Law Dictionary
	Search:

bonded warehouse See WAREHOUSE.

bondholder One who holds a government or business bond.

bonding company See COMPANY.

bonding company- A company that insures a party against a loss caused by a third party.

bondman See BONDSMAN (2).

bondsman 1.One who guarantees a bond; a surety. 2. Rist. A serf or peasant; VILLEIN. Also termed (in sense 2) bondman.

bones gents (bohn jents). [Law French "good men"] Rist. Qualified or competent persons; esp., men qualified to serve on a jury.

boni homines (boh-ni hom-a-neez). [Law Latin "good men") Hist. Free tenants who judged each other in their lord's court. "[W]e may find traces of juries in the laws of all those nations which adopted the feodal system, as in Germany, France. and Italy; who had all of them a tribunal composed of twelve good men and true, 'boni homines'... " 3 William Blackstone. Commentaries on the Laws of England 349 (1768).

bonification (bahn-a-fi-kay-shan). A tax remission, usu. on goods intended for export. Bonification enables a commodity to be sold in a foreign market as if it had not been taxed.

bonis cedere (boh-nis see-da-ree). [Latin "to cede one's goods"] Civil law. A transfer or surrender of property, usu. from a debtor to a creditor.

bonis non amovendis See DE BONIS NON AMOVENDIS.

bonitarian (bahn-a-tair-ee-in), adj. Roman law. 1. Equitable or beneficial. Also termed bonitary. Cf. QUIRI-TARIAN. 2.Hist. Pertaining to or designating a property interest governed by praetorian edict rather than civil law. See edictum praetoris under EDICTUM.

bonitary (bahn-a-tair-ee-in), Equitable; BONITARIAN (1).

bonitary ownership See OWNERSHIP.

bonitary ownership (bahn-a-tair-ee). A type of eqUitable ownership recognized by the praetor when the property was conveyed by an informal transfer, or by a formal transfer by one not the true owner. Also termed bonitarian ownership; in bonis habere.

bono et malo (boh-noh et mal-oh). See DE BONO ET MALO.

bonorum possessio contra tabulas (ba-nor-am pa-zes(h]-ee-oh kahn-tra tab-Ya-Ias). "possession of goods contrary to the terms of the will Roman law. An order authorizing the applicant to take possession of an estate contrary to the testament.Magistrates made such orders in certain cases, as where a testator passed over a daughter or an emancipated son who was not expressly disinherited. The legacies in the will remained valid, but if the testator passed over any male in the testator's power (patria potestas), the will was invalidated and intestacy resulted. - Also termed contra tabulas. The Praetor could not affect the civil validity of a will; he could not make or unmake a heres. He could. however, give bonorum possessio to a person, heres or not at civil law, which gave him power to take possession of the goods by appropriate steps, bonorum possessio contra tabu las .... " WW. Buckland, A Text-Book of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian 324 (Peter Stein ed., 3d ed. 1963).

bonum factum (boh-nam fak-tam). A good or proper act or deed. Abbr. b.f Also termed bene factum.

bonus 1. A premium paid in addition to what is due or expected <year-end bonus>. In the employment context, workers' bonuses are not a gift or gratuity; they are paid for services or on consideration in addition to or in excess of the compensation that would ordinarily be given. 2. BOUNTY (3). 3. Oil & gas. A payment that is made in addition to royalties and rent as an incen-tive tor a lessor to sign an oil-and-gas lease <the lessee received a large bonus at dosing>. "The amount of bonus paid, usually referred to as a per acre amount. may fluctuate widely between properties. The amount paid depends upon the nature of the development activity in the vicinity. If the land is located in a semi·proven area, or in a logical extension of a proven field, the bonus paid may be substantial." Richard W. Hemingway, The Law of Oil and Gas § 2.5, at 57 (3d ed. 1991).

bonus share See bonus stock under STOCK.

bonus stock A stock share that is issued for no consideration, as an enticement to buy some other type or class of security. - It is considered a type of watered stock. Also termed bonus share.

bonus stock See STOCK.

bonus zoning See incentive zoning under ZONING.

boodle Money paid as a bribe, usu. to a public official.

boodling Slang. Bribery. boodle, vb.

book 1. To record in an accounting journal (as a sale or accounting item) <Jenkins booked three sales that day>. 2. To record the name of (a person arrested) in a sequential list of police arrests, with details of the person's identity (usu. including a photograph and a fin-gerprint), particulars about the alleged offense, and the name of the arresting officer <the defendant was booked immediately after arrest>. 3. To engage (someone) con-tractually as a performer or guest <although the group was booked for two full performances, the lead Singer, Raven, canceled and this action ensued>. See BOOKING CONTRACT.

