BILL OBLIGATORY¹. An instrument in common use and too well known to be misunderstood. It is a bond without condition, sometimes called a single bill, and differs in nothing from a promissory note, but the seal which is affixed² to it. 2 Serg. & Rawle, 115. See Read's Pleaders' Assistant, 256, for a declaration setting forth³ such a bill. Also West's Symboleography, s. 100, 101, for the forms both with and without a penalty.

BILL OF PAINS AND PENALTIES. A special act of the legislature which inflicts⁵ a punishment, less than death, upon persons supposed to be guilty of high offences, Such as; treason and felony, without any conviction in the ordinary course of judicial⁶ proceedings⁷. 2 Wood. Law Lect. 625. It differs from a bill of attainder in this, that the punishment inflicted⁸ by the latter is death.

2. The Constitution of the United States Provides that "no bill of attainder shall be passed." It has been judicially⁹ said by the supreme¹⁰ court of the United States, that " a bill of attainder may affect the life of an individual, or i-nay confiscate¹¹ his property, or both." 6 Cranch, R. 138. in the sense of the constitution, then, it seems that bills of attainder include bills of pains and penalties. Story, Const. §1338. Vide Attainder; Bills of Attainder.

BILL OP PARCELS, merc. law. An account containing in detail the names of the items which compose a parcel or package of goods; it is usually transmitted with the goods to the purchaser, in order that if any mistake have been made, it may be corrected.

BILL OF PARTICULARS, practice. A detailed¹² informal statement of a plaintiff is cause of action, or of the defendants's set-off.

2. In all actions in which the plaintiff declares generally, without specifying¹⁴ his cause of action, a judge upon application will order him to give the defendant¹³ a bill of the particulars, and in the meantime stay, proceedings. 3 John. R. 248. And when the defendant gives notice or pleads a set-off, he will be required to give a bill of the particulars of his set-off, on failure of which he will be precluded¹⁵ from giving any evidence in support of it at the trial. The object in both cases is to prevent surprise and procure¹⁷ a fair trial. 1 Phil. Ev. 152; 3 Stark¹⁸ Ev. 1055. The bill of particulars is an account of the items of the demand, and states in what manner they arose. Mete¹⁹. & Perk²⁰. Dig. h. t. For forms, see Lee's Dict. of Pr., Particulars of demand.

BILL PENAL⁴, contracts. A written obligation, by which a debtor²¹ acknowledges himself indebted in a certain sum, may one hundred dollars, and for the payment of the debt binds²² himself in a larger sum, say two hundred dollars. Bills penal do not frequently occur in modern practice; bonds, with conditions, have superseded²³ them. Steph. on Pl. 265, note. See 2 Vent¹⁶. 198. Bills-penal are sometimes called bills obligatory. Cro. Car. 515; 2 Vent. 106. But a bill obligatory is not necessarily a bill penal. Com. Dig. Obligations, D.

BILL OF PRIVILEGE, Eng. law. A process issued out of the court against an attorney, who is privileged from arrest, instead of process demanding bail²⁴. 3 Bl. Com. 289.

BILL OF PROOF. In the mayor's court, London, the claim made by a third person to the subject-matter in dispute between two others in a suit there, is called bill of Proof. It is somewhat similar to an intervention²⁵. (q. v.) 3 Chit. Com. Law, 633; 2 Chit. Pr. 492; 1 Marsh²⁶, R. 233.

BILL OF SUFFRANCE, Eng. law. The name of a license²⁷ granted at the custom house to a merchant, authorizing²⁸ him to trade from one English port to another without paying custom. Cunn. L. D.

BILL OF RIGHTS. English law. A statute²⁹ passed in the reign³⁰ of William and Mary, so called, because it declared the true rights of British subjects. W. & M. stat. 2, c. 2.

BILL OF SALE, Contracts. An agreement in writing, under seal, by which a man transfers the right or interest he has in goods and cbattels, to another. As the law imports a consideration when an agreement is made by deed, a bill of sale alters the property. Yelv. 196; Cro. Jac. 270 6 Co. 18.

2. The Act of Congress of January 14, 1793, 1 Story, L. U. S. 276, provides, that when any ship or vessel³¹ which shall have been registered pursuant to that act, or the act thereby³² partially³³ repealed³⁴, shall in whole or in part be sold or transferred to a citizen of the United States, in every such sale or transfer, there shall be some instrument or writing in the nature of a bill of sale, which shall recite at length the certificate of registry; otherwise the said ship or vessel shall be incapable³⁵ to be registered anew.

3. In England a distinction is made between a bill of sale for the transfer of a ship at sea, and one for the conveyance³⁶ of a ship in the country; the former is called a grand bill of sale, the latter, simply, a bill of sale. In this country there does not appear to be such a distinction. 4 Mass. 661.

4. In general, the maritime³⁷ law requires that the transfer of a ship should be evidenced by a bill of sale. 1 Mason, 306. But a contract to sell, accompanied by delivery of possession, is sufficient. 8 Pick. 86 16 Pick. 401; 16 Mass. 336; 7 John. 308. See 4 Mason, 515; 4 John. 54 16 Pet. 215; 2 Hall, 1; 1 Wash. C. C. 226.