneath the surface of the ground but distinguished from a cellar by being well lighted anil fitted fur living purposes. In England the ground floor of a city house.

An abridgment of the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, translated into Greek and first published in the ninth century. The emperor Basilius, finding the Corpus Juri3 Civilis of Ju

See Base Fee. BASTARD (has or bast, abject, low, base, acrd, nature). One born of an illicit connection, and before the lawful marriage of its parents. One begotten and born out of

A female bastard. Calvinus, Lex.

Bastard elder. By the old English law, when a man had a bastard son, and he afterwards married the mother, and by her had a legitimate son, the first was called a bastard eigne, or

The statutory mode of proceeding against the putative father of a bastard to secure a proper maintenance for the bastard.

In Old English Law. A staff or club. In some old English statutes the servants or officers of the wardens of the fleet are so called, because they attended the king's courts with a

See Wageb of Battel.

Any unlawful beating, or other wrongful physical violence or constraint, inflicted on a huiiiau being without his consent. 2 Bish. Cr. L. § 71; Clark, Cr. L. 199; Long v. Rogers, 1

In French and Canadian law, a member of the bar selected as the head of the bar. B'ATTURE (Fr. shoals, shallows). An elevation of the bed of a river under the surface of the water;

An enclosure, or other contrivance, to keep in the water for the supply of a mill, so that the water may be able to drive the wheels of such mill. Stat 27 Eliz. c. 19. (This is gen

A stream which is the outlet of a swamp near the sea. Applied to the creeks in the lowlands lying on the Gulf of Mexico.

A window projecting from the wall of a building so as to form a recess or bay within and, properly speaking, rising from tbe ground or basement, with straight sides only; but the t