Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

BILLET DE CHANGE

138

BLACK ACRE

BILLET DE CHANGE. In French law. An engagement to give, at a future time, a bill of exchange, which the party is not at the time prepared to give. Story, Bills, § 2, n. BILLETA. In old English law. A bill or petition exhibited in parliament. Co well. BILLETING SOLDIERS. Quarteiing them in the houses of private citizens; find ing quarters for them. BI-METALLIC. Pertaining to, or con sisting of, two metals used as money at a fixed relative value. BI-METALLISM. The legalized use of two metals in the currency of a country at a fixed relative value. BIND. To obligate; to bring or place under definite duties or legal obligations, par ticularly by a bond or covenant; to affect one in a constraining or compulsory manner with a contract or a judgment. So long as a con tract, an adjudication, or a legal relation re mains in force and virtue, and continues to impose duties or obligations, it is said to be " binding." A man is bound by his contract or promise, by a judgment or decree against him, by his bond or covenant, by an estoppel, etc. BIND OUT. To place one under a legal obligation to serve another; as to bind out an apprentice. BINDING OVER. The act by which a court or magistrate requires a person to enter into a recognizance or furnish bail to appear for trial, to keep the peace, to attend as a witness, etc. BIPARTITE. Consisting of, or divisible into, two parts. A term in conveyancing de scriptive of an instrument in two parts, and executed by both parties. BIRRETUM, BIRRETUS. A cap or coif used formerly in England by judges and Serjeants at law. Spelman. BIRTH. The act of being born or wholly brought into separate existence. BIS. Lat. Twice. Bis idem exigi bona fides non patitur; «t in satisfactionibus non permittitur am plius fieri quam semel factum est. Good faith does not suffer the same thing to be de manded twice; and in making satisfaction ffor a debt or demandJ it is not allowed to be done more than once. 9 Coke, 53.

BISAILE. The father of one's grand' father or grandmother. BISANTIUM, BESANTINE, BE ZANT. An ancient coin,firstissued at Con stantinople; it was of two sorts,—gold, eq uivalent to a ducat, valued at 9s. 6d.; and silver, computed at 2s. They were both cur rent in England. What ton. BI-SCOT. In old English law. A fine imposed for not repairing banks, ditches, and causeways. BISHOP. An English ecclesiastical dig nitary, being the chief of the clergy within his diocese, subject to the archbishop of the province in which his diocese is situated. Most of the bishops are also members of the house of lords. A bishop has three powers: (1) A power of ordination, gained on his consecration, by which he confers orders, etc., in any place throughout the world; (2) a power of jurisdiction throughout his see or his bishopric; (3) a power of administration and government of the revenues thereof, gained on confirmation. He has, also, a consistory court, to hear ecclesiastical causes, and visits and super intends the clergy of his diocese. He consecrates churches and institutes priests, confirms, sus pends, excommunicates, and grants licenses for marriages. He has his archdeacon, dean, and chapter, chancellor, who holds his courts and as sists him in matters of ecclesiastical law, and vicar-generaL He grants leases for three lives, or twenty-one years, reserving the accustomed yearly rent. Wharton. BISHOPRIC. In ecclesiastical law. The diocese of a bishop, or the circuit in which he has jurisdiction; the office of a bishop. 1 BL Comm. 377-382. BISHOP'S COURT. In English law. An ecclesiastical court, held in the cathedral of each diocese, the judge whereof is the bishop's chancellor, who judges by the civil canon law; and, if the diocese be large, he has his commissaiies in remote parts, who hold consistory courts, for matters limited to them by their commission. BISSEXTILE. The day which is added every fourth year to the month of February, in order to make the year agree with the course of the sun. Leap year, consisting of 366 days, and happening every fourth year, by the addition of a day in the month of February, which ia that year consists of twenty-nine days. BLACK ACRE and WHITE ACRE. Fictitious names applied to pieces of land* and used as examples in the old books.

Archive CD Books USA