in mechanics, an instrument made of iron, edged in the form of a crescent, and adapted to a handle. It is used by plumbers, to perform several parts of their work; by basket-makers, to cut the largest pieces of chestnut-trees and other wood; and by gardeners, to prune trees. When short, it is called a band-bill; and when long, a hedge-bill.

law, a declaration in writing, expressing either some wrong the complainant has suffered from the defendant, or a fault committed by the person complained of against some law or statute.—This bill is sometimes exhibited to justices at the general assizes, by way of indictment, or referred to others having jurisdiction; but is more generally addressed to the lord chancellor. It contains the fact complained of, the damage sustained, and a petition or process against the defendant for redress; and is used both in criminal and civil cases. In the former, the words billa vera are indorsed by the grand jury upon a presentment, implying implying that they find the same founded on probable evidence, and therefore worthy of further consideration.

In Scots law, every summary application in writing, by way of petition to the court of session, is called a bill.

Bill of Attainder. See Attainder.

Bill of Appeal. See Appeal.

Bill signifies also a paper, either written or printed, in very large characters, which is posted up in some open and public place, to give notice of the sale of any merchandise or ship, or of the sailing of any vessel into foreign parts.

trade, both wholesale and retail, as also among workmen, signifies an account of merchandizes or goods delivered to a person, or of work done for one.

commerce, denotes a security for money under the hand and sometimes seal of the debtor, without any condition or forfeiture in case of non-performance; in which it is distinguished from a bond or obligation. It has been usually defined, a writing wherein one man is bound to another to pay a sum of money, on a day that is future, or presently on demand, according to the agreement of the parties at the time when it is drawn; on which, in case of failure, diligence or execution may be immediately done to force payment. These bills must be on stamped paper; if under L50, the stamp to be 6d.; if for L50 or upwards, 1s.

Bank-Bill is a note or obligation signed on behalf of the company of the bank, by one of their cashiers, for value received. Or it is an obligation to pay on demand either to the bearer or to order; in Scotland, it is understood to be to order.

Bill of Entry, an account of the goods entered at the custom-house, both inwards and outwards. In this bill must be expressed, the merchant exporting or importing; the quantity of merchandise, and the divers species thereof; and whither transported, or from whence.

Bill of Exchange, is a security, originally invented among merchants in different countries, for the more easy remittance of money from the one to the other, which has since spread itself into almost all pecuniary transactions. It is an open letter of request from one man to another, desiring him to pay a sum named therein to a third person on his account; by which means a man at the most distant part of the world may have money remitted to him from any trading country. If A lives in Jamaica, and owes B who lives in England L1000; now if C be going from England to Jamaica, he may pay B this L1000 and take a bill of exchange drawn by B in England upon A in Jamaica, and receive it when he comes thither. Thus does B receive his debt, at any distance of place, by transferring it to C; who carries over his money in paper-credit, without danger of robbery or loss. This method is said to have been brought into general use by the Jews and Lombards, when banished for their usury and other vices; in order the more easily to draw their effects out of France and England into those countries in which they had chosen to reside. But the invention of it was a little earlier; for the Jews were banished out of Gnuinne in 1287, and out of England in 1290, and in 1236 the use of paper-credit was introduced into the Mogul empire in China.—In common speech, such a bill is frequently called a draught; but a bill of exchange is the more legal as well as mercantile expression. The person, however, who writes this letter is called, in law, the drawer; and he to whom it is written, the drawee; and the third person or negociator to whom it is payable (whether specially named or the bearer generally) is called the payee.

These bills are either foreign or inland; foreign, when drawn by a merchant residing abroad upon his correspondent in England, or vice versa; and inland, when both the drawer and the drawee reside within the kingdom. Formerly foreign bills of exchange were much more regarded in the eye of the law than inland ones, as being thought of more public concern in the advancement of trade and commerce. But now by two statutes, the one 9 and 10 W. III. c. 17. the other 3 and 4 Ann. c. 9. inland bills of exchange are put upon the same footing as foreign ones; what was the law and custom of merchants with regard to the one, and taken notice of merely as such, being by those statutes expressly enacted with regard to the other. So that there is now in law no manner of difference between them. In drawing foreign bills of exchange, it is customary to give two or three of the same date and tenor to be sent by different conveyances, that in case of accidents the person to whom they are sent may not be disappointed; in which case it is mentioned in the body of the bill, that it is the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd bill of exchange; so that when one is paid it discharges all the rest. Foreign bills for any sum must be on 6d. stamped paper.

Bill of Lading, an acknowledgment signed by the master of a ship, and given to a merchant, &c. containing an account of the goods which the master has received on board from that merchant, &c., with a promise to deliver them at an intended place for a certain salary. Each bill of lading must be treble, one for the merchant who loads the goods, another to be sent to the person to whom they are consigned, and the third to remain in the hands of the master of the ship. It must be observed, however, that a bill of lading is used only when the goods sent on board a ship are but part of the cargo; for when a merchant loads a whole vessel for his own personal account, the deed passed between him and the matter of the ship is called charter-party. See Charter-party.

