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 640 BILL OF EXCHANGE BILLAUD-VARENNE the establishment of the plaintiffs' case. As new facts come to the plaintiffs' knowledge, either from the defendants' admissions or from other sources, the bill may be amended, and new interrogatories added ; while bills of re- vivor and supplement are filed to bring the representatives of deceased parties, assignee's ef parties, or newly born children before the court. The bill is met on the part of the de- fendants either by demurrer, which admits the facts alleged, but denies that they make out a cause of equitable jurisdiction; or by plea, which presents some single ground of defence supposed to constitute a bar; or by answer, which is a specific reply to the various allega- tions of the bill. A demurrer or plea will pre- sent an issue of law for argument ; but if the plaintiff wishes to dispute the facts set up in the plea or answer, he will do so by replica- tion, whereby an issue will be made upon which proof's can be taken. The plaintiff' in equity is called complainant, and in addressing the court in his bill he will style himself " your orator." By codes in New York and many other American states the old forms of equity pleading are abolished, and a simple complaint reciting the facts constituting the supposed cause of action is substituted for the bill. BILL OF EXCHANGE. See EXCHANGE. BILL OF HEALTH. See QUARANTINE. BILL OF INDICTMENT. See INDICTMENT. BILL OF LADING, a commercial instrument, signed by the master of a ship as the receipt for cargo to be conveyed as freight. This document specifies the goods, the ship, the con- signor and consignee, the price, and the port of delivery, with such other particulars as may be requisite. It stipulates for their safe de- livery, and constitutes the contract between the shipper and the ship owner. It is generally signed in duplicate, the two parts of which are transmitted to the consignee by different chan- nels. Certain exceptions are usually men- tioned, against which the carrier does not guarantee the goods, as the acts of God, ene- mies in time of war, fire, and the accidents of navigation. The goods are usually deliverable to consignees or their order, sometimes to the order of the shipper, upon payment of freight, as mentioned, primage, and average. Primage is a perquisite to the master a small percent- age on the freight. Average is the share in certain small expenses of the ship pilotage, towage, harbor dues, &c. The bill of lading is assignable, and transfers the ownership of the goods, subject to the shipper's right of stop- page in transitu. Accordingly, the assignee can maintain an action for recovery of the goods from the carrier. The master's con- tract is complete on delivery of the goods, in good order, at the usual place of delivery of the port, and upon notice given thereof to the consignee, unless there be any particular stipu- lation as to the mode of delivery. BILL OF RIGHTS, in English constitutional law, properly, the act of parliament 1 William and Mary (sess. 2, c. ii.), by which certain claims contained in the declaration of rights were enacted as fundamental principles of political liberty. The declaration had been delivered at the time the crown was tendered to the prince and princess of Orange, Feb. 13, 1689. It recited the principal grievances which the nation had suffered under the pre- ceding reign, viz. : the assumption as a royal prerogative to grant a dispensation from penal acts of parliament ; the establishment of a new tribunal to determine ecclesiastical questions ; levying taxes without consent of parliament; maintaining a standing army in time of peace ; interfering with the administration of justice and the freedom of elections; exacting exces- sive bail from prisoners; inflicting barbarous and unusual punishments; and treating as criminal petitions for a redress of wrongs all of which acts were declared to be illegal. It then asserted the right of subjects to petition ; the right of parliament to freedom of debate ; the right of electors to choose representatives freely ; and various other privileges. These were reiterated in the act of parliament above referred to, with some additional stringency, as in respect to the dispensing power, which by the declaration had been condemned, as ex- ercised by James, as unlawful, but by the act was absolutely and for ever taken away. These rights were again asserted, with some addi- tions, in the act of settlement, by which the crown was limited to the Hanover family (12 and 13 William III., c. ii.). Similar provisions were appended to the constitution of the United States, as amendmenta thereto. They are chiefly declaratory of the freedom of speech and of the press ; of the right of citizens peace- ably to assemble and petition government for the redress of grievances ; of the right of trial by jury ; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensa- tion ; that no law shall be passed by congress for the establishment of any religion, or pro- hibiting the free exercise thereof. In the con- stitutions or laws of several states of the American Union is to be found a similar recital of rights, usually including the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. BILL OF SALE, an instrument in writing by which personal property is transferred. It is not necessary that it should be under seal, nor would a seal create any difference in the legal effect, other than that the seal imports a con- sideration. A bill of sale of a ship or vessel is a muniment of title of peculiar importance. In most countries it is either by custom or statute absolutely required. In this country every transfer of a registered ship must be accom- panied by a bill of sale setting forth the certifi- cate of registry. BILLACD-VARENNE, Jean Nicolas, a French revolutionist, born at La Rochelle, April 23, 1756, died in Hayti, June 3, 1819. He was an advocate of Paris, and at the beginning of the revolution became conspicuous for his hostility