BAN 



pi\l caiifo, occafK)'.icd tiicir being employed in procurif.g 

 expeditions of tlie court of Rome. But the lieavv extor- 

 tions they praclifed tcwanls their clients, foon rendered 

 tlicm odious, and occafioned feveral denominations of re- 

 proach, as coarani, calurchii, cautfini, cojini, Iffc. from the 

 city Cahors, tlie native place of pape John XXII, in whofe 

 pontificate they were in their lii^hell power. 



Baxkur, in Bricklaying', a piece of timber wliercou they 

 cut the bricics. 



The banker is fix fcct long or more, acconlinr; to the 

 number of men to work at it, and ni;:c or ten inches 

 fquare ; .it -is to be laid on two piers of timber, three feet 

 high from the floor they Hand cm. 



Banker, in Sea Langua^^e, fignifies a vefTel employed in 

 the cod-fifliery on the banks of Newfoundland. 



BANKES, Sill JoiiN, in Bir'ni/thy, lord chief jullice of 

 the common pleas in the reign of king Charles I. svas de- 

 fcended from a good family at Kefvviek i.i Cumberland, 

 and born there in the year ijSy. In 1604 lie removed to 

 Q_ueen',s college, Oxford, and afterwards pnrfueJ the lludy 

 of the lav.' in Gray's inn. By his application and profi- 

 ciency he acquired a reputation which recommended him 

 to his fovereign Charles I. who, in 1629, made him his at- 

 torney. In Augnll 1634, he was knighted, and appointed 

 to the office of attorney general; from which office he was 

 ■advanced, in 1640, to that of chief juflice of the common 

 pleas. In both thefe offices he atled with wifdom and in- 

 tegrity, and obtained univerfal approbation. So fingular 

 was his merit, that, though he decidedly took part with the 

 king in his contell with the parliament, it was defired by the 

 latter, in 1643, that he might be continued in office. 

 However, he foon after loft all hi, credit at Weftmiuller; 

 for he declared from the bench at Salilbury, thatt'ne actions 

 of Eflex, Manchetter, and Waller, were treafonable ; and the 

 commons voted him and the reft of the judges wlio were of 

 this opinion, traitors. Lady Bankes manifefted extraordi- 

 nary fortitude in the defence of Corff caftle in the ifle of 

 Purbeck, where fir John and his family refided. When it 

 was befieged by the parliamentary forces, file refiifcd to 

 furrerder it, though ftie had about her only her children, a 

 few fervants and tenants, amounting at one time only to five 

 and at moft to no more than forty. When the town was 

 obliged to lurrender, and the beliegers became remifs under 

 a notion that their bufincfs was completed, lady Bankes 

 procured a fupply ot provifion and ammunition, and was 

 thus enabled to hold out till the fiege was raifed. Sir 

 John remained with the king at Oxford, in the difcharge of 

 his dnty as a privy-counfellor, till his death, which liappened 

 in December :C>a^ By his will he bequeathed, bcfides 

 rither charities, an annuity of tliirty pounds to the town of 

 Kelwick for the lupport of a manufatluie of coarfe cottons, 

 which had been lately eftablilhed, and which, without this 

 aid, would have been loft. Sir John Bankes was diftin- 

 jjuiflied by found integrity, cool judgment, and an amiable 

 temper. Biog. Brit. 



BANKIANA, in Entomology, a fpecies of PHAL;r.XA 

 ■yTcrlnx), named after fir Jofeph Banks; it inhabits the 

 wocds ot England and Germany : is of a large fize; and is 

 diftinguidied by having the wings brown, with two fnowy 

 white bands, the pofterior one unidentated. Fabricius. 



BANKING, in general, the making of banks to oppofe 

 the force of the fta, rivers, or the like, and fecure the land 

 fioin beiug overflowed thereby. 



With refpecl to the water which is to be kept out, this 

 is called banking; with refpcCt to the land, which is herebi' 

 to be defended, imbanking. 



