A bill is a formal or public writing or declaration of one’s claim against another:
- A bill may be an equitable pleading of a claim in a court of equity.
- At early common law, a bill in equity was analogous to a declaration in law.
- A bill may also be a statement indicating that one owes a certain sum of money to another, such as an invoice or itemized list of charges.
- Another common definition of bill is a legislative proposal offered for debate prior to its enactment into law, such as a draft of a statute before it is enacted into law.
See e.g., Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. Weber, 67 Cal.App. 5th 488 (2021) and Whiting v. Bank of United States, 38 U.S. 6 (1839).
[Last updated in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]