Law Dictionary Definitions

blank acceptance.See ACCEPTANCE(4). [Blacks Law 8th]

blank.Parliamentary law. 1. A ballot cast without a vote, effectively an abstention. 2. A name, number, time, or other term left open in a motion, to be filled in by vote after taking proposals from the floor. • An election is a common form of filling a blank: each nomination is effectively a proposal for filling…

blanc seign (blahnk sayn). [Law French] Civil law. A signed paper entrusted to someone with the power to bind the signer within the limits of the agreement between the signer and the grantee. See POWER OF ATTORNEY(1).[Blacks Law 8th]

blame,n.1. An act of attributing fault; an expression of disapproval <the judge said all of the plaintiff’s attorneys were to blame>.2. Responsibility for something wrong <blame rested with all the defendants>. — blame,vb. — blameworthy, blamable,adj.[Blacks Law 8th]

Blaine amendment.A provision in a state constitution for stricter separation of church and state than is required by the Establishment Clause. • In 1875, at the request of President Ulysses S. Grant, Senator James G. Blaine proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, applying the Free Exercise and Establishment Clause to the states, and specifically…

Blackstone lawyer.Slang. 1. A lawyer with a broad knowledge of blackletter principles. 2. A self-educated lawyer (esp. in antebellum America) whose legal training consists primarily of reading Blackstone’s Commentaries.[Blacks Law 8th]

black rent.Hist. Feudal rents paid in work, grain, or money baser than silver. — Also termed blackmail. Cf. WHITE RENT.[Blacks Law 8th]

black ward.Hist. A subvassal; a vassal of the king’s vassal.[Blacks Law 8th]

black-market adoption.See ADOPTION.[Blacks Law 8th]

black market.1.MARKET. 2.SHADOW ECONOMY. [Blacks Law 8th]