DKI1T 



DECALOGUE 



719 



entitled t> liis serviceM. Hut the |M>sseMt<ion of hi* 

 services implies tin- |i..-*.-.-inii of (unperson; and 

 tliu possession of IUH person implies the possession 

 of his life. The person of the individual, the father 

 of a family, brings along with it right over his wife, 

 his children, an. I hi- slaves. The creditor thus 

 liei-i Hues the ali-Ml lit m.-iMiT of the life and liberty 

 i>l hi* debtor, and of all those who are dependent 

 n I ion him. I'll.' an.iii^. nii'iii- of the Mosaic Law 

 are an illustration of the manner in which, in the 

 ruder forms of society, the laws of debt thus com- 

 bine a degree of lenity with a degree of severity 

 which are equally alien to modern views. If an 

 Israelite became poor, it was a duty to lend to him, 

 and no interest was to be exacted either in money 

 or in produce. If he was a foreigner, the case was 

 di He rent, and the taking of interest was legal 

 ( Exod. xxii. 25; Deut. xxiii. 19, 20; Lev. xxv. 

 35-38). When the Sabbatical .year arrived i.e. 

 at the end of every seven years there was a general 

 remission of debts as between Israelite and Israelite ; 

 and the near approach of the year of remission was 

 not to be recognised as an apology for declining 

 to lend to an indigent brother (Deut. xv. 1-11). 

 Pledges, it is true, might be taken, but even here 

 the same humane principles prevailed. The upper 

 millstone was sacred, for to take it would be to 

 deprive the debtor of the means of subsistence. If 

 raiment was the pledge, it must be returned before 

 nightfall, when it might be required for a covering 

 ( Lxod. xxii. 26, 27 ) ; and the widow's garment could 

 not be taken in pledge. In strange contrast to 

 this is the provision (Lev. xxv. 39) that a poor 

 Israelite may be sold to one possessed of substance, 

 even when modified by the special provision that he 

 shall serve as a hired servant, not as a bond-servant, 

 and shall be set at liberty when the year of jubilee 

 arrives. Michaelis says that the judicial procedure 

 for debt was quite summary, the most important 

 causes being decided probably in a single quarter 

 of an hour ; and he remarks that Moses nowhere 

 thinks it necessary to mention how a debt was to 

 be proved before a judge. There was, however, an 

 extensive system of appeal ; from the judge over 

 10, the case was carried to the judges over 50, 100, 

 and 1000, and finally to Moses himself. As eveiy 

 Israelite was entitled to claim the land of his 

 fathers at the jubilee year, and thus to place matters 

 on the footing on which they were after the settle- 

 ment in Palestine, debts ana burdens on land were 

 limited to claims to the fruits of forty-two harvests ; 

 but houses, with the exception of those of the 

 Levites, might be sold in perpetuity (Lev. xxv. 29, 

 30, 32, 33). Children were often given in pledge 

 (Job, xxiv. 9), and ultimately into slavery, in pay- 

 ment of debt (2 Kings, iv. 1). Subsequent to the 

 Captivity, the pressure of debts upon the poor 

 became so intolerable, that Nehemiah espoused 

 their cause, and insisted on a general remission 

 ( Nehem. v. ), exacting from the rich an oath that 

 they would never afterwards press for payment. 



Both in Greece (Plut. Vita Solonts, 15) and in 

 Rome (A. Cell. xx. 1, 19; Liv. il 23) the creditor 

 had a claim to the person of the debtor. Previous 

 to the time of Solon this arrangement had produced 

 consequences at Athena closely analogous to those 

 which afterwards led to the struggles between the 

 patricians and plebeians at Rome ; and his abolition 

 of it forms one of Solon's many claims to the char- 

 acter of an enlightened legislator. By the Twelve 

 Tables, it was enacted at Home that if the debtor 

 admitted the debt, or had hod judgment pronounced 

 against him for it, thirty days should be allowed 

 him for payment. At the expiration of that period 

 he was liable to be given into the hands of his 

 creditor, who kept him sixty days in chains, expos- 

 ing him on three market days, and proclaiming his 

 debt. If no one stepped in to tMMM him, the 



debtor at the end of that time might lie Bold for a 

 slave, or put to death. If there were several credi- 

 tors, the letter of the law permitted them to cut 

 their debtor in pieces, sharing him in proportion to 

 their claims ; but Gellius says this law was never 

 enforced. To treat him a* a slave, however, and 

 make him work out the debt, WUM the common 

 practice ; and the children in his i>ower, in accord- 

 unce with the whole constitution of society at Koine, 

 followed his condition. The Lex Pwtelia (328 B.C.) 

