Definition
A Latin adverb meaning "twice" or "a second time." In legal usage, bis appears almost exclusively in Latin maxims and compound legal phrases rather than as a standalone term. Its primary legal significance lies in maxims governing double recovery, double jeopardy, and the principle that a satisfied obligation cannot be demanded again.
The most consequential maxim in which it appears: Bis idem exigi bona fides non patitur; et in satisfactionibus non permittitur amplius fieri quam semel factum est — "Good faith does not suffer the same thing to be demanded twice; and in making satisfaction for a debt or demand, it is not allowed to be done more than once." This maxim underlies doctrines of satisfaction, merger, and the bar against double recovery across both common law and equity.
A second notable compound is bis petitum — a thing twice demanded — used to describe a procedural defect when the same claim is brought again after it has already been put in suit or satisfied.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Plural of "bi" (colloquial).
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Twice — a word showing that something is, or is to be, repeated; as a passage of music, or an item in accounts."
The musical and accounting senses in Webster's 1913 are closer to the classical Latin meaning than the modern Wiktionary entry, but neither captures the legal usage. In law, bis is not a standalone word a researcher will encounter in English-language text — it appears embedded in Latin maxims where its meaning is directional: it signals the prohibition of repetition rather than a command to repeat.
Common Confusion
Bis is sometimes loosely associated with the prefix bi- (two, double) in compound legal terms such as bilateral or biennial. These are related etymologically but distinct in function. Bis is an adverb modifying an action ("done twice"); bi- is a prefix modifying a noun or adjective ("having two"). A researcher encountering bis in a historical source should look for a maxim or compound phrase, not a standalone English-style term.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will not find bis as a headword in modern legal materials — it survives only within Latin maxims. The practical research task is recognizing which modern doctrines descend from maxims built on bis.
The maxim Bis idem exigi bona fides non patitur is the ancestor of the satisfaction and merger rules in contract and judgment law: once a debt is paid or a judgment satisfied, no further claim lies on the same obligation. Researchers tracing the history of double-recovery bars, res judicata, or satisfaction of judgment will find this maxim cited in older equity and common law treatises. The cite given in both Black's editions — 9 Coke 53 — points to Coke's Reports, a foundational English common law source available in Law Mind's historical corpus.
Bis petitum appears in early English procedural contexts. Burrill cites Cro. Jac. 21 (Croke's Jacobean reports), a source that surfaces in historical English case research. Researchers working in early modern English procedure or in the history of the plea of former suit pending should flag this phrase.
Anderson's Dictionary of Law simply redirects to BI, which reflects how 19th-century American legal dictionaries were beginning to absorb Latin prefixes into English-language compound entries — a useful reminder that the Latin-to-English transition in legal terminology was still incomplete at the time of these compilations.
No modern American statute or rule uses bis as a term. When it appears in a 19th- or early 20th-century source, treat it as a signal to locate the full Latin maxim and trace the doctrine it supports into its modern common-law successor.
Historical Dictionary Support
All three substantive historical sources (both Black's editions and Burrill) agree on the definition — "twice" — and reproduce the same maxim with the same Coke citation. This consistency suggests the term's legal significance had been stable and narrow for generations before these dictionaries were compiled. None of the sources treat bis as a doctrine in its own right; all treat it instrumentally, as a particle needed to unlock the meaning of the maxims in which it appears.
Burrill adds the bis petitum compound and its Croke citation, which Black's omits — a meaningful divergence for procedural historians. Black's first edition also includes a brief reference to leap year (bissextile year, from bis + sextus), a fragment of a longer entry that appears to have been truncated in the digitized source. This astronomical application of bis has no legal significance in modern research but illustrates the word's broader Latin range.
Anderson redirects to BI without independent treatment, reflecting a different editorial philosophy — consolidating Latin particles under Anglicized headwords rather than preserving them separately.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Double Recovery; Res Judicata and Claim Preclusion; Satisfaction of Judgment