book account A detailed statement of debits and credits giving a history of an enterprise's business transactions.

book account- See ACCOUNT.

book entry 1. A notation made in an accounting journal 2. The method of reflecting ownership of publicly traded securities whereby a customer of a brokerage firm receives confirmations of transactions and monthly statements, but not stock certificates. See CENTRAL CLEARING SYSTEM.

book equity The percentage of a corporation's book value allocated to a particular class of stock. Cf. BOOK VALUE; MARKET EQUITY.

book of original entry A day today record in which a business's transactions are first recorded.

book value 1. The value at which an asset is carried on a balance sheet. Cf. BOOK EQUITY. Also termed carrying value. 2. See OWNER'S EQUITY.

book-entry bond A bond for which no written certificate is issued to reflect ownership.

book-entry bond- See BOND (3).

bookie See BOOKMAKER.

booking contract An agreement by which an actor or other performer is engaged.

bookkeeping he mechanical recording of debits and credits or the summarizing of financial information, usu. about a business enterprise. Cf. ACCOUNTING.

bookland (buuk-Iand). Land held under royal charter or deed; freehold land .o This was a privileged form of ownership (usu. free of the customary burdens on land) generally reserved for churches and leaders. Also spelled boc/and; bockland. - Also termed charter-land. Cf. LOANLAND; FOLKLAND. "Charter-land is such as a man holds by charter, that is, by evidence in writing, which otherwise is called freehold...[T]his land was held with more easy and commodious con-ditions, than folkland and copy-hold land held without writing; it is a free and absolute inheritance; whereas land without writing is charged with payment and bondage; so that for the most part noblemen and persons of quality possess the former, and rustics the other. The first we call freehold and by charter: the other, land at the will of the lord." Termes de la Ley 80 (1st. Am. ed. 1812). "From very early times it was common to make grants of land to religious bodies or to individuals. The grants were effected by the king as the chief of the community, with the consent of the great men, who in conjunction with the great ecclesiastics, after the introduction of Christianity, formed the Witenagemot, or Assembly of the Wise. The grant was made by means of a 'book' or charter. Land thus granted was said to be 'booked' to the grantee, and was called bocland or bookland. Thus bookland comes to mean land held under a written instrument by private persons or churches; who or whose predecessors are, or at least are supposed to have been, grantees of the community. The practice seems, after the introduction of Christianity, to have prevailed chiefly in favour of religious houses, and in this way the great ecclesiastical corporations acquired their property .... In process of time the conception of bookland seems to be coextensive with that of alodial land." Kenelm E.Digby, An Introduction to the History of

bookmaker A person who determines odds and receives bets on the outcome of events, esp. sports events. Also termed bookie. See BOOKMAKING.

bookmaking Gambling that entails the taking and recording of bets on an event, esp. a sporting event such as a horse race or football game.

books of account See SHOP BOOKS.

Books of Adjournal The records of the High Court of Justiciary.

Books of Sederunt The records of the Court of Session.

book-value stock Stock offered to executives at a bookvalue price, rather than at its market value. The stock is offered with the understanding that when its book value has risen, the company will buy back the stock at the increased price or will make payments in stock equal to the increased price.

book-value stock See STOCK.

boomage 1. A fee charged by a company for collect-ing and distributing logs that have accumulated in its boom (i.e., a line of sawed logs collected and stored on a stream's surface). 2. A right to enter on riparian lands to fasten booms. 3. An anchorage fee charged by a canal proprietor.

boon Unpaid services, rendered in kind or labor, without being fixed in amount or time, that some tenants owed to the landowner as a condition of tenancy.

boon day (usu. pI.) One of several days in the year when copyhold tenants were obliged to perform base services for the lord (such as reaping corn) without pay. Also termed due day. Sometimes (errone-ously) termed bind day.

boot 1. Supplemental money or property subject to tax in an otherwise tax-free exchange. 2.Corporations. In a cor-porate reorganization, anything received other than the stock or securities of a controlled corporation. 3. Commercial law. Cash or other consideration used to balance an otherwise unequal exchange. 4. Hist. ESTOVERS (1). 5. BOTE (1).

boot camp 1. A camp for basic training of Navy or Marine Corps recruits. 2. A military-like facility esp. for juvenile offenders. Boot camps are specialized programs for offenders who are generally nonviolent males from 17 to 25 years old. While proponents applaud the success of these programs, others find their long-term success limited at best. See shock incarceration under INCARCERATION.

boothage (boo-thij). See BOTHAGIUM.