Banking, in a Salt-l'/urk, tlie laifing a fence againft the 



BAN 



fen, wheveby itn wnfers may be kept out, excepting fo ir.iicli 

 as is neecirary for liie preparation of the fak. 



Bankinc, in Commerce. See Bank, and Banker. 



BAKKOK, or Bancok, in Geography, a town ot Siam, 

 at the mouth of the river Iileinam, which difcharges itfelf 

 inio the gulf of Siair.. 



BANKRUPT, in Commerce and Law, a trader, who 

 fecj-etes himfelf, or docs certain other afts, tending to de- 

 fraud his cieditc rs. 



The word is formed from the ancient Latin ianciis, a 

 bench, or tahle, and riipliis, broLn. 



Bsnk, we have elfewhere obferved, originally fignified a 

 bench, which the firft banktrs had in the ;5iiblic phices, in 

 markets, fairs, &c. on which they told their money, wrote 

 their bills of exchange, &c. Hence, whence a banker 

 failed, they broke his bank, to advertife the public, that 

 tlie peifon to whom the bank belonged ■was no longcT 

 in a condition to continue his burj'.:efs. As this prac- 

 tice was vei"y frequent in Italy, it is faid the term bank- 

 nipt is derived from the Italian bunco rotto, broken bench. 



Cowcl rather chiifes to deduce the word from the French 

 banquc, tabic, and route, vejligium, trace, by metaphor irom 

 tlie figii left in the ground, of a table once faftened to it 

 and now gone. On this principle he traces the origin of 

 bankrupts from the ancient Roman menforii, or nrgentarii, 

 atIio had their tabcrnts or men/a in certain public places; 

 and who, when they fled, or made ofi" with the money 

 that had been trufted to them, left only the fign or 

 (hadow of their former ftation behind them. 4 Inft. 277. 



And it is obfervable, that the title of the firll Englilli 

 ftatutc concerning this offence, 34 Hen. VIII. cap. 4. 

 " againft fiieh perfons as do make bankrupt," is a literal 

 tranllation of the French idiom oui font banque route. 



A bankrupt was formerly confidertd merely as a criminal 

 or offender (ilat. i. Jac. 1. c. 15. § I"-) > but at prefent the 

 laws of bankruptcy are regarded as laws calculated for the 

 benefit of trade, and founded on the principles of humanity 

 as well as juftice: and to that end, they confer fome privi- 

 leges, not only on the creditors, but alfo on the bankrupt 

 himfelf: — on the creditors, by compelling the bankrupt to 

 give up all his effects to their ufe, without any fraudulent 

 concealment; — and on the debtor, by exempting him from 

 the rigour of the general law, whereby his perfon might be 

 confined at the dilcretion of his creditor, thougli in reality 

 he has nothing to fatisfy the debt ; whereas the law of bank- 

 rupts, taking into confideration the iudden and unavoidable 

 accidents to which men in trade are liable, has given them 

 the liberty of their perfonn, and fome pecuniary emoluments, 

 upon condition of furrcndering their whole eftate to be di- 

 vided among the ei editors. 



By the Roman law of the twelve tables, the creditors 

 might cut the debtor's body into pieces, and each of them 

 take his proportionable fliare; though fome learned men 

 have doubted whether the law " de debitore in parte fecan- 

 do," is to be underftood in fo vei-)' butcherly a light. There 

 were alfo other laws, lefs inhuman, for imprifoning the 

 debtor's perfon in chains, fubjefting him to ilripes and hard 

 labour, at the mercy of his rigid creditor, and fometimes 

 felling him, his wife and children, to perpetual foreign 

 flavei-y " trans Tibcrim;" but this was an oppreflion that 

 produced many popular infurrecfions, and feceffions to the 

 " mons facer." In Pegu, and the adjacent countries in 

 Eaft India, the creditor is entitled to dilpofe of the debtor 

 iiimfelf, and likewife of his wife and children; infomuch that 

 he may even violate with impunity the chaftity of the debtor'^ 

 wife; but then, by fo doing, the debt is underftood to be 

 difcharged. In fome places, bankrupts arc condemned to 



wear 



