^ 63.2 BAN 
of ready money; which js foynd'fo far from diminifliing 
the dock, that this liberty of withdrawing money at plea- 
fure rather augments it. By means of this bank, the late 
republic of Venice, without encroaching on the freedom 
of commerce, or without paying any intereft, became 
ini ft refs of 5,000,000 ducats, to which the capital of the 
. bank is limited, to be in readinefs on any preffing occafion ; 
the republic being fecurity for the capital fum. 
Bank (Million), derived its name from king William’s 
million lottery in the year 1695. The proprietors agreed 
in partnerfhip to purchafe tickets in this lottery. They 
afterwards purchafed many reverfions of the 4. per cent, 
annuities, and admitted many proprietors of annuities to 
purchafe their joint ftock, which amounted to 500,000b 
They are a partnerfhip by deed enrolled in chancery, in 
the year 1721. They divided 5 per cent, till Lady-day, 
17-28, when they reduced their annual dividend to 4 per 
cent, and it was afterwards again raifed to 5 per cent. 
To Bank, v. a. [from the noun.] To inclofe with banks; 
io lay up money in a bank. 
Bank-bill, [from bank and bill.'] A note for money 
laid up in a bank, at the tendering of which the money is 
paid. 
BANK'ER,/] One that traffics in money; one that 
keeps or manages a bank. 
Bankers, in the court of Rome, were perfons author- 
ifed, exclufive of all others, to folicit and procure by their 
correfpondents at Rome, all bulls, difpenfations, and other 
adfs, difpatched at the papal datary ,or in the legatefliip of 
Avignon. They were common in all the cities of France 
that had a parliament, or a prefidial; and were eredled in¬ 
to a regular and hereditary office, by an edidt in 1673. 
They owe their origin to the Guelphs, who took ftielter 
at Avignon, and in other cities within the jurifdidtion of 
-the pope, in the time of the civil wars in Italy. The fa¬ 
vour they were in with the pontiffs, for having efpoufed 
the papal caufe, occafioned their being employed in pro¬ 
curing expeditions of the court of Rome. But the hea¬ 
vy extortions they pradtifed towards their clients, foon ren¬ 
dered them odious, and occafioned feveral denominations 
of reproach, as coarcini, calurcini, caurfini, cor/ini, &c. from 
the city Cahors, the native place of pope John XXII. in 
whofe pontificate they were in their higheft power. 
Banker, in bricklaying, a piece of timber whereon 
they cut the bricks. The banker is fix feet long or more, 
according to the number or men to work at it, and nine 
or ten inches fquare; it is to be laid on two piers of tim¬ 
ber, three feet high from the floor they Hand on. 
BANK'ING,yi The making of banks to oppofe the 
force of the fea, rivers, or the like, and fecure the land 
from being overflowed. With refpedt to the water which 
is to be kept out, this is called banking ; with refpedt to 
the land, which is hereby to be defended, mbanking. 
Banking is alfo applied to the keeping a bank, or the 
employment of a banker. Banking, in this fenfe, fignifies 
the trading in money, or remitting it from place to place, 
by means of bills of exchange. This anfwers to what the 
Trench call faire la banque. In France every body is al¬ 
lowed to bank, wdiether merchant or not; even foreigners 
are indulged in this kind of traffic. In Italy, banking 
did not derogate from nobility, efpecially in the former 
republic Hates ; whence it was, that mod of the younger 
fons of great families engaged in it. In reality, it was the 
nobility of Venice and Genoa, that, for a long time, were 
the chief bankers in the other countries of Europe. 
B ANK'RUPT, adj. [banqueroule, Fr. bancorotto, Ital.] 
In debt beyond the power of payment: 
The.king’s grown bankrupt , like a broken man. Shakefp. 
Bankrupt ,f. A man in debt beyond the power of 
payment.—It is with wicked men as with a bankrupt: when 
his creditors are loud and clamorous, and fpeak big, he 
giveth them many good words. Calamy. 
In vain at court the bankrupt pleads his caufe ; 
His thanklefs country leaves him to her laws. Pope. 