bootleg To make, distribute, or traffic in unauthorized sound or video recordings of live. broad-cast. or recorded performances that have not been com-mercially released by the copyright owner. The term strictly applies only to unauthorized copies of commercially unreleased performances. Dowling v. United States, 473 U.S. 207, 209 n. 2, 105 S.Ct. 3127, 3129 n. 2 (1985) (Blackmun, J.). See PIRACY (4). bootleg, vb. bootleg; bootlegged, adj

bootleg copy See BOOTLEG RECORDING (1).

bootleg recording 1. An unauthorized fixation or copy of a live or broadcast performance in a tangible medium or digital duplication made avail-able over the Internet. Also termed bootleg copy, underground recording, import recording. 2. See PIRATE RECORDING. 3. COUNTERFEIT RECORDING.

bootlegger A person who manufactures. transports, or sells something illegally, esp. alcoholic beverages. See MOONSHINE.

bootstrap 1. To succeed despite sparse resources. 2. To reach an unsupported conclusion from questionable premises.

bootstrap doctrine The doctrine that forecloses collateral attack on the jurisdiction of another state's court that has rendered final judgment. The doctrine applies when a court in an earlier case has taken jurisdiction over a person. over status, or over land. It is based on the principle that under res judicata. the parties are bound by the judgment. whether the issue was the court's jurisdiction or something else. The bootstrap doctrine,however.cannot effectiveness to a judgment by a court that had no subject-matter jurisdiction.For example. parties cannot, by appearing before a state court, "bootstrap" that court into having jurisdiction over a federal matter. "If the court which rendered the judgment has, with the parties before it. expressly passed upon the jurisdictional question in the case, or had opportunity to do so because the parties could have raised the question, that question is res judicata, and is therefore not subject to collateral attack in the state in which the judgment is sued on. This has been called the 'bootstrap doctrine,' the idea being that a court which initially had no jurisdiction can when the issue is litigated lift itself into jurisdiction by its own incorrect but conclusive finding that it does havejurisdic-tian." Robert A. Leflar.American Conflicts Law § 79, at 159 (3d ed. 1977).

bootstrap sale 1. A sale in which the purchase price is financed by earnings and profits of the thing sold; esp., a leveraged buyout. See BUYOUT. 2. A sellers taxsaving conversion of a businesss ordinary income into a capital gain from the sale of corporate stock.

bootstrap sale See SALE.

booty 1. Movables taken from the enemy as spoils in the course of warlike operations. Also termed spoils of war. 2. Property taken by force or piracy; prize or loot.

bop BUREAU OF PRISONS.

bordage (bor-dij). A type of tenure in which a tenant holds a cottage and a few acres in exchange for providing customary services to the lord. Also termed bordagium.

bordar (bor-dar). Hist. A bordage tenant. - The status of such a tenants was less servile than that of a villein tenant. See BORDAGE; VILLEINAGE. Also termed bordarius (pI. bordarii).

border A boundary between one nation (or a political subdivision) and another.

Border and Transportation Security Directorate The division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security responsible for maintaining the safety of the nation's borders and transportation systems. The Directorate includes the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Customs Service. the border security func-tions of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service. and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. It is the Department's largest division. Abbr. BTS.

border control A country's physical manifestation of its territorial sovereignty, by which it regulates which people and goods may enter and leave. As a practical matter, border controls are often used to contain plant and animal diseases, fight terrorism, and detect the movement of criminals.

border search 1. A search conducted at the border of a country, esp. at a checkpoint, to exclude illegal aliens and contraband. "[W)arrantless searches and seizures conducted at national boundaries are permitted under the general authority of the United States to ensure the integrity of its borders. As the Supreme court stated in Carroll v. United States, such activity ensures national self-protection reasonably requiring one entering the country to identify himself as entitled to come in, and his belongings as effects which may be lawfully brought in. [267 U.S. 132, 154,45 S.Ct. 280, 285 (1925).] Thus, the right to remain silent and protect ones personal belongings from government intrusion, normally afforded constitutional protection, are surrendered at the border. Charles H. Whitebread. Criminal Procedure § 12.02, at 227 (1980). 2. Loosely, a search conducted near the border of a country. Generally, searches near the U.S. border are treated no differently from those conducted elsewhere in the country.

border search See SEARCH.

border warrant See WARRANT (1).

bordereau (bor-da-roh). 1. A description of reinsured risks; esp., a periodic report provided by a cedent to a treaty reinsurer, consisting of basic information affecting the reinsurance treaty, such as the underly-ing insureds, the types of risks covered, policies, and dates ofloss. See REINSURANCE TREATY. 2. A detailed note of account. PI. bordereaux. bordereau, vb.

bord-halfpenny (bord-hay-pa-nee). See BOTHAGIUM.

bordlands Land used by the nobility to produce food. Bordlands remained under the nobility's direct control or were given to tenants who produced provi-sions for the landowner. Cf. BORDAGE.

