1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bona Fide

BONA FIDE (Lat. “in good faith”), in law, a term implying the absence of all fraud or unfair dealing or acting. It is usually employed in conjunction with a noun, e.g. “bona fide purchaser,” one who has purchased property from its legal owner, to whom he has paid the consideration, and from whom he has taken a legal conveyance, without having any notice of any trust affecting the property; “bona fide holder” of a bill of exchange, one who has taken a bill complete and regular on the face of it, before it was overdue, and in good faith and for value, and without notice of any defect in the title of the person who negotiated it to him; “bona fide traveller” under the licensing acts, one whose lodging-place during the preceding night is at least 3 m. distant from the place where he demands to be supplied with liquor, such distance being calculated by the nearest public thoroughfare.