Law Dictionary Definitions

Bates stamp,n.1. A self-advancing stamp machine used for affixing an identifying mark, usu. a number, to a document or to the individual pages of a document. 2.BATES-STAMP NUMBER. — Sometimes (erroneously) written Bate stamp.[Blacks Law 8th]

Bates number.See BATES-STAMP NUMBER.[Blacks Law 8th]

batable ground (bay-t<<schwa>>-b<<schwa>>l). Land of uncertain ownership. • Batable (or debatable) ground originally referred to certain lands on the border of England and Scotland before the 1603 union of the two kingdoms.[Blacks Law 8th]

  bastardy process.See PATERNITY SUIT. [Blacks Law 8th]

bastardy statute.Archaic. A criminal statute that punishes an unwed father for failing to support his child. • These statutes have been found unconstitutional because they unfairly discriminate against fathers and do not punish unwed mothers. So they are unenforceable.[Blacks Law 8th]

batch number.See SERIES CODE.[Blacks Law 8th]

bastardy. See ILLEGITIMACY. [Blacks Law 8th]

bastard eisne.See EISNE.[Blacks Law 8th]

bastard. 1. See illegitimate child under CHILD. 2. A child born to a married woman whose husband could not be or is otherwise proved not to be the father. • Because the word is most   commonly used as a slur, its use in family-law contexts is much in decline. [Cases: Children Out-of-Wedlock  1. C.J.S.…

basse justice (bahs zhoo-stees). [Law French “low justice”] Hist. A feudal lord’s right to personally try a person charged with a minor offense.[Blacks Law 8th]