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Brady Act.A federal law establishing a national system for quickly checking the background of a prospective handgun purchaser. • The formal name of the law is the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. The U.S. Supreme Court held unconstitutional the law’s interim provision, which required chief state law-enforcement officers (usu. sheriffs) to conduct background checks until…

Bracton. The common title of one of the earliest books of English law, De Legibus et Consuetudinibus Angliae (ca. 1250). • Henry of Bratton (also known as Bracton), a judge of the Court of King’s Bench and of Assize, is credited with writing the work, though he may have merely revised an earlier version. “Bracton’s…

bracket system.Tax law. A system for collecting a sales tax based on an index providing for a graduated payment depending on the purchase price of the item, the purpose being fourfold: (1) to avoid having the seller collect a tax less than one cent; (2) to avoid requiring the state to figure the exact amount…

bracket creep.The process by which inflation or increased income pushes individuals into higher tax brackets.[Blacks Law 8th]

bracery.Hist. 1. The offense of selling pretended rights or title to land. • This practice was outlawed by statute of 32 Hen. 8, ch. 9. 2.EMBRACERY.[Blacks Law 8th]

B.R.abbr.1. Bankruptcy Reporter. — Also abbreviated Bankr. Rep.2.Bancus Regis [Latin “King’s Bench”].3.Bancus Reginae [Latin “Queen’s Bench”]. • This abbreviation has been replaced by the English initials of these courts, K.B. and Q.B.[Blacks Law 8th]

Boyle defense.See GOVERNMENT-CONTRACTOR DEFENSE.[Blacks Law 8th]

Boykin Act.Patents. Hist. A statute, passed after World War II, that extended the U.S. patenting deadlines for citizens of former enemy nations. • A similar measure, the Nolan Act, was passed after World War I. [Blacks Law 8th]

— Also termed proportional tax. Cf. progressive tax; regressive tax. [Cases: Taxation 1281. C.J.S. Taxation §§ 2035–2036.] [Blacks Law 8th]

export tax.A tax levied on merchandise and goods shipped or to be shipped out of a country. flat tax.A tax whose rate remains fixed regardless of the amount of the tax base. • Most sales Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004)