BIL

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BIL

a person, or of work (lone for one. In those bills, must be setdown the sums of money received on account, which ought tobe deducted from the sum total.

Bill of Credit, that which a merchant or banker gives toa person whom he can trust, impowering him to receive moneyfrom his correspondents in foreign countries. Though bills ofcredit be different from bills of exchange, yet they enjoy thesame privileges; for the money paid in consequence of them,is irrecoverable by law.

Bill of Entry, an account of the goods entered at the Cus-tom-house, both inwards and outwards. In this bill must be ex-pressed, the merchant exporting or importing; the quantity ofmerchandize, and the divers species thereof; and whither trans-ported, or from whence.

Bill of Exchange, is a security , originally invented amongmerchants in different countries, for the more easy remittance ofmoney from the one to the other, which has since spread itself intoalmost all pecuniary transactions. It is an open letter of requestfrom one man to another, desiring him to pay a sum namedtherein to a third person on his account; by which means a manat the most distant part of the world may have money remittedto him from any trading country. If A lives in Jamaica , andowes B who lives in England 1000/. ; now, if C be going fromEngland to Jamaica , he may pay B this 1000/. and take a hill ofexchange drawn by B in England upon A in Jamaica , and receiveit when he comes thither. Thus does B receive his debt, at anydistance of place, by transferring it to C ; who carries over hisI'm ney in paper credit, without danger of robbery or loss. Thismethod is said to have been brought into general me by the Jews and Lombardi, when banished for their usury and other vices : inorder the more easily to draw' their effects out of France andEngland into those countries in which they had chosen to reside.But the invention of it was a little earlier ; for the Jews werebanished out of Guiennc in 1287, and out of England in 1290,and in 1236 the use of paper credit was introduced into the Mo-gul empire in China . In common language, such a bill iscalled a draught; but a bill of exchange is the more legal aswell as mercantile expression. The person, however, who writesthis letter is called, in law, the drawer; and lie to whom it iswritten denominated the drawee ; and the third person ornegotiator to whom it is payable (whether especially named asthe bearer generally) is called the payee. These bills are eitherforeign or inland ; foreign, when drawn by a merchant residingabroad upon his correspondent in England, or vice versa ; andinland, when both the drawer and the drawee reside within thekingdom. Formerly foreign bills of exchange were much moreregarded in die eye of die law than inland ones, as being thoughtot more public concern in the advancement of trade and com-merce. But now' by two statutes, the one 9 and 10 W. III. c.17. the other 3 ail’d 4 Ann. c. 9. inland bills of exchange areput upon tlie same footing as foreign ones ; what was the lawand custom of the merchants with regard to the one, and takennotice of merely as such, being by those statutes expressly enactedw ith regard to the other. So that there is now in law no mannerof difference between them. In drawing foreign bills of ex-change, it is customary to give 2 or3 of tire same date and tenorto be sent by different conveyances, that in case of accidents theperson to whom they are sent mav not be disappointed ; in whichcase it is mentioned in the body of the bill, that it is the 1st,2d, and 3d bill of exchange; so that when one is paid it dis-charges all the rest. Foreign bills for any sum must be on 6d.stamped paper.

Bill of Lading , an acknowledgment signed by the master ofa ship, and given to a merchant, See. containing an account ofthe goods which the master has received on board from thatmerchant, &c. with a promise to deliver them at an intendedplace for a certain salary. Each bill of lading must be treble,one for the merchant who loads the goods, another to be sent totlie person to whom they are consigned, and the third to remainin the hands of the master of the ship, it must be -Jiserved,however, that a bill of lading is used only when the goods senton board a ship are but part of the cargo : for when a merchantloads a whole vessel for his own personal account, the deed passedbetween him and the master of the ship, is called charter-party.See tlie article Charter-Party.

Bill of Parcels, an accouut given by the seller to the buyer,

containing the particulars of all the sorts and prices of the goodsbought.

