Bill

[L. Lat. billa; Sax. bUU; Graecobarb. fi Moc.'\ A formal statement <Mr declaration of a thing in writing. This seems to be the radical meaning of the term, as the following definitions may illustrate: A formal written statement of complaint to a court of justice; as a bill, simply so called, in old English practice; a bill of privilege, a hill in equity, and a bill of indictment. A declaration by a court to its officers, in the nature of process; as the old bill of Middlesex, A record or written statement of proceedings in an action; as a biU of exceplions. A written statement of the terms of a contract, or specification of the items of a demand, or counter-demand; as a bill of exchange, a hill single and penal, a bill of lading, a bill of sale, a bill of credit, and a b Ul of particulars. A draft of an act of the legislature before it becomes a law; a proposed or projected law. A solemn and formal written declaration of popular rights and liberties, promulgated on certain extraordinary occasions; as the famous Bill of Bights in English history. See these varieties of the word defined^ infra,