Bills of Mortality, are accounts of the numbers of births and burials within a certain district, every week, month, quarter, or year. In this sense we say weekly bills, monthly bills, quarterly bills, yearly bills. The London bills of mortality, which were the first, are composed by the company of parish-clerks, and express the number of christenings of each sex, and the number of deaths from each disease.

Bill of Parcels, an account given by the seller to the buyer, containing the particulars of all the sorts and prices of the goods bought.

Bill of Sale, is when a person wanting a sum of money delivers goods as a security to the lender, to whom he gives this bill, empowering him to sell the goods, in case the sum borrowed is not repaid, with interest, at the appointed time. Bill of Store, a licence granted at the custom-house to merchants, by which they have liberty to carry, custom-free, all such flores and provisions as they may have occasion for during their voyage.

Bill of Sufferance, a licence granted to a merchant, at the custom-house, suffering him to trade from one English port to another without paying custom.

Lombard Bills, are instruments of an uncommon kind and figure, used in Italy and Flanders, and of late also in France; consisting of a piece of parchment, cut to an acute angle about an inch broad at top, and terminating in a point at bottom; chiefly given where private persons are concerned in the fitting out a ship on any long voyage. The manner is thus: The party, who is desirous to be concerned in the cargo or venture, carries his money to the merchant, who fits out the ship, where it is entered down in a register: at the same time the merchant writes down on a piece of parchment, upwards of an inch broad, and seven or eight inches long, the name of the lender and the sum lent; which being cut diagonal-wise, or from corner to corner, each party retains his half. On the return of the vessel, the lender brings his moiety to the merchant; which being compared with the other, he receives his dividend accordingly. Much the same is practised in Holland by those who lend money on pledges: the name of the borrower and the sum are written on a like slip of parchment, which is cut in two, and half given to the borrower, and the other half stitched to the pledge; that, upon comparing them together again, the borrower may receive his goods on paying the money stipulated.

Bill in Parliament, a paper containing propositions, offered to the houses to be passed by them, and then presented to the king to pass into a law.

To bring a bill into the house, if the relief sought by it is of a private nature, it is first necessary to prefer a petition; which must be presented by a member, and usually sets forth the grievance desired to be remedied. This petition (when founded on facts that may be in their nature disputed) is referred to a committee of members, who examine the matter alleged, and accordingly report it to the house; and then (or, otherwise, upon the mere petition) leave is given to bring in the bill. In public matters, the bill is brought in upon motion made to the house, without any petition at all. Formerly all bills were drawn in the form of petitions, which were entered upon the parliament-rolls, with the king's answer thereto subjoined; not in any settled form of words, but as the circumstances of the case required: and at the end of each parliament the judges drew them into the form of a statute, which was entered on the statute-rolls. In the reign of Henry V., to prevent mistakes and abuses, the statutes were drawn up by the judges before the end of the parliament; and in the reign of Henry VI., bills in the form of acts, according to the modern custom, were first introduced.

The persons directed to bring in the bill, present it in a competent time to the house, drawn out on paper, with a multitude of blanks, or void spaces, where anything occurs that is dubious, or necessary to be settled by the parliament itself (such especially as the precise date of times, the nature and quantity of penalties, or of any sums of money to be raised); being indeed only the skeleton of the bill. In the house of lords, if the bill begins there, it is (when of a private nature) referred to two of the judges, who examine and report the state of the facts alleged, to see that all necessary parties consent, and to settle all points of technical propriety. This is read a first time, and at a convenient distance a second time; and after each reading, the speaker opens to the house the substance of the bill, and puts the question, Whether it shall proceed any farther? The introduction of the bill may be originally opposed, as the bill itself may at either of the readings; and, if the opposition succeeds, the bill must be dropped for that session; as it must also, if opposed with success in any of the subsequent stages.

After the second reading, it is committed; that is, referred to a committee; which is either selected by the house in matters of small importance; or else, upon a bill of consequence, the house resolves itself into a committee of the whole house. A committee of the whole house is composed of every member; and, to form it, the speaker quits the chair (another member being appointed chairman), and may sit and debate as a private member. In these committees the bill is debated clause by clause, amendments made, the blanks filled up, and sometimes the bill entirely new modelled. After it has gone through the committee, the chairman reports it to the house with such amendments as the committee have made; and then the house reconvenes the whole bill again, and the question is repeatedly put upon every clause and amendment. When the house hath agreed or disagreed to the amendments of the committee, and sometimes added new amendments of its own, the bill is then ordered to be engrossed, or written in a strong grofs hand, on one or more long rolls (or prelles) of parchment sewed together. When this is finished, it is read a third time, and amendments are sometimes then made to it; and if a new clause be added, it is done by tacking a separate piece of parchment on the bill, which is called a rider. The speaker then again opens the contents; and, holding it up in his hands, puts the question, Whether the bill shall pass? If this is agreed to, the title to it is then settled; which used to be a general one for all the acts passed in the session, till in the fifth year of Hen. VIII. distinct titles were introduced for each chapter. After this, one of the members is directed to carry it to the lords, and desire their concurrence; who, attended by several more, carries it to the bar of the house of peers, and there delivers it to their speaker, who comes down from his woolstock to receive it.