BAN 
A bankrupt, in the eye of the law, is a trader, who fe- 
cretes himfelf, or does certain other adds, tending to elude 
or defraud his creditors. The word, in this fenfe, is de¬ 
rived from bancus or banque, the table or counter of a trades¬ 
man ( Dufrefne, i. 969.) and ruptus, broken, denoting there¬ 
by one whofe fliop or place of trade is broken or gone; 
though others choofe to adopt the French word, route, a 
trace or track; a bankrupt, fay they, being one who has 
removed his banque, leaving but a trace behind. It is o.b- 
fervable that the title of the firft Englifli ftatute concern¬ 
ing this offence, flat. 34 Hen. VIII. c. 4, “ againft fucli 
perfons as do make bankrupt,” is a literal tranflation of 
the French idiom, quijont banque route. 2 Comm. 472. 
The bankrupt-law is a fyftem of politive regulations by 
various ftatutes, the confirmation of which have produced 
the multiplied cafes on the fubjedt, from whence the fol¬ 
lowing principles and rules are extradted. Thefe flatutes 
are: 13 E1 iz. c. 7, (which alrnoft totally altered the old 
flat. 34 Hen. VIII. c.4, mentioned above.) 1 Jac. I. c. 15. 
21 Jac. I. c. 19. 10 Anne, c. 15. 7 Geo. I. c. 31. 5 Geo.II. 
c. 30, continued at prefent by 28 Geo. III. c. 24. 19 
Geo. II. c. 32. 24Geo. II. c. 57. 4Geo. III. c. 33. 
1 he ftatute, 13 Eliz. c. 7, enacts, “That any merchant 
or other perfon, being fubjedt or denizen, ufing or exer- 
cifing the trade of merchandise, by. way of bargaining, 
exchange, rechange, bartery, chevilance, or otherwise, in 
grofs or by retail, or Seeking his or her trade or living by 
buying and felling,” may become bankrupts. Drawing 
and re-drawing bills of exchange may, in certain cafes, be 
confidered as'trading. 1 Aik. 128. See Cowp. 745. Every 
perfon being a trader, and capable of making binding con¬ 
tracts, is liable to become a bankrupt; as a nobleman, 
member of parliament, clergyman, &c. And where it is 
laid, that farmers, innkeepers, &c. cannot be bankrupts, 
it means, in refpedt to that particular defeription ; and not 
as affording protection, if in any other fhape they come 
within the bankrupt-laws. But infants and married wo¬ 
men cannot be bankrupts. As to the latter, however, 
there are exceptions; for a feme covert in London, being a 
foie trader according to the cuftom, is liable to-a commiS- 
fion of bankruptcy; and, as repeated determinations have 
fettled that a feme covert living apart from her hufband, 
as a feme foie, is liable to execution for debts contracted 
by her, there feems no doubt that fuch a married woman 
is equally liable to a commiflion of bankruptcy. But, if 
a feme foie trader commit an abt of bankruptcy, and after¬ 
wards marry and live with her hufband, fhe cannot be made 
a bankrupt. Ex parte Mear, fee Cooke B. L. c.3. 4 Term 
Rep. 362. Buyingonly, or felling only, will not qualify a 
man to be a bankrupt; but it muft.be both buying and 
felling, and thereby attempting to get a livelihood. 2 Com. 
476. 2 Wilf. 171. 
There can be no fuch tiling as an equitable bankruptcy; 
it muft be a legal one; and the party mu ft be a trader in 
his own right; for, if a perfon that is a trader makes ano¬ 
ther his executor, who only difpofes of the ftock of his 
trade, it will not make the executor a trader, and liable to 
a commiflion of bankruptcy. 2 P. IVms. 429. 1 Aik. 102. 
Any perfon trading to England, whether native, denizen, 
or alien, though never refident as a trader in England, may 
be a bankrupt, if he occalionally come to this country and 
commit an adt of bankruptcy. Cowp. 2 98,402. Raym-sq 
Salk. no. If a merchant gives over his trade, and forne 
years after becomes infolvent for money he owed while a 
merchant, he may be a bankrupt; hut if it be for new 
debts, or old debts continued on new fecurity, it is other- 
wife. i Pent. 5, 29. 
To enumerate every trade fufficient to make a man a 
bankrupt would be tedious. The following, however, 
feern now fettled ; and fome others are enumerated which 
have afforded caufe of difpute, chiefly from the particu¬ 
lar fadts of the cafe. It is to be premifed, that a chapman, 
or one that buys and fells any thing, though his dealing 
does not come under the denomination of any'particular 
trade, may become a bankrupt. 
Who 
