BILL OBLIGATORY1. An instrument in common use and too well known to be misunderstood. It is a bond without condition, sometimes called a single bill, and differs in nothing from a promissory note, but the seal which is affixed2 to it. 2 Serg. Rawle, 115. See Read's Pleaders' Assistant, 256, for a declaration setting forth3 such a bill. Also West's Symboleography, s. 100, 101, for the forms both with and without a penalty.
BILL OF P人工智能NS AND PENALTIES. A special act of the legislature which inflicts5 a punishment, less than death, upon persons supposed to be guilty of high offences, Such as; treason and felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial6 proceedings7. 2 Wood. Law Lect. 625. It differs from a bill of attainder in this, that the punishment inflicted8 by the latter is death.
2. The Constitution of the United States Provides that no bill of attainder shall be passed. It has been judicially9 said by the supreme10 court of the United States, that a bill of attainder may affect the life of an inpidual, or i-nay confiscate11 his property, or both. 6 Cranch, R. 138. in the sense of the constitution, then, it seems that bills of attainder include bills of pains and penalties. Story, Const. 1338. Vide Attainder; Bills of Attainder.
BILL OP PARCELS, merc. law. An account containing in detail the names of the items which compose a parcel or package of goods; it is usually transmitted with the goods to the purchaser, in order that if any mistake have been made, it may be corrected.
BILL OF PARTICULARS, practice. A detailed12 informal statement of a plaintiff is cause of action, or of the defendants's set-off.
2. In all actions in which the plaintiff declares generally, without specifying14 his cause of action, a judge upon application will order him to give the defendant13 a bill of the particulars, and in the meantime stay, proceedings. 3 John. R. 248. And when the defendant gives notice or pleads a set-off, he will be required to give a bill of the particulars of his set-off, on failure of which he will be precluded15 from giving any evidence in support of it at the trial. The object in both cases is to prevent surprise and procure17 a fair trial. 1 Phil. Ev. 152; 3 Stark18 Ev. 1055. The bill of particulars is an account of the items of the demand, and states in what manner they arose. Mete19. Perk20. Dig. h. t. For forms, see Lee's Dict. of Pr., Particulars of demand.
BILL PENAL4, contracts. A written obligation, by which a debtor21 acknowledges himself indebted in a certain sum, may one hundred dollars, and for the payment of the debt binds22 himself in a larger sum, say two hundred dollars. Bills penal do not frequently occur in modern practice; bonds, with conditions, have superseded23 them. Steph. on Pl. 265, note. See 2 Vent16. 198. Bills-penal are sometimes called bills obligatory. Cro. Car. 515; 2 Vent. 106. But a bill obligatory is not necessarily a bill penal. Com. Dig. Obligations, D.
BILL OF PRIVILEGE, Eng. law. A process issued out of the court against an attorney, who is privileged from arrest, instead of process demanding bail24. 3 Bl. Com. 289.
BILL OF PROOF. In the mayor's court, London, the claim made by a third person to the subject-matter in dispute between two others in a suit there, is called bill of Proof. It is somewhat similar to an intervention25. 3 Chit. Com. Law, 633; 2 Chit. Pr. 492; 1 Marsh26, R. 233.
BILL OF SUFFRANCE, Eng. law. The name of a license27 granted at the custom house to a merchant, authorizing28 him to trade from one English port to another without paying custom. Cunn. L. D.
BILL OF RIGHTS. English law. A statute29 passed in the reign30 of William and Mary, so called, because it declared the true rights of British subjects. W. M. stat. 2, c. 2.
BILL OF SALE, Contracts. An agreement in writing, under seal, by which a man transfers the right or interest he has in goods and cbattels, to another. As the law imports a consideration when an agreement is made by deed, a bill of sale alters the property. Yelv. 196; Cro. Jac. 270 6 Co. 18.
2. The Act of Congress of January 14, 1793, 1 Story, L. U. S. 276, provides, that when any ship or vessel31 which shall have been registered pursuant to that act, or the act thereby32 partially33 repealed34, shall in whole or in part be sold or transferred to a citizen of the United States, in every such sale or transfer, there shall be some instrument or writing in the nature of a bill of sale, which shall recite at length the certificate of registry; otherwise the said ship or vessel shall be incapable35 to be registered anew.
3. In England a distinction is made between a bill of sale for the transfer of a ship at sea, and one for the conveyance36 of a ship in the country; the former is called a grand bill of sale, the latter, simply, a bill of sale. In this country there does not appear to be such a distinction. 4 Mass. 661.
4. In general, the maritime37 law requires that the transfer of a ship should be evidenced by a bill of sale. 1 Mason, 306. But a contract to sell, accompanied by delivery of possession, is sufficient. 8 Pick. 86 16 Pick. 401; 16 Mass. 336; 7 John. 308. See 4 Mason, 515; 4 John. 54 16 Pet. 215; 2 Hall, 1; 1 Wash. C. C. 226.
