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Rh A term used in Louisiana, derived from the French. A book in which bankers, merchants, and traders write a statement of all they owe and all that is due them; a balance-sheet. See Dauphin v. Soulie, 3 Mart. (N. S.) 446.

In English law. An obsolete writ addressed to a corporation for the carrying of weights to such a haven, there to weigh the wool anciently licensed for transportation. Reg. Orig. 270.

A term, used originally in the civil law, but now generally adopted, denoting a contract in which both the contracting parties are bound to fulfill obligations reciprocally towards each other; as a contract of sale, where one becomes bound to deliver the thing sold, and the other to pay the price of it. Montpelier Seminary v. Smith, 69 Vt. 382, 38 Atl. 68.

In admiralty law and marine insurance. That state or condition of a vessel in which water is freely admitted through holes and breaches made in the planks of the bottom, occasioned by injuries, whether the ship's timbers are broken or not. Peele v. Insurance Co., 3 Mason, 27, 39, 19 Fed. Cas. 103.

A word used by Britton in the sense of "collateral." En line biline, in the collateral line. Britt. c. 119.

Of a double language or tongue; that can speak two languages. A term applied in the old books to a jury composed partly of Englishmen and partly of foreigners, which, by the English law, an alien party to a suit is, in certain cases, entitled to; more commonly called a "jury de medictate linguæ." 3 Bl. Comm. 360; 4 Steph. Comm. 422.

A formal declaration, complaint, or statement of particular things in writing. As a legal term, this word has many meanings and applications, the more important of which are enumerated below.

1. A formal written statement of complaint to a court of justice.

In the ancient practice of the court of king's bench, the usual and orderly method of beginning an action was by a bill, or original hill, or plaint. This was a written statement of the plaintiff's cause of action, like a declaration or complaint, and always alleged a trespass as the ground of it, in order to give the court jurisdiction. 3 Bl. Comm. 43.

In Scotch law, every summary application in writing, by way of petition to the Court of Session, is called a "bill." Cent. Dict.

2. A species of writ; a formal written declaration by a court to its officers, in the nature of process.

3. A formal written petition to a superior court for action to be taken in a cause already determined, or a record or certified account of the proceedings in such action or some portion thereof, accompanying such a petition.

4. In equity practice. A formal written complaint, in the nature of a petition, addressed by a suitor in chancery to the chancellor or to a court of equity or a court having equitable jurisdiction, showing the names of the parties, stating the facts which make up the case and the complainant's allegations, averring that the acts disclosed are contrary to equity, and praying for process and for specific relief, or for such relief as the circumstances demand. U. S. v. Ambrose, 108 U. S. 336, 2 Sup. Ct. 682, 27 L. Ed. 746; Feeney v. Howard, 79 Cal. 525, 21