Bill

Bill, or BILL OF COMPLAINT, was the name given in the English Court of Chancery, prior to the Judicature Act of 1873, to the formal statement of the facts and prayer for relief submitted by a plaintiff to the court. This is now in every case a Writ of Summons (q.v.) and Statement of Claim (q.v.), and is not greatly different from a well-drawn summons and condescendence in the Scottish courts. In the United States, the bill consists of the statement, the charges, the interrogatories, the prayer of relief, and the prayer of process.