Bill of Salk, is when a perron wanting a sum of money,delivers goods as a security to tlie lender, to whom he givesthis bill, impowering him to sell the goods, in case tlie sum bor-rowed is not repaid, with interest, at the appointed time.

Bill of StcIre, a licence granted at the custom-house to mer-chants, by which they have liberty to carry, custom-free, all suchstores and provisions as they may have occasion for during theirvoyage.

Bill of Sufferance, a licence granted to a merchant, at tliecustom-house, suffering him to trade fiom one English port toanother, without paying custom.

Bank-Bill, a private instrument whereby private persons be-come intitled to a part in the bank stock. See Bank.

Bill, in law, a security for money under the hand, and some-times the seal, of tlie debtor, it is of two sorts, a single billwithout a penalty, or a bill with a penalty, called a penal bill;which last is all one with what we call a bond or obligation, onlyit has not a condition. See the article Bond .

Bill denotes also a declaration, in writing, expressing eithersome wrong tlie complainant has suffered by tlie defendant, orelse a fault that tlie party complained of lias committed againstsome law or statute ot the realm. This bill is sometimes exhibitedto justices at the general assizes, by way of indictment, or re-ferred to others'having jurisdiction; but more especially is ad-dressed to the lord chancellor, for inconsiderable wrongs done.It contains tlie thing or fact complained of. the damage sustained,and a petition or process against tlie defendant for redress ; and ismade use of botli in criminal and civil cases, without distinc-tion.

Bill, in physiology, a cartilaginous substance covered with a,skin, which forms the beak cf a bird. The bill performs tlieoffice of teeth in some birds ; and serves as a weapon of offenceand defence. In the parrot kind it is hooked, and serves to climbwith, and to catch hold of boughs.

Bill in Parliament , a paper containing propositions, offeredto both houses to be passed by them, and then presented to theking to pass into a law. To bring a hill into tlie house, if therelief sought by it, is of a private nature, it is first necessary toprefer a petition ; which must he presented by a member, andusually sets forth tlie grievance desired to be remedied. Thispetition (when founded on facts that maybe in their nature dis-puted) is referred to a committee of members, who examine thematter alledged, and accordingly report it to tlie house ; and then(or otherwise upon the mere petition) leave is given to bring in tliebill. In public mailers, the bill is brought in upon motion madeto the house, without any petition at all. Formerly Gills weredrawn in the form of petitions, which were entered upon the par-liament rolls, with the king’s answer thereunto subjoined ; not inany settled form of words, but as the circumstances of the case re-quired : and at the end of each parliament, tlie judges drew theminto the form of a statute, which was entered on the statute rolls,in the reign of Ilenry V. to prevent mistakes and abuses, tliestatutes were drawn up by the judges before the end of tlie par-liament; and in the reign of Ilenry Vi. bills in the form of acts,according to the modem custom, were first introduced. Tliepersons directed to bring in the bill, present it in a competenttime to tlie house, drawn out on paper, with a multitude of blanks,or void spaces, where any tiling occurs that is dubious, or necessaryto be settled by the parliament itself, (such especially as tlie pre-cise date of times, the nature and quantity of penalties, or of anysums of money to lie raised,) being indeed only the skeleton ofthe bill, in the house of lords, if the bill begin there, it is (whenof a private nature) referred to two of tlie judges, who examineand report the state of tlie facts alledged, to see that all necessaryparties consent, and to settle all points of technical propriety.Ehis is read a first time, and at a convenient distance a secondtime; and alter each reading, the speaker opens to the house thesubstance of the bill, and puts the question, 'Whether it shallproceed any farther ? The introduction of the bill may be ori-ginally opposed, as the bill itself may at either of the readings;and, if tlie opposition succeed, the bill must be dropped for thatsession ; as it must also, if opposed with success in any of the sub-sequent stages. After the 2(1 reading, the bill is committed ; thatis, referred to a committee : which is either selected by tlie house