rrV 
BAN 
BAN 
being cut into as many heaps as there are 
players, every man lays as much money on 
his own card as he pleases ; and the dealer 
wins or loses as many as his card is superior 
or inferior to those of the other gamesters. 
The best card is the ace of diamonds ; 
the next to it, the ace of hearts; then the 
ace of clubs ; and, lastly, the ace of spades : 
and so of the rest of these suits in order, ac- 
cording to their degree. 
The cheat lies in securing an ace, or any 
other sure winning card ; which are some- 
how marked, that the sharper may know 
them. 
BANKER, a person who traffics and ne- 
gotiates in money, who receives and remits 
money from place to place, by commission 
from correspondents, or by means of bills 
or letters of exchange. 
In France, it is not requisite that a man 
be a merchant, in order to carry on bank- 
ing : for that trade is permitted to all sorts 
of persons, even to foreigners, so far as re- 
lates to foreign banking, or dealing by ex- 
change. 
In Italy, the trade of a banker does not 
derogate from nobility, which is the reason 
why most of the younger sons of the quality 
apply theipselves to that employment, in 
order to support their families. The mo- 
nied goldsmiths, in the reign of king Charles 
the Second, first acquired this name. 
The Romans had two sorts of bankers, 
whose office was much more extensive than 
that of the bankers among us ; theirs being 
that of public affairs, in whom were united 
the functions of a broker, agent, banker, 
and notary, managing the exchange, taking 
in money, assisting in buying and selling, 
and drawing the writings necessary on all 
these occasions. 
BANKRUPT, a trader whom misfortune 
or extravagance has induced to commit an 
act of bankruptcy. The benefit of the 
bankrupt laws is allowed to none but actual 
traders, or such as buy and sell, and gain a 
livelihood by so doing. 
Requisites to constitute a trading, the 
merchandising, or buying and selling, must 
be of that kind, whereby the party gains a 
credit upon the profits of an uncertain capi- 
tal stock. Manufacturers, or persons pur- 
chasing goods or raw materials to sell again, 
under other forms, or meliorated by labour ■ 
as bakers, brewers, butchers, shoemakers’ 
smiths, tanners, tailors, &c. are also within 
the statutes. 
The following description of persons are 
not within the statutes of bankruptcy ; viz. 
proprietors or persons having an interest in 
land, if buying and selling to whatever ex- 
tent, for the purposes of disposing merely 
of the produce and profits of such land ; 
graziers and drovers ; owners of coal mines, 
working and selling the. coals ; owners or 
farmers of alum rocks ; farmers who make 
cheeses for sale; or those who sell cider 
made from apples of their own orchard. 
In all such cases, and others of a similar 
nature, where the several materials are pur- 
chased, and even some kind of manufacture 
exercised ; yet as this is the necessary and 
customary mode of receiving the benefit 
arising from the land, such persons are not 
held to be traders within the statutes ; nor 
are persons buying and selling bank stock 
or government securities. Buying or sell- 
ing only, will neither singly constitute 
trading ; neither will a single act of buying 
and selling, or drawing, or redrawing 
bills of exchange, merely for the pur- 
pose of raising money for private occa- 
sions, and not with a view to gain a 
profit upon the exchange. Being a part- 
owner in a ship, barge, or waggon, does not 
constitute a trader ; nor holding a share or 
interest in a joint stock with others who 
trade, unless he share in the profit and loss 
upon the disposition of the capital. The 
merchandise must also be general, and not 
in a qualified manner only, as victuallers or 
innkeepers ; schoolmasters ; commissioners 
of the navy, who victual the fleet by pri- 
vate contract ; the king’s butler, steward, 
or other officers; officers of excise or cus- 
tom ; sutlers of the armies ; butlers ; stew- 
ards of inns of court ; clergymen ; &c. as 
acting in such capacities merely, are not 
liable to be made bankrupts ; the buying 
and selling in such cases not being general, 
but in the exercise of particular' employ- 
ments. Neither, upon the same principle, 
are receivers of the king’s taxes, or persons 
discounting exchequer bills. If the parties 
above enumerated, however, bring them- 
selves within the bankrupt laws in any other 
respect, they will be liable to their opera- 
tion, although they should evidently not pro- 
fit by trading, or such trading should be ille- 
gal; although the trading should not be 
wholly carried on in England, buying only 
in England, and selling beyond sea. Any 
person, native, denizen, or alien, residing in 
any part of the British dominions, or in fo- 
reign countries, though never a resident 
trader in England ; yet if he be a trader, 
and on coming to England commit an act 
of bankruptcy, he will be subject to the 
bankrupt laws. 
HMH 
HWIMHBb 
