B
B. The second letter of the English alphabet: is used to denote the second of a series of pages, notes, etc.; the subsequent letters, the third and following numbers.
B. C. An abbreviation for "before Christ," "bail court," "bankruptcy cases," and "British Columbia."
B. E. An abbreviation for "Baron of the Court of Exchequer."
B. F. An abbreviation for bonum factum, a good or proper act, deed, or decree; signifies "approved."
B. R. An abbreviation for Bancus Regis, (King's Bench,) or Bancus Reginæ, (Queen's Bench.) It is frequently found in the old books as a designation of that court. In more recent usage, the initial letters of the English names are ordinarily employed, i. e., K. B. or Q. B.
B. S. Bancus Superior, that is, upper bench.
"BABY ACT." A plea of infancy, interposed for the purpose of defeating an action upon a contract made while the person was a minor, is vulgarly called "pleading the baby act." By extension, the term is applied to a plea of the statute of limitations.
BACHELERIA. In aid records. Commonalty or yeomanry, in contradistinction to baronage.
BACHELOR. The holder of the first or lowest degree conferred by a college or university, e. g., a bachelor of arts. bachelor of law. etc.
A kind of inferior knight; an esquire.
A man who has never been married.
BACK, v. To indorse; to sign on the back; to sign generally by way or acceptance or approval. Where a warrant issued in one county is presented to a magistrate of another county and he signs it for the purpose of making it executory in his county, he is said to "back" it. 4 Bl. Comm. 291. So an indorser of a note or bill is colloquially said to "back" it. Seabury v. Hungerford, 2 Hill (N. Y.) 80.
BACK, adv. To the rear; backward; in a reverse direction. Also, in arrear.
—Back lands. A term of no very definite import, but generally signifying lands lying back from (not contiguous to) a highway or a water-course. See Ryorss v. Whoeler. 3 Wend. (N. Y.) 150.—Back taxes. Those assessed for a previous year or years and remaining due and unpaid from the original tax debtor. M. E. Church v. New Orleans, 107 La. 611, 32 south. 101; Gaines v. Galbraeth, 14 Lea (Tenn.) 3613.—Backwater. Water in a stream which, in consequence of some dam or obstruction below, is detained or checked in its course, or flows back. Hodges v. Raymond, 9 Mass. 316; Chambers v. Kyle, 87 Ind. 85. Water caused to flow backward from a steam-vessel by reason of the action of its wheels or screw.
BACKBEAR. In forest law. Carrying on the back. One of the cases in which an offender against vert and venison might be arrested, as being taken with the mainour, or manner, or found carrying a deer off on his back. Manwood; Cowell.
BACKBBEEND. Sax. Bearing upon the back or about the person. Applied to a thief taken with the stolen property in his immediate possession. Bract. 1, 3, tr. 2, c. 32. Used with handhabend, having in the hand.
BACKBOND. In Scotch law. A deed attaching a qualification or condition to the terms or a conveyance or other instrument. This deed is used when particular circumstances render it necessary to express in a separate form the limitations or qualifications of a right. Bell. The instrument is equivalent to a declaration of trust in English conveyancing.
BACKING. Indorsement; indorsement by a magistrate.
BACKING A WARRANT. See Back.
BACKSIDE. In English law. A term formerly used in conveyances and also in pleading; it imports a yard at the back part of or behind a house, and belonging thereto.
BACKWARDATION. In the language of the stock exchange, this term signifies a consideration paid for delay in the delivery of stock contracted for, when the price is lower for time than for cash. Dos Passos, Stock-Brok. 270.
BACKWARDS. In a policy of marine Insurance, the phrase "forwards and backwards at sea" means from port to port in the course of the voyage, and not merely from one terminus to the other and back. 1 Taunt. 475.
BACULUS. A rod, stair, or wand, used in old English practice in making livery of seisin where no building stood on the land, (Bract. 40;) a stick or wand, by the erection of which on the land involved in a real action the defendant was summoned to put in his appearance; this was called "baculus nuntiatorius." 3 Bl. Comm. 279.
BAD. Substantially defective; inapt; not good. The technical word for unsoundness in pleading.
