752 



DEMURRAGE 



DENBIGHSHIRE 



Demurrage is an allowance made to a ship- 

 owner by the freighter, for the detention of the 

 ship in port beyond the specified time of sailing. 

 The demurrage is properly the delay itself, but the 

 term is generally used to signify the compensation 

 due for the delay. A certain number of days, called 

 lay-days or lie-days, are allowed for receiving and 

 discharging cargo, and it is usually stipulated in 

 charter-parties that the freighter may detain the 

 vessel, either for a specified time, or as long as he 

 pleases, after the expiration of these days, on pay- 

 ing so much per diem for overtime. \V hether the 

 days for which demurrage is due are working days 

 ( i. e. with Sundays and holidays excepted ) or run- 

 ning days will, in the absence of special agreement, 

 depend upon the custom of the port. All the ordi- 

 nary causes of detention, such as port-regulations, 

 the crowded state of the harbour, and the like, 

 are at the risk of the freighter, and demurrage 

 must be paid, though it be proved that the delay 

 was inevitable. But demurrage is not due where 

 the delay arose from detention of the ship by a 

 public enemy, or from hostile occupation of the 

 port ; and it cannot, of course, be claimed where 

 the fault lay with the owners themselves, or the 

 master or crew of the vessel. The demurrage 

 ceases as soon as the vessel is cleared for sailing, 

 though she should be prevented from actually doing 

 so by adverse winds. When the days of demurrage 

 are limited by special contract, and the ship is 

 detained beyond them, the sum due as demurrage 

 under the contract will be taken as the measure 

 of the loss for the further time which may be 

 claimed in the form of damages. It will be open, 

 however, to both parties to show that the rate thus 

 fixed per diem is either too high or too low. When 

 the time allowed for loading and discharging ex- 

 pires, including the extra days if such be stipulated, 

 the master will be entitled either to sail or to claim 

 damage for detention. 



The allowance of l|d. per oz. claimed by the 

 Bank of England for giving gold coin in exchange 

 for bullion is also called demurrage. 



Demurrer, in English law, is a form of plead- 

 ing whereby a party, admitting, for the sake of 

 argument, his opponent's allegations, says they 

 are not sufficient in law to support his opponent's 

 case. A demurrer must be argued in court before 

 the pleadings can proceed further. Demurrer to 

 evidence and demurrer to a criminal indictment 

 are now obsolete. If a prisoner wishes to object 

 to the sufficiency in law of an indictment, his best 

 course is to plead to the indictment, and, if con- 

 victed, to move in arrest of judgment. 



Demy', a particular size of paper. In that of 

 printing paper, each sheet measures 22 inches by 

 174-; drawing-paper, 22 by 17; and writing-paper, 

 20 by 15|. 



Demy (i.e. half- fellow), the name borne by the 

 scholars of Magdalen College, Oxford. 



Denain, a town in the French department of 

 Nord, near the Scheldt and Selle rivers, 20 miles 

 NNE. of Cambrai by rail. It lies in the centre of 

 an extensive coalfield, and has important iron- 

 works, and with manufactures of beetroot sugar 

 and brandy. An obelisk marks the scene of 

 Marshal Villars' victory over the allies under 

 Prince Eugene, 27th July 1712. Pop. (1872) 

 10,442; (1886) 16,115; (1891) 16,663. 



Dena'rius (deni, 'ten each'), the principal 

 silver coin among the Romans, was equal to ten 

 ases, but upon the reduction of the weight of the 

 as, the denarius equalled sixteen of it. It was first 

 coined 269 B.C. Its weight at the end of the Roman 

 commonwealth is estimated at 60 grains, while 

 under the empire the weight was 52 '5 grains of 

 silver. The value of the denarius under the republic 



was thus rather more than 8^d., and of the later 



Denarius of the earliest kind, actual size ; 

 weight, 60'6 grains. 



period about 7Jd. From denarius come the Persian 

 dinar and the English slang deaner, ' a shilling. ' 



Denary Seale. See NOTATION. 



Denbigh, a parliamentary and municipal 

 borough, the county town of Denbighshire, 30 

 miles W. of Chester by rail. It stands near the 

 middle of the vale of the Clwyd, on the sides and 

 at the base of a rugged steep limestone-hill. The 

 castle, whose imposing ruins crown this hill, was 

 built in 1284 by Henry Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, on 

 the site of a fortress erected by William the Con- 

 queror. The newer part of Denbigh was built at 

 trie bottom of the hill, after the destruction and 

 desertion of a great part of the town on the top of 

 the hill, about 1550. Denbigh has manufactures of 

 shoes and leather ; but it is more a place of genteel 

 retirement than of commerce. Pop. ( 1851 ) 5498 ; 

 (1891) 6412. With Ruthin, Holt, and Wrexham, 

 Denbigh sends one member to parliament. In 1645 

 Charles I. took refuge in the castle after the battle 

 of Rowton Heath. The garrison surrendered to the 

 parliamentary forces after a siege of two months. 

 It was shortly afterwards dismantled. The fortifi- 

 cations have an area of a square rnile in extent. 

 A lunatic asylum for the five counties of North 

 Wales was erected near the town in 1848. A noble 

 institution for the maintenance and education of 

 twenty-five orphan girls, and twenty-five day 

 pupils, was built here in 1860, with funds in the 

 hands of the Drapers' Company of London, from 

 money left to them in 1540 by one Thomas Howell, 

 a Welshman. 



Denbighshire, a county of North Wales, on 

 the Irish Sea, and between the Dee and the Con- 

 way. With 8 miles of coast, it is 41 miles long, 

 17 broad on an average, and 603 sq. m. in area, 

 being the sixth in size of the Welsh counties. The 

 surface is partly rugged and mountainous, with 

 some beautiful and fertile vales, as the vale of the 

 Clwyd, 20 miles by 7, and those of the Dee and Con- 

 way. In the north is a range of hills, convex to the 

 coast. The highest hill is Cader Fronwen, 2563 

 feet ; and many others rise above 1500 feet. The 

 rocks are chiefly Silurian clay and graywacke 

 slates, with some granite and trap, and bands of 

 Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian strata. 

 There occur coal, iron, slates, flags, millstones, 

 limestone, lead, and copper. The chief rivers are 

 the Dee, Conway, Elwy, and Clwyd. The Rhaiadr 

 waterfall is 200 feet high in two parts. Llangollen 

 vale is famed for romantic beauty and verdure, 

 amid hills of savage grandeur. The climate is mild 

 in the lower parts, but cold and bleak among the 

 hills, where small hardy sheep and ponies are 

 reared. About two-thirds of Denbighshire are 

 under cultivation ; its corn, cheese, butter, and 

 live-stock are greatly esteemed. It is also well 

 timbered. Salmon are caught in the rivers. The 

 chief towns are Denbigh, Wrexham, Ruthin, Holt, 

 Llangollen, Llanrwst, Abergele, and Ruabon. Pop. 

 (1801) 60,299; (1841) 88,478; (1891) 117,872. Den- 

 bighshire returns two members to parliament. It 

 was anciently occupied by the Ordovices, a powerful 

 tribe, not entirely subdued by the Romans till the 



