Bill of Parcels.—An account given by a seller to a buyer, giving a list of the several articles which he has purchased, and their prices.
Bill of Parliamentary Procedure.—An instrument drawn or presented by a member or committee to a legislative body for its approbation and enactment. After it has successfully passed both houses and received the constitutional sanction of the chief magistrate, where such approbation is requisite, it becomes a law.
Bill of Particulars.—A paper stating in detail a plaintiff's case, or the set off on defendant's side.
Bill of Rights.—A bill which gave legal validity to the claim of rights, i. e., the declaration presented by the Lords and Commons to the Prince and Prin cess of Orange on Feb. 13, 1688, and afterward enacted in Parliament when they became King and Queen. It de clared it illegal, without the sanction of Parliament, to suspend or dispense with laws, to erect commission courts, to levy money for the use of the crown on pretense of prerogative, and to raise and maintain a standing army in the time of peace. It also declared that subjects have a right to petition the King, and, if Protestants, to carry arms for defense; also that members of Par liament ought to be freely elected, and that their proceedings ought not to be impeached or questioned in any place out of Parliament. It further enacted that excessive bail ought not to be re quired, or excessive fines imposed, or un usual punishment inflicted; that juries should be chosen without partiality; that all grants and promises of fines or forfeitures before conviction are illegal; and, that, for redress of grievances and preserving of the laws, Parliament ought to be held frequently. Finally, it
provided for the settlement of the crown. In the United States, a bill of rights, or, as it is more commonly termed in this country, a declaration of rights, is prefixed to the constitutions of most of the States.
Bill of Sate.—A deed of writing, un der seal, designed to furnish evidence of the sale of personal property. It is necessary to have such an instrument when the sale of property is not to be immediately followed by its transference to the purchaser. It is used in the trans fer of property in ships, in that of stock in trade, or the good-will of a business. It is employed also in the sale of furni ture, the removal of which from the house would call attention to the em barrassed circumstances of its owner; hence the statistics of the bills of sale act as an index to measure the amount of secret distress existing in times of commercial depression. In not a few cases bills of sale are used to defeat just claims against the nominal or real vendor of the goods transferred.
Bill of form of entry at the custom-house by which one can land for inspection, in presence of the officers, such goods as he has not had the op portunity of previously examining, and which, consequently, he cannot accu rately describe.