Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

118

BANKRUPT

BANK

The term "bank-bills" is familiar to every man in this country, and conveys a definite and cer tain meaning. It is a written promise on the part of the bank to pay to the bearer a certain sum of money, on demand. This term is understood by the community generally to mean a written prom ise for th e payment of money. So universal is this understanding that the term "bank-bills" would be rendered no more certain by adding the words "for the payment of money. * 3 Scam. 328. The words "bank-bill" and "bank-note," in their popular sense, are used synonymously. 21 Ind 176; 2 Park. Cnm. R. 37. Bank-notes, bank-bills, and promissory notes, such as are issued by the directors of a bank in corporated by the legislature of Vermont, mean the same thing; so that the expression in a stat ute "bank-bill or promissory note" is an evident tautology. 17 Vt. 151. BANK-BOOK. A book kept by a cus tomer of a bank, showing the state of his ac count with it. BANK-CBEDITS. Accommodations al lowed to a person on security given to a bank, to draw money on it to a certain extent agreed upon. BANK-NOTE. A promissory note is sued by a bank or authorized banker, payable to bearer on demand, and intended to circu late as money. BANK-STOCK. Shares in the capital of a bank; shares in the property of a bank. BANKABLE. In mercantile law Notes, checks, bank-bills, drafts, and other securities for money, received as cash by the banks. Such commercial paper as is consid ered worthy of discount by the bank to which it is offered is termed " bankable." BANKER. A private person who keeps a bank; one who is engaged in the business of banking. BANKER'S NOTE. A commercial in strument resembling a bank-note in every particular except that it is given by a private banker or unincorporated banking institu tion. BANKEROUT. O. Eng. Bankrupt; in solvent; indebted beyond the means of pay ment. BANKING. The business of receiving money on deposit, loaning money, discount ing notes, issuing notes for circulation, col lecting money on notes deposited, negotiating billa, etc. BANKRUPT. A person who has com mitted an act of bankruptcy; one who has done some act or suffered some act to be done in consequence of which, under the laws

purpose of hearing arguments on demurrers, points reserved, motions for new trial, etc., as distinguished from the sitting of a single judge at the assises or at nisi prius and from trials at bar. But, in this sense, bane is the more usual form of the word. 2. An institution, of great value in the commercial world, empowered to receive de posits of money, to make loans, and to issue its promissory notes, (designed to circulate as money, and commonly called "bank-notes" or "bank-bills,") or to perform any one or more of these functions. The term "bank" is usually restricted in its application to an incorporated body; while a private individual making it his business to conduct banking operations is denominat ed a "banker." Also the house or place where such busi ness is carried on. Banks in the commercial sense are of three kinds, to-wit: (1) Of deposit; (2) of dis count; (3) of circulation. Strictly speaking, the term "bank" implies a place for the de posit of money, as that is the most obvious purpose of such an institution. Originally the business of banking consisted only in re ceiving deposits, such as bullion, plate, and the like, for safe-keeping until the depositor should see fit to draw it out for use, but the Dusiness, in the progress of events, was ex tended, and bankeis assumed to discount bills and notes, and to loan money upon mortgage, pawn, or other security, and, at a still later period, to issue notes of their own, intended as a circulating currency and a medium of exchange, instead of gold and silver. Mod ern bankers frequently exercise any two or even all three of those functions, but it is still true that an institution prohibited from exercising any more than one of those func tions is a bank, in the strictest commercial sense. 17 Wall. 118; Rev. St. U. S. § 3407. 3. An acclivity; an elevation or mound of earth; usually applied in this sense to the raised earth bordering the sides of a water course. BANK.-ACCOUNT. 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 com putation of the several sums deposited and those drawn out by the customer on checks, entered on the books of the bank and the de positor's pass-book. BANK-BILLS. Promissory notes issued by a bank designed to circulate as money, and payable to the bearer on demand.

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