Definition
Latin-law term meaning "bill" — used in old English practice and pleading to denote a formal written instrument presented before a court. The term appears most often as a root word in compound Latin phrases that describe specific procedural actions or documents:
1. Billa (general). A bill or original bill at law; equivalent to the Latin narratio (a declaration or count). The term was interchangeable with the procedural complaint or formal written allegation initiating a matter.
2. Billa vera. Literally "a true bill." The endorsement historically made on a bill of indictment by a grand jury when they found sufficient evidence to send the matter to trial. The phrase was written or stamped on the face of the indictment and indicated the grand jury's approval. The opposite finding — that the evidence was insufficient — was expressed as ignoramus (we do not know), rejecting the bill.
3. Billa cassetur (or Quod billa cassetur). Literally "that the bill be quashed" or "let the bill be quashed." A judgment entered at common law in favor of the defendant on a plea in abatement, directing that the plaintiff's bill be dismissed. It was the standard form of judgment when a plea in abatement succeeded.
4. Billa excambii. A bill of exchange.
5. Billa exonerationis. A bill of lading.
Common Confusion
Billa and its compounds are sometimes confused with one another because they appear as truncated entries in older digests and reporters. Researchers encountering a bare reference to "billa" in a court record should check whether it is followed by a modifier, as the procedural consequences of billa vera (a grand jury finding sending a matter to trial) and billa cassetur (a judgment for the defendant dismissing the plaintiff's bill) are entirely opposite outcomes. Similarly, billa excambii (bill of exchange) and billa exonerationis (bill of lading) are commercial instruments with no procedural relationship to the grand jury or pleading uses of the term.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in early English and colonial American court records will encounter billa and its compounds with some frequency, particularly in materials predating the widespread adoption of English-language pleading forms. Several practical points:
First, the phrase billa vera is the historical ancestor of the modern grand jury finding "true bill," which remains in use today. When reading 18th- or 19th-century criminal procedure materials, the Latin form and the English translation appear interchangeably. Understanding that billa vera and "true bill" are the same finding prevents misreading of indictment records.
Second, billa cassetur appears in pleading treatises and abridgments as the standard judgment form on a successful plea in abatement. Researchers tracing the history of abatement as a defense will encounter this phrase in older English reporters and should not confuse it with a judgment on the merits — it is a procedural dismissal only, not a final resolution of the underlying claim.
Third, because older reporters (particularly the nominative reporters printed in Law French or abbreviated Latin) often truncated compound entries — printing only "Billa" at the head of a section — a researcher scanning for a specific compound must read forward. This is the likely reason Black's 1st edition lists billa and then cuts off mid-phrase at "BILLA CASSETUR."
Fourth, the equation of billa with narratio (declaration or count) noted in Burrill's is useful for researchers mapping early pleading terminology. It signals that in some contexts billa is not a bill in the equitable or chancery sense but simply the plaintiff's formal allegation at common law.
Historical Dictionary Support
The historical sources are consistent in treating billa as a Latin-law root designating a bill or written instrument in legal proceedings. Burrill's adds the most substantive gloss, noting the equivalence with narratio and citing 12 Mod. 399, which grounds the term in common law pleading rather than equity. Black's 2nd edition provides the most complete set of compound forms, adding billa excambii and billa exonerationis that the other sources omit.
Anderson's is concise but usefully captures both primary uses — the original bill at law and the bill of indictment — in a single entry, and flags billa cassetur as a judgment on a plea in abatement with a cross-reference to quash.
What the historical sources collectively underemphasize is the practical trajectory of these terms: billa vera survived into living legal usage as "true bill," while the Latin compound forms for bills of exchange and bills of lading became obsolete as commercial and procedural vocabulary shifted to English. Researchers should not assume that a source citing "billa" without qualification in a post-18th-century context is referring to anything other than the indictment context.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Grand Jury; Indictment; Plea in Abatement; Bill (Pleading)