Black's Law Dictionary

Acceptance. Acceptance is the drawee's signed engagement to honor the draft as presented. It must be written on the draft, and may consist of his signature alone. It becomes operative when completed by delivery or notification.

Bill in Equity. The first written pleading in a proceed­ing in equity. The complaint in a suit in equity.

Color of Law. The appearance or semblance, without the substance, of legal right. Acts "under color of any law" of a State include not only acts done by State officials within the bounds or limits of their lawful authority, but also acts done with­out and beyond the bounds of their lawful authority; provided that, in order for unlawful acts of an official to be done "under color of any law", the unlawful acts must be done while such official is purporting or pre­tending to act in the performance of his/her official duties; that is to say, the unlawful acts must consist in an abuse or misuse of power which is possessed by the official only because s/he is an official; and the unlawful acts must be of such a nature or character, and be committed under such circumstances, that they would not have occurred but for the fact that the person committing them was an official then and there exercising their official powers outside the bounds of lawful authority.

Discharge. Equity practice. In the process of accounting before a master in chancery, the discharge is a statement of expenses and counter-claims brought in and filed, by way of set-off, by the accounting defendant; which follows the charge in order.

Dishonor. To refuse to accept or pay a draft or to pay a promissory note when duly presented. U.C.C. § 3-507(1); § 4-210. For bank's liability for wrongful dishonor, see U.C.C. § 4-402. See also Notice of dishon­or.

Notice of dishonor. Notice of dishonor may be given to any person who may be liable on the instrument by or on behalf of the holder or any party who has himself received notice, or any other party who can be com­pelled to pay the instrument. In addition an agent or bank in whose hands the instrument is dishonored may give notice to his principal or customer or to another agent or bank from which the instrument was received. U.C.C. § 3-508(1). See also Dishonor. 

Equitable Action. One seeking an equitable remedy or relief; though in the federal and most state courts, with the procedural merger of law and equity, there is now procedurally only one type of action - a "civil action".

Equitable Rescission. Rescission decreed by court of equity, as distinguished from "legal rescission" which is effected by restoration or offer to restore.

Equity Jurisdiction. In the federal and most state courts there has been a merger procedurally between law and equity actions (i.e., the same court has jurisdiction over both legal and equitable matters) and, hence, a person seeking eq­uitable relief brings the same complaint as in a law action and simply demands equitable relief.

In order that a cause may come within the scope of equity jurisdiction, one of two alternatives is essential; either the primary right, estate, or interest to be maintained, or the violation of which furnishes the cause of action, must be equitable rather than legal; or the remedy granted must be in its nature purely eq­uitable, or if it be a remedy which may also be given by a court of law, it must be one which, under the facts and circumstances of the case, can only be made complete and adequate through the equitable modes of procedure.

Equity Jurisprudence. That portion of remedial justice administered by courts of equity. More gener­ally speaking, the science which treats of the rules, principles, and maxims which govern the decisions of a court of equity, the cases and controversies which are considered proper subjects for its cognizance, and the nature and form of the remedies which it grants.

Honor. To accept a bill of exchange, or to pay a note, check, or accepted bill, at maturity and according to its tenor. To pay or to accept and pay, or where a credit so engages to purchase or discount a draft complying with the terms of the draft.

Inalienable (Unalienable) Rights. Rights which are not capable of being surrendered or transferred without the consent of the one possessing such rights; e.g., freedom of speech or religion, due process, and equal protection of the laws. Rights which can never be abridged because they are so fundamental; incapable of being aliened, that is, sold and transferred.

Inquiry Notice. Information which is charged to a person where a duty is imposed upon him by law to make a reasonable investigation; the information which such investigation would have revealed is imputed to such person."

Notice. Information; the result of observation, whether by the senses or the mind; knowledge of the existence of a fact or state of affairs; the means of knowledge. Intelligence by whatever means communicated. Any fact which would put an ordinarily prudent person on inquiry. That which imparts information to one to be notified.

Relief. The public or private assistance or support, pecuniary or otherwise, granted to indigent persons. Deliverance from wrong, or injustice. In this sense it is used as a general designation of the assistance, redress, or benefit which a complainant seeks at the hands of a court, particularly in equity."

Rescission of Contract. To declare a contract void in its inception and to put an end to it as though it never were. An action of an equitable nature in which a party seeks to be relieved of his obligations under a contract on the grounds of mutual mistake, fraud, impossibility, etc.

Unincorporated association. Voluntary group of persons, without a charter, formed by mutual consent for purpose of performing common enterprise.

Charter. An act of legislature creating a business corporation... the articles of incorporation taken in connection with the law under which the corporation was organized.

Voucher. A receipt, acquittance, or release, which may serve as evidence of payment or discharge of a debt, or to certify the correctness of accounts. When used in connection with disbursement of money, is a written or printed instrument in the nature of an account, receipt, or acquittance, that shows on its face the fact, authority, and purpose of disbursement. A document that serves to recognize a liability and authorize the disbursement of cash. Sometimes used to refer to the written evidence documenting an accounting entry, as in the term journal voucher.