bills drawn or payable abroad. By 19 and 20 Viet. c. 97, 7, bills or notes drawn on one part and payable in any other part of the British Isles are inland bills. Foreign bills are usually drawn in sets or parts, each containing a condition to be payable only so long as the others
continue unpaid.When a bill is accepted by the drawee without considera tion, and merely in order that the drawer may be able to raise money upon it, it is called an accommodation bill. Both parties are liable to the holder; but, as between them selves, the drawer is the principal and the acceptor a sort of surety. When acceptance has been refused and the bill protested, a stranger may accept it " supra protest, in honour of the drawer or endorser." The effect of this is to render the acceptor liable if the drawer does not pay, and the party for whose honour it was made, and parties ante cedent to him, become liable to the acceptor. Payment for the honour of one of the parties may likewise be made by a mere stranger when a bill has been protested for non payment, who thereupon acquires a claim against such person and all those to whom he could have resorted. The negotiability of promissory notes and bank cheques is for the most part regulated by the same principles as bills of exchange. A promissory note is a " promise in writing to pay a specified sum at a time therein limited, to a person therein named or his order or to bearer." Cheques which are inland bills of exchange drawn on a banker have become subject to certain peculiar usages. See Exchange.
A Bill of Lading is a document signed by the master of a general ship and delivered to the owners of goods conveyed therein. It is usually made out in several parts or copies, of which the shipper retains one and sends one or more to the consignee, while the master keeps one for his own guidance. The following is the usual form : Shipped in good order and well conditioned by [A. 13., merchant] in and upon the good ship called [The Good Intent], whereof [C. D.~ is master for this present voyage, and now riding at anchor in the [Port of Southampton], and bound to [Cadiz in Spain, twenty cases of hardware and fifty bales of cotton goods], being marked and numbered as in the margin, and are to be delivered in the like good order and well conditioned at the aforesaid port [of Cadiz], the act of God, the Queen s enemies, fire, and all and every other dangers and accidents of the seas, rivers, and naviga tions of whatever kind or nature whatsoever excepted, unto [E. F., merchant], or to his assigns, he or they paying freight for the said goods [ ] per case, and [ per bale freight, with primage and average accustomed. In witness w r hereof, &c.
Every bill of lading requires a sixpenny stamp. By the mercantile law a bill of lading is a negotiable instrument, and the property in the goods may be transferred by endorsement. By 1 8 and 1 9 Viet. c. Ill, every consigner of goods named on a bill of lading, and every endorser to whom the property of the goods mentioned therein passes by reason of the consignment or endorsement, shall have transferred to and invested in him all rights of suit, and be subject to the same liabilities in respect of the goods as if the contract contained in the bill of lading had been made with himself.
A Bill of Sale is an assignment of personal property. It is frequently made by way of security, the property re maining in possession of the vendor. For the protection of creditors from secret or fraudulent sale, the Bills of Sale Act, 1854, and the Amendment Act, 29 and 30 Viet. c. 96, were passed. By these Acts a bill of sale of personal chattels made at any time by a defendant in an action will be void as against a plaintiff on whose behalf a writ of execution in such action shall be sued out and delivered, so far as regards any personal chattels in defendant s possession at or after the time of executing such writ, unless such bill of sale shall be duly registered for public inspection in the Court of Queen s Bench within twenty-one days of its date. The registration must be renewed once in every five years during the subsistence of the security.
Bill in Chancery. A suit in the Court of Chancery was generally commenced by a bill, addressed to the lord chancellor, containing a statement of the plaintiff s case, and praying for relief. By the Chancery Amendment Act, 18G2, it is enacted that "every bill shall contain as con cisely as may be, a narrative of the material facts, matters, and circumstances on which the plaintiff relies ; such narrative being divided into paragraphs numbered con secutively, and each paragraph containing as nearly as may be a separate or distinct statement or allegation ; and shall pray specifically for the relief which the plaintiff may con ceive himself entitled to, and also for general relief." By the Judicature Act, 1873, a new form of procedure is established for all the superior courts. See Action.
BILLETING. The law as to billeting soldiers is regulated by the provisions of the Annual Mutiny Act (38 Viet, c. 7, G3-G7). Constables of parishes and places, police officers, high constables, and other chief officers and magistrates may billet officers and soldiers on actual service, with their horses and baggage, in victualling house, inn, hotel, livery stable, ale-house, or the "house of any seller of wine by retail to be drunk in such house, or the houses of persons selling brandy, spirits, strong waters, cider, or metheglin by retail ; but no officer or soldier shall be billeted in any private houses, or in any canteen under the authority of the War Department, nor on persons keeping taverns only being vintners of the city of London, nor on distillers, nor on shopkeepers whose principal dealing is more in other goods than in brandy and strong waters, so as such distillers and shopkeepers do not permit tippling in such houses. If the victualler has not sufficient accommodation in his own house he must find it in the immediate neighbourhood. The following sums are allowed as compensation : For hot meal, to be supplied each day to soldiers on the march, 10d., with 2id. for a bed ; for other soldiers, entitled to bed, candles, use of fire and cooking utensils, 4d. per diem for each soldier ; for ten pounds of oats, twelve of hay, and eight of straw, Is. 9d. per diem. Military officers must not act as justices in billeting.
played on a rectangular table with ivory balls, which are driven into pockets and against each other according to certain defined rules. Of the origin of billiards compara tively little is known, some considering that the game was invented by the French, and others that it was improved by them out of an ancient German diversion. Even the French themselves are doubtful on this point ; for, while it is generally asserted that Henrique Devigne, an artist, who lived in the reign of Charles IX., gave form and rule to the pastime, the Dictionnaire Universel and the Academic dcs Jeux ascribe its invention to the English. Bouillet in the first work says " Billiards appear to be derived from the game of bowls. It was anciently known in England, where, perhaps, it was invented. It was brought into France by Louis XIV., whose physician recommended this exercise." In the other work quoted we read " It would seem that the game was invented in England." Strutt, a rather doubtful authority, notwith standing the reputation attained by his S2)orts and Pastimes of the People of England, considers it probable that it was the ancient game of Paille-maille on a table instead of on the ground or floor, an improvement, he says, " which
answered two good purposes : it precluded the necessity of