E I L 
B I L 
B N 
sole), as they are incapable of binding them- 
selves by contract, cannot be parties to a ne- 
gotiable instrument ; yet such instrument, 
negotiated by persons incapacitated, will ne- 
vertheless be valid as to all other competent 
parties. 2 Atk. 181. 
Bills of exchange are either foreign or in- 
land ; foreign when drawn by a merchant re- 
siding abroad upon his correspondent in Eng- 
land, or vice versa ; and inland, when both 
the drawer and the drawee reside in the 
kingdom. By 9 and 10 W. III. c. 17. 
and 3 and 4 Anne, c. 9, all distinctions be- 
tween. foreign and inland bills, as far as re- 
spect the custom of merchants, are remov- 
ed ; and the same principles of law are ge- 
nerally applicable to both. See Stamps. 
Bilis or notes must be certain, and not de- 
pend on any particular event or contingency. 
3 Wils. 213“ 
If a bill or note is made in a foreign 
country, it must be conformable to the laws 
of that country, or it will not be valid. 
If a bill or note is altered while in the 
hands of the payee, or any other holder, in 
any material instance, as date, sum, &c. 
without consent of the d razee e, he will be 
discharged from his liability, although such 
bill or note may afterwards come into the 
hands of an indorsee not aware of the altera- 
tion ; but in this case, if altered before ac- 
ceptance or indorsement, the acceptor can 
take no advantage of the alteration ; and the 
consent of any one of the parties to the al- 
teration, will in general preclude him from 
taking an advantage of it. 4 '1'. R. 320. 
If a bill is made with a proper stamp, and 
afterwards altered by the consent of the par- 
ties, though before negotiation a new stamp 
is necessary, as it is a different contract. 
5 T. R. 357. If, however, there be a stamp 
of equal or superior value, the proper one 
may be affixed, on payment of 405. before 
the' instrument is due, and 10/. after it is due. 
But if there is not originally a stamp amount- 
ing to the requisite value, the omission can 
never be legally supplied. Evans, p. 6. 
The acceptor of a bill is, by the custom of 
the merchants, as effectually bound by his 
acceptance, as if he had been the original 
drawer ; and having once accepted it, he 
cannot afterwards revoke it. Cro. Jaci 303. 
See Acceptance. The indorser of a bill is 
as liable as the first drawer ; because the in- 
dorsement is in the nature of a new bill. 
1 Salk. 125. To indorse a bill wdth a ficti- 
tious name, is forgery, though such indorse- 
ment be useless. 
A presentment, either for payment or ac- 
ceptance, must be made at seasonable hours. 
In case a bill is not regularly paid, the holder 
has a right to recover not only the princi- 
pal, but also, in certain cases, costs and da- 
mages. 
Notice is that information which the holder 
of a negotiable instrument is bound to give 
to all the antecedent parties. If the drawee 
refuses to accept, or having accepted, if he 
refuses payment, or if he offers an acceptance 
varying from the bill ; in either of the above 
cases the bill is dishonoured ; and the holder, 
in case of neglect to communicate notice 
within a reasonable time, will not be at liberty 
to resort to the other parties, who by such 
negligence will be discharged from their re- 
spective obligations. Bur. 2670. Notice of 
conditional or partial acceptance should be 
given to the other parties to the bill by the 
holder, in default of payment ; for if under 
these circumstances a general notice of non- 
acceptance is given to any of the parties, 
omitting to mention in such notice the na- 
ture of the acceptance offered, the acceptor 
is discharged, by this act of the holder, from 
his acceptance. IT. R. 182. 
A protest is an act of a notary-public, 
stating that a bill has been presented lor ac- 
ceptance, or for payment, and refused , and 
declaring that the acceptor, indorsers, See. 
shall be liable for damages, Sec. and to this 
instrument all foreign courts give entire cre- 
dit. In the first instance the notary marks 
or notes the minute of refusal on the bid it- 
self, and afterwards the instrument is drawn 
out and attested under his hand and seal. 
The want of a protest can in no case be sup- 
plied by noting, which is a mere preparatory 
minute, of which the law r takes no cognizance 
as distinguished from a protest. If there is 
no notary resident at or near the place, the 
bill must, when payable, be protested by 
some substantial resident, in the presence of 
two or more witnesses, and should in ge- 
neral be made at the place where payment is 
refused ; but when a bill is drawn abroad, 
directed to the drawee at Southampton or 
London, or any other place, requesting him 
to pay the payee in London, the protest for 
non-acceptance of such bill may be made 
either at Southampton or London. Notice 
should be given on the day of refusal to ac- 
cept, if any post or ordinary conveyance set 
out on the clay ; and if not, by the next ear- 
liest conveyance. 4 T. R. 174. 