 alleviated the condition of the debtors (next) by 

 prohibiting the voluntary alienation of personal 

 freedom. It is uncertain whether it also put an end 

 to the involuntary alienation by the execution of 

 judgment debts. ' During the Republic a debtor 

 could not be taken as a slave to satisfy a judgment 

 debt. The imprisonment of the debtor in a public 

 prison took the place of his reduction to slavery ' 

 (chap. vii. 71, 1 ). Great prominence was given by 

 the plebeians to a change in the laws of debtor and 

 creditor, on the occasion of their first secession, in 

 494 B.C. ; and subsequently during the whole course 

 of the struggles l>etween the two orders. At Rome 

 the creditor was not bound to maintain his debtor 

 in prison, but it was an offence to prevent food and 

 bedding being supplied. In 320 A. D. Constantino 

 abolished imprisonment for debt, unless the debtor 

 was contumacious. 



During the feudal period the person in general 

 was not attachable for debt, imprisonment being 

 inconsistent with the duties of warlike sen-ice, to 

 which every man was bound ; and it was for the 

 encouragement of commerce, and in consideration 

 of the merchant having to deal with strangers 

 and foreigners, that it was first introduced by the 

 mercantile communities of Europe. 



For further information on this and cognate subjects, 

 see other articles in this work, such as ABKE.STMENT, 

 ATTACHMENT, BANKRUPTCY, BOND, CESSIO BONORCH, 

 CONTRACT, DILIGENCE, HUSBAND AND WIFE, INFANT, 

 SANCTUAUY, &c. For the history of the law of imprison- 

 ment for debt, see, for England, Keeves's Hittury of t/ie 

 Law, and for Scotland, Bell's Cammentarict. For archaic 

 systems of execution for debt, such as the Indian darna, 

 or fasting at the door of the debtor, see the works of Sir 

 Henry Sumner Maine. 



Debt, NATIONAL. See NATIONAL DEBT. 



Debut (d6bnt), a French word which has been 

 adopted into the English language, signifying 

 generally a beginning or entrance, but specially 

 applied to the first appearance of an actor or 

 actress on the stage at all, or to a first appearance 

 in a particular theatre. In these circumstances, the 

 actor is called a debutant ; the actress, a debutante. 



Deca (Gr., signifying ' ten '), a prefix of fre- 

 quent occurrence : as in Decapolis, a group of ten 

 cities ; decalogue, the ten commandments ; deca- 

 metre, a measure of ten metres, &c. From deca 

 is formed decade, a collection or croup of ten. 

 In the calendar of the French Republic the term 

 decade was used to designate their week of ten 

 days, the various days of which were named 

 jtnmidi, duodi, tridi, quortitK. quintidi, ttjctidi, 

 scptidi, m-tUli, nonidi, ami decadi. See CALENDAR. 



Decachord, an ancient Greek instrument of 

 ten strings ( hence the name ), triangular in shape ; 

 also a kind of large guitar with ten strings. 



Decagon is a plane geometrical figure of ten 

 sides. When the sides are equal, the figure is 

 called a regular decagon. 



Decalogue (Gr. dtkalogos, 'ten words' or 

 'sentences'), the ten commandment*. The 'ten 

 words,' as they are called in Exodus xxxiv. 28, and 

 elsewhere, are prefixed to the collection of laws 

 called the 'Book of the Covenant' (Ex. xx. 22 to 

 xxiii. 33), and with it form part of the ' Prophetical 

 Narrative ' of the Pentateuch (here extending from 



