Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

133

BILL IN NATURE, ETC.

BILL

or some other thing, in which, besides th< names of the parties, are to be considered th< sum or thing due, the time, place, and man ner of payment or delivery thereof. It maj be indented ori poll, and with or without i penalty. West, Symb. §§ 100, 101. 8. A written statement of the terms of t contract, or specification of the items of a de mand, or counter-demand. Also the creditor's written statement oi his claim, specifying the items. 9. By the English usage, it is applied U the statement of the charges and disburse ments of an attorney or solicitor incurred ir the conduct of his client's business, and whicl might be taxed upon application, even thougl not incurred in any suit. Thus, conveyanc ing costs might be taxed. Wharton. BILL-BOOK. In mercantile law. A book in which an account of bills of exchange and promissory notes, whether payable or re ceivable, is stated. BILL CHAMBER. In Scotch law. A department of the court of session in which petitions for suspension, interdict, etc., are entertained. It is equivalent to sittings in chambers in the English and American prac tice. Paters. Comp. BILL FOB A NEW TRIAL. In eq uity practice. A bill in equity in which the specific relief asked is an injunction against the execution of a judgment rendered at law and a new trial in the action, on account of some fact which would render it inequitable to enforce the judgment, but which was not available to the party on the trial at law, oi which he was prevented from presenting by fraud or accident, without concurrent fraud or negligence on his own part. BILL FOB FORECLOSURE. In eq uity practice. One which is filed by a mort gagee against the mortgagor, for the purpose of having the estate sold, thereby to obtain the sum mortgaged on the premises, with in terest and costs. 1 Madd. Ch. Pr. 528. BILL-HEAD. A printed form on which merchants and traders make out their bills and render accounts to their customers. BILL IN CHANCERY. See BILL. 4. BILL IN EQUITY. See BILL, 4. BILL IN NATURE OF A BILL OF BEVIEW. A bill in equity, to obtain a re-examination and reversal of a decree, filed by one who was not a party to tl*e original suit, nor bound by the decree.

1. A formal written statement of com plaint to a court of justice. In the ancient practice of the court of king's bench, the usual and orderly method of beginning an action was by a bill, or orig inal bill, or plaint. This was a written state ment of the plaintiff's cause of action, like a declaration or complaint, and always alleged a trespass as the ground of it, in order to give the court jurisdiction. 3 Bl. Comm. 43. 2. A formal written declaration by a court to its officers, in the nature of process; as the old bill of Middlesex. 3. A record or certified written account of the proceedings in an action, or a portion of the same; as a bill of exceptions, 4. In equity practice. A formal writ ten complaint, in the nature of a petition, addressed by a suitor in chancery to the chancellor or to a court of equity or a court having equitable jurisdiction, showing the names of the parties, stating the facts which make up the case and the complainant's alle gations, averring that the acts disclosed are contrary to equity, and praying for process and for specific relief, or for such relief as the circumstances demand. Bills are said to be original, not original, or in the nature of original bills. They are original when the circumstances constituting the case are not already before the court, and relief is demanded, or the bill is filed for a subsidiary purpose. 5. In legislation and constitutional law, the M ord means a draft of an act of the legislature bt fore it becomes a law; a proposed or pro jected law. A draft of an act presented to the legislature, but not enacted. An act is the appropriate term for it, after it has been acted on by, and passed by, the legislature. 26 Pa. St. 450. Also a special act passed by a legislative body in the exercise of a quasi judicial power. Thus, bills of attainder, bills of pains and penalties, are spoken of. In England, "bill" also signifies the draft of a patent for a charter, commission, dignity, office, v appointment; such a bill is drawn up in the at torney general's patent bill office, is submitted by a secretary of state for her majesty's signature, when it is called the "queen's bill;" it is counter signed by the secretary of state, and sealed by the privy seal, and then the patent is prepared and sealed. Sweet. 6. A solemn and formal legislative declara tion of popular rights and liberties, promul gated on certain extraordinary occasions; as the famous Bill of Rights in English history. 7. As a contract. An obligation; a deed, whereby the obligor acknowledges himself to ewe unto the obligee a certain sum of money

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