An usance is generally understood to mean 
only a month. Molloy 207. 1 Shaw 217. 
Instead of an express limitation by months or 
days, we continually find the bills drawn or 
payable at Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Ham- 
burgh, Altana, Paris or any other place in 
France, Cadiz, Madrid, Bilboa, Leghorn, 
Genoa, or Venice, limited* by the usance, 
that is, the usage between those places and 
this country. An usance between tliis king- 
dom and Amsterdam, .Rotterdam, Ham- 
burgh, Altona, Paris, or any place in France, 
is one calendar month from the date of the 
bill; an usance between us and Cadiz, Ma- 
drid, or Bilboa, two ; an usance between us 
and Leghorn, Genoa, or Venice, three. A 
double usance is double the accustomed 
time ; a half-usance, half. Upon a half- 
usance, if it be necessary to divide a month, 
the division, notwithstanding .the difference 
of the length of months, shall contain fifteen 
days. Blag. 13. 
Bill of entry, an account of the goods en- 
tered at the custom-houses both imvards and 
outwards. In this bill must be expressed the 
merchant exporting or importing the quan- 
tity of merchandises, and the divers species 
thereof, and whither or whence transported. 
Bill of lading, an acknowledgment signed 
by the master of a ship, and given to a mer- 
chant, &c. containing an account of the 
goods which the master has received on board 
from that merchant, See. with a promise to 
deliver them at an intended place for a cer- 
tain sum. Eacli 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 
219 
bill of lading is used only when the goods 
sent on board a ship are but part of (he car- 
go : for when a merchant loads a whole ves- 
sel for his own personal account, the deed 
passed between him and the master oi the 
ship is called charter-party. 
Bill in parliament, a paper containing 
propositions offered to the houses, to be pass- 
ed by them, and then to be presented to the 
king to pass into an act or law. 
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, im- 
powering 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 cus- 
tom-house to merchants, by which they have 
liberty to carry, custom-free, all such stores 
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 ano- 
ther, without paying custom. 
Bill, or beak, the elongated horny pro- 
cesses or mandibles of birds. The form of 
the bill varies so greatly in different kinds of 
birds, that they afford the most permanent 
character by which these creatures may be 
arranged. In the distribution of families, 
Linnams first notices the structure of the bill, 
the tongue, and nostrils, and these parts 
constitute almost exclusively, with the legs, 
the distinction of the genera likewise. The 
phoenicopter’s bill is a true hyperbole : the 
upper part moves and the lower is fixed, 
which is the Contrary to what is found in 
other kinds. The woodpecker’s bill will 
pierce the hardest timber. In the island 
of Ferro, a fixed reward is given for the 
bills of ravenous birds. All watermen are 
obliged to bring a certain number yearly to 
the country courts, at the feast of St. Olaus, 
when they are thrown into a heap and burnt 
in triumph. 
BILLET, in heraldry, a bearing in form 
of a long square. They are supposed to re- 
present pieces of cloth of gold or. silver,, but 
Guillim thinks they represent a lefter sealed 
up ; and other authors take them for bricks. 
Billete signifies that the escutcheon is all over 
strewed with billets, the number not ascer- 
tained. 
BILLIARDS, an ingenious kind of game 
played on an oblong table, covered with 
green cloth, and placed exactly level, with 
little ivory balls, which are driven by crook- 
ed sticks, made on purpose, into hazards or 
holes on the edge and corners of the table, 
according to certain rules of the game. 
BIMEDIAL, in mathematics. If two 
medial lines, as A B and B C, commensurable 
only in power, containing a rational rectangle, 
are compounded, the whole line AC will 
be irrational, and is called a first bimedial 
line. 
B 
A 1 C 
See Euclid, lib. X. prop. 38. 
BINARY arithmetic, that wherein 
unity or 1 and 0 are only used. 
This was the invention of Mr. Leibnitz, 
who shews it to be very expeditious in dis- 
covering the properties of numbers, and in 
constructing tables : and JN1. Dangecourt, in 
