Paper in United Kingdom

Concept of Paper

The following is an old definition of Paper [1], a term which has several meanings:1. Within the meaning of the revenue law, a book is not ” paper or manufacture of paper.” 2. In a statute against sending obscene papers, includes a letter. 3. In the sense of a printed sheet or sheets containing the current news, see Newspaper. 4. A commercial, business, or negotiable instrument. Accommodation-paper. See Accommodation. Commercial paper. Paper governed by the rules established upon the customs of merchants: bills of exchange, promissory notes, negotiable bank-checks. Negotiable promissory notes and bills of exchange, in the strictest sense. Negotiable papqr given in the due course of business. That class of paper which is transferable by indorsement and delivery, and between private parties is exempt, in the hands of innocent holders, from inquiry into the circumstances under which it was put into circulation. See further Current; Negotiable. Paper credit. Bills of exchange and promissory notes. Paper money. See Tender, Legal. 5. In the language of the courts, has several meanings, somewhat technical. Standing alone, ” a paper ” often designates a pleading or other writing rendered necessary by the contentions between the litigants. Lawyers speak of ” making out,” of ” serving,” and of ” filing papers; ” and judges are said to ” take tlie papers ” in a case just argued, for use in arriving at a decision; and, before a court of error, the record includes all ” papers filed ” in the court below. Paper book. A collection of the written proceedings in a cause, for the use of the court at argument, and pending subsequent deliberations. A copy of the record delivered to the judges of a court of appeal. By ancient practice in England, on motion days the court began by calling upon the senior barristers to move, in the order of seniority. The next day the same practice was repeated; and thus it happened that sometimes weeks elapsed before the juniors could be heard. Lord Mansfield changed this practice by going through the entire bar before returning to the seniors. He also ordered that motions requiring argument should be put down on a paper (a list), which the court would go through before entering upon the general call of the bar. The days for hearing these matters became laiown as ” paper days,” and the briefs required to be furnished the judges, in analogy to the demurrer and issue books of the previous practice, were called “paper books.” Paper title. Describes a claim of title which, while evidenced by one or more writings, is without substantial legal foundation or validity. 6. In a few of the States, a writing issued by a justice of the peace to a constable, directing hira to do some ministerial act, as, to make a levy. 7. In international and constitutional law, a document more or less formal or solemn; as, in state paper, paper blockade. See Blockade. Compare Document; Instrument, 3; Writing.

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Notes and References

1. Meaning of Paper provided by the Anderson Dictionary of Law (1889) (Dictionary of Law consisting of Judicial Definitions and Explanations of Words, Phrases and Maxims and an Exposition of the Principles of Law: Comprising a Dictionary and Compendium of American and English Jurisprudence; William C. Anderson; T. H. Flood and Company, Law Publishers, Chicago, United States)