II.   Instruments & Transactions

A Bill is a formal Instrument issued under the Scientiam Mysteria (Occult Knowledge) standards of instruments and writing first formed from the 17th Century as a form of private writ invented by the Inner and Middle Temple as the claimed private owners of the Court of Equity and then Court of Chancery of England being essentially a legal demand “in equity” for performance in specie of real money.

The most common forms of bills established since 1689 include but are not limited to:

(i) Bill of Parliament, also known as a “Bill” as an incomplete act and a paper containing propositions offered to the Houses to be passed and once passed then presented to the Monarch to receive royal assent. Similar to Acts, Bills of this nature are divided between public and private; and

(ii) Bill of Attainder is a bill formulating an accusation against a peer or other high personage in a matter of public importance, declaring him to be attained and his property to be forfeited. It resembles the concept of an impeachment, except that it may be introduced in either house and requires no evidence in a judicial sense; and

(iii) Bill of Indictment, also known as “Bill” or a “True Bill” as the process or declaration in writing that expresses the grievance or injury of a plaintiff to a grand jury that if approved by the grand jury then becomes a valid indictment; and

(iv) Bill of Patent as the draft of a patent for a charter, commission, dignity, office or appointment, drawn up and then submitted to the Sovereign for signature and then countersigned by the Principal Agent of the Sovereign and sealed by a Privy Seal to become a patent; and

(v) Bill of Complaint, also known as Original Bill as a form of petition prior from the 18th Century to prior to the Judicature Acts of the mid 19th Century that was addressed in ordinary cases to the Lord Chancellor for the Court of Chancery containing a statement of the plaintiff’s case and concluding with a prayer asking for the relief which he filed the Bill to obtain; and

(vi) Bill of Costs as an account of fees, charges and disbursements of an Attorney-In-Fact or Solicitor to be reimbursed or paid in association with a legal matter; and

(vii) Bill of Exchange as an unconditional written order from A. to B., directing B. to pay C. a certain sum of money therein named, either on demand or at sight, or at any certain period after date or after sight; and

(viii) Bill of Lading as a deed or instrument signed by the master of a ship acknowledging receipt of the merchants goods and obliging himself to deliver the same in good condition at the place to which they are assigned; and

(ix) Bill of Sale as when a person delivers goods as security to a lender in exchange for a sum of money and empowering the lender to sell the goods if the sum is not repaid at the time appointed.

In regards to a Bill of Complaint, prior to the introduction of the Judicature Acts of the mid 19th Century:

(i) A Bill of Complaint consisted of four parts (1) The Title, giving the description of the court and the names of the plaintiffs and defendants; and (2) The address to the Lord Chancellor; and (3) The statement or stating part; and (4) The prayer. The Bill was then signed by the counsel who had settled it; and

(ii) The Bill by which a suit was commenced for the first time was called an Original Bill. The Bill was served on the defendant as a writ. It therefore combined the functions of a writ of summons and a statement of claim; and

(iii) As to the prayer, a Bill may pray for relief as in the case of certiorari or not, such as the case of Bills to perpetuate the testimony of a witness or Bills of discovery.

In regards to a Bill of Exchange:

(i) When a Bill of Exchange may be described as an unconditional written order from A. to B., directing B. to pay C. a certain sum of money, A. is called the Drawer, B. the Drawee and C. the Payee; and

(ii) It is permitted that under certain conditions A. as the Drawer is also C. the Payee; and

(iii) When B. (the Drawee) has by accepting the Bill, undertaken to pay it, he is then called the Acceptor; and

(iv) If a Bill is made payable to C. (the Payee) without any further qualification, the Bill is not transferable. However, if a Bill is made payable either to “C. or Order” or to “C. or Bearer” it is transferable; and

(v) Any Order associated with the payment conditions of a Bill are generally written on the back of the Bill and is known as an Indorsement, where C. (the Payee) being the Indorser and another party D. being the Indorsee; and

(vi) If a Bill is payable to “C. or Bearer”, C. (the Payee) can transfer it to D. merely delivering it to him; and

(vii) A Bill payable “C. or Order” may be converted to a “C. or Bearer” if C. (the Payee) or Indorsee indorses it in blank; and

(viii) A Holder is a general word applied to anyone in actual or constructive possession of a Bill and entitled to recover and receive its contents from the parties to it; and

(ix) The effect of drawing a Bill is a conditional contract by A. (the Drawer) to pay the Bill if B. (the Drawee) dishonors it, either by failing to accept it, or having accepted it, by failing to pay it at maturity; and

(x) The effect of accepting a Bill is an absolute contract by the Acceptor to pay the Bill; and

(xi) The effect of indorsing a Bill is a conditional contract by the Indorser to pay his immediate or any succeeding Indorsee, or the Bearer, in the case of the default of the Acceptor; and

(xii) The effect of a Bill not being presented for payment at the proper time is that all the antecedent parties, except the Acceptor are discharged from liability and the liability of a party may be qualified by the terms of his acceptance and indorsement; and

(xiii) When B. (the Drawee) of a Bill fails to accept it on being presented to him for that purpose, it is said to be dishonored by non-acceptance; and

(xiv) When the Acceptor of a Bill fails to pay it on presentment at the proper time it is said to be dishonored by non-payment; and

(xv) It is incumbent on the holder of a Bill which has been dishonored to give prompt notice of the fact to the antecedent parties, otherwise they will be discharged from all liability; and

(xvi) When a Bill is made payable at a certain time (i.e. thirty days), on that time arriving the Bill is said to be at maturity or due. After that time it is said to be overdue or afterdue. The negotiability of an overdue Bill is qualified; and

(xvii) Bills of Exchange are either Inland or Foreign. Inland Bills are those which are both drawn and payable within the limits and jurisdiction of a particular nation. All others are Foreign.

In regards to a Bill of Lading:

(i) Several copies of a valid Bill of Lading are usually made out with one or more of these sent by the shipper of the goods (consignor) to the person for whom they are intended (the consignee); and another to the master of the ship and another kept by the consignor; and

(ii) A Bill of Lading specifies the name of the master, the port and destination of the ship, the goods, the consignee and the rate of freight; and

(iii) A Bill of Lading is a negotiable instrument and the property in the goods which it represents is transferred by its endorsement and delivery, subject to any rights of stoppage, liability to freight, etc.