Law Dictionary Definitions

benefit-of-bargain rule.See BENEFIT-OF-THE-BARGAIN RULE. [Blacks Law 8th]

benefit of an earlier filing date.Patents & trademarks. For a patent or trademark applicant, the advantage of being assigned the filing date of a related, earlier-filed application. • Under 35 USCA § 119: (1) a U.S. patent application is given the filing date of an earlier foreign application filed in accordance with the Paris Convention…

benefit certificate.A written obligation to pay a named person a specified amount upon stipulated conditions. • Benefit certificates are often issued by fraternal and beneficial societies. [Cases: Beneficial Associations  18(1). C.J.S. Beneficial Associations § 29.][Blacks Law 8th]

benefit association.See benevolent association under ASSOCIATION. [Blacks Law 8th]

benefit,n.1. Advantage; privilege <the benefit of owning a car>.2. Profit or gain; esp., the consideration that moves to the promisee <a benefit received from the sale>. — Also termed legal   benefit; legal value. Cf. DETRIMENT(2). death benefit.(usu. pl.) A sum or sums paid to a beneficiary from a life-insurance policy on the death of…

beneficium separationis        (ben-<<schwa>>-fish-ee-<<schwa>>m sep-<<schwa>>-ray-shee-oh-nis). [Latin “privilege of separation”] Roman law. The right of a creditor of the deceased to have the property of the deceased separated from an heir’s property. • This separation protected the creditors by ensuring that the deceased’s property was not used to pay the heir’s creditors. — Also termed separatio…

beneficium ordinis (ben-<<schwa>>-fish-ee-<<schwa>>m or-d<<schwa>>-nis). [Latin “privilege of order”] Roman & Scots law. A surety’s right to require a creditor to seek payment from the principal debtor before seeking payment from the surety. See BENEFIT OF DISCUSSION. “Beneficium Ordinis… by the civil law and our own, a cautioner, simply bound as such, is entitled to insist…

beneficium competentiae      (ben-<<schwa>>-fish-ee-<<schwa>>m kom-p<<schwa>>-ten-shi-ee). [Latin “privilege of competency”] Roman & Scots law. A debtor’s right to be ordered to pay only as much as the debtor reasonably could, so that after assigning his or her estate to creditors, the debtor kept enough to live on. See assignment for the benefit of creditors under ASSIGNMENT;…

beneficium cedendarum       actionum           (ben-<<schwa>>-fish-ee-<<schwa>>m see-den-day-r<<schwa>>m ak-shee-oh-n<<schwa>>m). [Latin “privilege of having actions made over”] Roman & Scots law. The right of a cosurety who might or might not have paid the debt to compel the creditor to give over the right of action against the debtor and the other cosureties. • Under Scots law,…

beneficium abstinendi (ben-<<schwa>>-fish-ee-<<schwa>>m ab-sti-nen-dI). [Latin “privilege of abstaining”] Roman law. The right of an heir to refuse an inheritance and thus avoid liability for the testator’s debts. “[T]hese heirs came also to be protected by the praetor, viz. by the jus or beneficium abstinendi. Provided they took care not to act as heir in any…