If there passes through the same forms as in the other house (except engrossing, which is already done); and, if rejected, no more notice is taken, but it paies sub silentio, to prevent unbecoming altercations. But if it is agreed to, the lords send a message by two masters in chancery (or sometimes two of the judges) that they have agreed to the same; and the bill remains with the lords, if they have made no amendment to it. But if any amendments are made, such amendments are sent down with the bill to receive the concurrence of the commons. If the commons disagree to the amendments, a conference usually follows between members deputed from each house; who for the most part settle and adjust the difference: but if both houses remain inflexible, inflexible, the bill is dropped. If the commons agree to the amendments, the bill is sent back to the lords by one of the members, with a message to acquaint them therewith. The same forms are observed, mutatis mutandis, when the bill begins in the house of lords. But when an act of grace or pardon is passed, it is first signed by his majesty, and then read once only in each of the houses, without any new engrossing or amendment. And when both houses have done with any bill, it always is deposited in the house of peers, to wait the royal assent; except in the case of a bill of supply, which after receiving the concurrence of the lords is sent back to the house of commons.

The royal assent may be given two ways: 1. In person; when the king comes to the house of peers, in his crown and royal robes, and sending for the commons to the bar, the titles of all the bills that have passed both houses are read; and the king's answer is declared by the clerk of the parliament in Norman-French: a badge, it must be owned (now the only one remaining), of conquest; and which one could wish to see fall into total oblivion; unless it be revered as a solemn memento to remind us that our liberties are mortal, having been once destroyed by a foreign force. If the king consents to a public bill, the clerk usually declares, "Le roy le veut," "The king wills it so to be;" if to a private bill, "Soit fait come il est defray," "Be it as it is desired." If the king refuses his assent, it is in the gentle language of Le roy faveurea, "The king will advise upon it." When a bill of supply is passed, it is carried up and presented to the king by the speaker of the house of commons; and the royal assent is thus expressed, "Le roy remercie ses loyal subiects, accepte leur benevolence, et aufl le veut;" "The king thanks his loyal subjects, accepts their benevolence, and wills it so to be." In case of an act of grace, which originally proceeds from the crown and has the royal assent in the first stage of it, the clerk of the parliament thus pronounces the gratitude of the subject: "Les prelates, seigneurs, et commons, en ce present parliament assemblez, au nom de tous vos autres subiects, remercient tres humblement votre majeste, et prient a Dieu vous donner en sante bone vie et longue;" "The prelates, lords, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, in the name of all your other subjects, most humbly thank your majesty, and pray to God to grant you in health and wealth long to live."

2. By the statute 33 Hen. VIII. c. 21, the king may give his assent by letters patent under his great seal, signed with his hand, and notified in his absence to both houses assembled together in the high house. And when the bill has received the royal assent in either of these ways, it is then, and not before, a statute or act of parliament.

This statute or act is placed among the records of the kingdom; there needing no formal promulgation to give it the force of a law, as was necessary by the civil law with regard to the emperor's edicts; because every man in Britain is, in judgment of law, party to the making of an edict of parliament, being present thereat by his representatives. However, a copy thereof is usually printed at the king's press for the information of the whole land. And formerly, before the invention of printing, it was used to be published by the sheriff of every county; the king's writ being sent to him at the end of every session, together with a transcript of all the acts made at that session, commanding him, ut statuta illa, et omnes articulos in eisdem continent, in singulis locis ubi expedit expedire videtur, publice proclamari, et firmiter teneri et observari faciat. And the usage was to proclaim them at his county court, and there to keep them, that whoever would might read or take copies thereof; which custom continued till the reign of Henry VII.

An act of parliament thus made is the exercise of the highest authority that this kingdom acknowledges upon earth. It hath power to bind every subject in the land, and the dominions thereunto belonging; nay, even the king himself, if particularly named therein. And it cannot be altered, amended, dispensed with, suspended, or repealed, but in the same forms and by the same authority of parliament: for it is a maxim in law, that it requires the same strength to dissolve as to create an obligation. It is true, it was formerly held, that the king might in many cases dispense with penal statutes; but now by statute 1 Wil. and M. st. 2, c. 2, it is declared, that the dispensing or dispensing with laws by regal authority, without consent of parliament, is illegal.

Bill of Rights. See the article Liberty.