716 



DEBATEABLE LAND 



DEBT 



has made to our knowledge of the morphology and 

 physiology of the fungi and the Myxomyceta:. 

 Of his numerous works in these departments, the 

 Comparative Anatomy of Phanerogams and Ferns 

 has been translated (1885); as also the Mor- 

 phology of Plants, and Lectures on Bacteria ( 1888 ). 



Debateable Land. See BORDERS. 



Deben'ture is a deed or instrument issued by 

 a company or public body as a security for a loan 

 of money. It charges the property of the company 

 with the payment of interest, and the repayment 

 of the principal at some fixed period, usually 

 three, five, or seven years. Debentures vary in 

 their terms, style, and legal incidents according to 

 the statutes under which power is given to issue 

 them ; but the most common form is that of the 

 railway debenture, which is a mortgage issued 

 under the Companies Clauses Act, 1843, and con- 

 taining an assignment of the whole undertaking 

 and receipts of the company. Debentures of a 

 company registered under the Companies Act, 1862, 

 generally create a charge on the property of the 

 company, but are sometimes merely bonds, or in 

 the form of promissory notes. In many cases the 

 issue of debentures has been superseded by the 

 issue of debenture stock, which, with the interest 

 thereon, is a charge on the undertaking of the 

 company prior to all shares or stock of the com- 

 pany. It is capable of being transferred in any 

 amount, and does not, like a simple debenture, 

 represent the title of the original holder by an 

 instrument complete in itself, but requires entry 

 in a register. 



The term debenture is also used by officers of 

 excise to denote a certificate entitling a merchant 

 who exports goods to receive bounty or draw- 

 back. 



Debit and Credit. See BOOK-KEEPING. 



Debo'rah (Hebrew, 'bee'), the 'Mother in 

 Israel,' a Hebrew prophetess, wife of Lapidoth, 

 judged Israel under a palm-tree on Mount Ephraim 

 between Ramah and Bethel. Through her patriot- 

 ism the Hebrews were delivered from the yoke of 

 the Canaanites, under which they had lain for 

 twenty years. She united several of the tribes 

 of northern Israel under Barak ( = Carthaginian 

 Barca, ' lightning ' ), who completely destroyed a 

 great army of the Canaanites at Taanach in the 

 plain of Esdraelon on the brook Kishon,. Sisera, 

 the Canaanite leader, fled, and was murdered in 

 his sleep by Jael. ' The land had rest forty years.' 

 The song of Deborah (Judges, v. ) is an inspired 

 utterance of the most joyful enthusiasm. See 

 Ewald, Die poetischen Biicher des alien Testaments 

 (vol. i. new ed. 1865), and the eloquent passage on 

 ' this Hebrew Boadicea ' in Coleridge's Confessions 

 of an Inquiring Spirit. 



De'breczin, a town of Hungary, in the midst 

 of a wide plain, 130 miles E. of Pesth by rail. 

 It is a large straggling place, indeed really a 

 collection of villages. Notwithstanding its gener- 

 ally squalid character, Debreczin is possessed of 

 some very handsome public buildings, including a 

 town-hall. The Protestant college, with faculties 

 of law and theology, has a valuable library, 

 and physical and zoological collections, is the 

 chief Reformed college in Hungary, and has 1500 

 students ; there are also a Catholic academy, a 

 commercial college, and an agricultural college. 

 Agriculture is the dominant interest ; enormous 

 herds of cattle graze on the fertile plains around. 

 There are also, manufactures of soap, saltpetre, 

 sausages, hams, and tobacco-pipes, which are 

 famous throughout Hungary, and a great steam 

 flour-mill. There is much trade in cattle, swine, 

 and grain. Pop. ( 1891 ) 56,996, all Protestants but 

 2000. The 'Rome of the Calvinists,' Debreczin 



Debruised. 



was long the headquarters of the Reformed faith, 

 and its inhabitants suffered much for their religion. 

 The town took a prominent part in the revolution 

 of 1849, and was for some months in that year the 

 seat of the national diet. 



I>e Brosses. See BROSSES.. 



Debruised, a heraldic term applied to an 

 animal having a bend or other 

 ordinary placed over it. 



De Bry, THEODOR, a gold- 

 smith and copperplate engraver, 

 born at Liege in 1528, who 

 settled in Frankfort-on-Main 

 about 1570, and established a 

 printing-house there. The most 

 important of the works issued 

 from his press is the collection 

 of Voyages to the East and 

 West Indies, published in Latin 

 (25 parts, 1590-1634) and Ger- 

 man (27 parts, 1590-1630). He died in 1598, leav- 

 ing two sons to complete the undertaking. 



Debt means a definite sum of money owed by 

 A to B. The word includes the right of the 

 creditor as well as the liability of the debtor. It is 

 contrasted with the liability for damages, or other 

 unliquidated liability. In England there is, in 

 general, no method of securing debts before they 

 are payable (what is called a garnishee order 

 applying only to judgment debts) ; but future and 

 contingent debts may in Scotland be secured by 

 arrestment or inhibition where the debtor's solvency 

 is doubtful. The main division of debts in Scotland 

 is into movable and heritable the former being 

 primarily chargeable only upon the debtor's per- 

 sonal funds, although they may, by adjudication, 

 be made also a charge upon his real estate ; and 

 the latter being directly a charge upon his real 

 estate. The former have always been treated as 

 personal estate as far as regards the creditor's 

 succession, while until 1868 the latter were con- 

 sidered as heritable estate. Now, there is no 

 distinction. In England also a debt may be 

 secured on the debtor's real estate, as by mortgage 

 or equitable lien ; but these mortgages were always 

 regarded as personal estate, although until 1874 the 

 formal title was in the heir, not the executor. In 

 England, a debt of record is one proved to exist 

 by the records of a court. The most important 

 are judgment debts, which have not only certain 

 facilities in execution and attachment, but must 

 be paid in full out of the personal estate before any 

 debts due on contract. A judgment debt, when 

 delivered in execution, creates a charge on the 

 debtor's real estate, as if he had given a mortgage. 

 Specialty debts in England are debts by contract 

 created by a deed or an instrument under seal. 

 Such debts were formerly entitled to a preference 

 over simple contract debts, such as the liability 

 under a bill of exchange. But that was altered in 

 1869. In the administration of a deceased's estate, 

 the order of preference among debts (as recognised 

 by the Judicature Act of 1873) is (1) expenses; 

 (2) crown debts ; (3) judgment debts ; (4) recogni- 

 sances and statutes ; ( 5 ) special and simple con- 

 tract debts. Under the Judicature Act in England, 

 and at common law in Scotland, in the winding up 

 of the estates of deceased persons, provision must 

 be made for the valuation of contingent and future 

 liabilities or debts, very much in the same way as 

 under sequestration or liquidation proceedings in 

 cases of bankruptcy. 



In bankruptcy there are certain preferential 

 debts, such as taxes and rates, wages and salaries. 

 In England, actions of debt, when on contract under 

 seal, must be brought within twenty years ; on 

 other contracts, within six years. The time in both 