borg 1. A thing deposited as a security, esp. for bail or a suretyship. 2. A surety. Also spelled borghe; borh.

borgh 1. See BORG. 2. See BORROW.

borh 1. See BORG. 2. See BORROW.

bork (bork), 1. (Of the u.s. Senate) to reject a nominee, esp. for the U.S. Supreme Court, on grounds of the nominee's political and legal philosophy .The term derives from the name of Robert Bark, President Ronald Reagan's unsuccessful nominee for the Supreme Court in 1987. 2. (Of political and legal activists) to embark on a media campaign to pressure U.S. Senators into rejecting a President's nominee. 3. Generally, to smear a political opponent.

born valid Presumed to be good; entitled to the legal presumption that a patent was justified when issued and that challengers bear the burden of proving by dear and convincing evidence that the patent should not have been granted .o Defenses against infringe-ment claims take three tacks: denying that the product infringes on the plaintiff's rights, challenging the validity of the patent itself, or challenging its enforceability. Also termed presumption of validity. ''The patent statute is unambiguous: 'A patent shall be presumed valid The burden of establishing invalidity of a patent or any claim thereof shall rest on the party asserting such invalidity.' A patent is born valid. It remains valid until a challenger proves it was stillborn or had birth defects, or is no longer Viable as an enforceable right." Roper Corp. v. Litton Sys., Inc., 757 F.2d 1266, 1270 (Fed. Or. 1985) (quoting 35 USCA § 282).

born-alive test 1. Under the common law, a showing that an infant was completely expelled from the mother's womb and possessed a separate and independent exis-tence from the mother. 2. A shoWing that an infant, at the time of birth, was capable of living a separate and independent existence (regardless of how long the infant actually lived).This test was first announced in Bonbrest v. Kotz, 65 F. Supp. 138 (D.D.C. 1946).

borough (bar-d), 1. A town or township with a munic-ipal charter, such as one of the five political divisions of New York City. 2. English law. A chartered town that originally sent a member to Parliament. 3. Hist. A fortified or important town. Also spelled burgh.

borough court An inferior civil court of record, usu. presided over by the municipal recorder. Most borough courts were abolished by Parliament in 1972. Cf. BOROUGH SESSIONS; RECORDER (1).

borough court- See BOROUGH COURT.

borough English A common-law rule of descent whereby the youngest son (or sometimes the youngest daughter or collateral heir) inherited all his father's lands . If the landowner had no issue, his youngest brother inherited the land. This practice applied to socage tenures in some parts of England. It was abolished by statute in 1925. Also termed postremogen-bote iture; ultimogeniture. Also termed burgh English; burgh Engloys. See PRIMOGENITURE.

borough fund The revenue generated by a municipal borough.

borough reeve See REEVE.

borough reeve In England, the head of an unincorporated municipality.

borough sessions Criminal court sessions held before a municipal recorder. Cf. BOROUGH COURTS; RECORDER (1).

borough-holder See BORSHOLDER.

borrow A frankpledge, Also spelled borgh; borh. See DECENARY; FRANKPLEDGE.

borrow- 1. To take something for temporary use. 2. To receive money with the understanding or agreement that it must be repaid, usu. with interest. See LOAN.

borrowed servant See borrowed employee under EMPLOYEE.

borrowed capital Funds lent to a corporation or other entity to finance its operations, such as cash dividends that are declared by a corporation but temporarily retained (with stockholder approval) to provide operating funds.

borrowed employee See EMPLOYEE.

borrowed employee- An employee whose services are, with the employee's consent, lent to another employer who temporarily assumes control over the employee's work. Under the doctrine of respondeat superior, the borrowing employer is vicariously liable for the borrowed employee's acts. But the borrowing employer may also be entitled to assert immunity under workers' -compensation laws. - Also termed borrowed servant; loaned employee; loaned servant; employee pro hac vice; special employee. See RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR.

borrowed-statutes doctrine The principle that if one state adopts a statute identical to that of another state, any settled judicial construction of that statute by the courts of the other state is binding on the courts of the state that later enacts the statute.

borrower A person or entity to whom money or something else is lent.

borrowhead See BORSHOLDER.

borrowing statute A legislative exception to the conflict of Iaws rule holding that a forum state must apply its own statute of limitations . A borrowing statute specifies the circumstances in which a forum state will apply another state's statute of limitations.

borsholder (bors-hohl-dar). 1. The chief of a tithing or frankpledge. 2. A petty constable. Also termed borough holder; borrowhead; headborough.

Boston interest Interest computed by using a 30-day month rather than the exact number of days in the month. Also termed New York interest.

Boston interest See INTEREST (3).