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DECRETAL DEKR. 



DECRETAL ; a general name for the papal de- 

 crees, comprehending the rescripts (answers to in- 

 quiries and petition?), decrees (.judicial decisions by 

 the rota Romano), mandates (official instructions for 

 <(( It siastical officers, courts, &c.), edicts (papal or- 

 dinances in general), and general resolutions of the 

 councils. The oldest collection was made by Isi- 

 dore, archbishop of Seville (who died 636), which is 

 extant in manuscript. An enlarged collection was 

 made in the ninth century, probably on the Rhine 

 (perhaps by Benedictus Levita). This contained 

 many pieces which have since been shown to be 

 spurious. In modern times, it has therefore been 

 ailed the pseudo-lsidorian collection. In the Corpus 

 Jurit Canonici, the collection of decretals which 

 (in^ory IX. (who died 1241) caused to be made 

 by Raimond of Pennafort (officially published in 1234 

 at Paris, 1235 at Bologna), constitutes the second di- 

 vision, succeeding the decretum. It is divided into 

 five books, and is quoted under the name Extra, be- 

 cause it contains the decretals not in the decretum. 

 A sixth book of later decretals (Liber sextus Deere- 

 talium) was added, in 1298, by Boniface VIII. See 

 Canon Law. 



DEE ; a large river of Scotland, in the county 

 of Aberdeen, which has its sources in the heights of 

 Braemar and the Cairngorm mountains, and dis- 

 charges itself into the German ocean, after an irre- 

 gular course, from west to east, of ninety-seven 

 miles. A part of it forms the southern boundary of 

 Aberdeenshire. It is a beautiful and rapidly running 

 river, having in many places high and rocky banks, 

 overhung with large natural forests and plantations. 

 It abounds in salmon, and its produce in fish is esti- 

 mated at above .8,000 a-year. 



DEE ; a river of Scotland, in the county of Kirk- 

 cudbright, which flows into the Solway firth, after a 

 course of about forty miles. Its run is rapid, and, 

 like its Aberdeen namesake, much of it is adorned 

 by steep romantic banks, overhung with woods. It 

 is navigable for about two miles from its mouth, and 

 at the head of the navigation, at Tongland, it is 

 crossed by a fine bridge, consisting of a single arch 

 having a span of 110 feet. 



DEE ; a river of Ireland, which traverses the 

 county of Louth, and runs into the bay of Dundalk. 



DEE, a beautiful river in Merionethshire, Wales, 

 which flows from the lake Pimble-Meer, and fells 

 into the Irish sea, about fifteen miles below Ches- 

 ter. A large aqueduct, conveying the water of the 

 Ellesmere canal, passes over it, at Pont-y Eyssyltan. 



DEED is a written contract, sealed and delivered. 

 It must be written before the sealing and delivery, 

 otherwise it is no deed ; and, after it is once formally 

 executed by the parties, nothing can be added or in- 

 terlined ; and, therefore, if a deed be sealed and de- 

 livered with a blank left for the sum, which the obli- 

 gee fills up after sealing and delivery, this will make 

 the deed void. A deed must be made by parties 

 capable of contracting, and upon a good considera- 

 tion, and the subject matter must be legally and 

 formally set out. The formal parts of a deed are, 

 the premises, containing the number, names, addi- 

 tions, and titles of the parties ; the covenants, which 

 are clauses of agreement contained in the deed, 

 whereby the contracting parties stipulate for the 

 truth of certain facts, to bind themselves to the per- 

 formance of some specific acts ; the conclusion 

 which mentions the execution and date of the deed, 

 or the time of its being given or executed, either 

 expressly or with reference to some day and year be- 

 fore mentioned. Every deed must be founded upon 

 good and sufficient consideration ; not upon an usu- 

 rious contract, nor upon fraud or collusion, either to 

 deceive bona fide purchasers, or just and lawful cre- 



ditors; any of which considerations will vacate the 

 deed, and subject the parties to forfeiture, and in 

 some cases imprisonment. A deed, also, without 

 any consideration is void. A deed must be executed 

 by the party himself, or by another for him in his 

 presence, or with his direction ; or, in his absence, 

 by an agent authorized so to do by another deed, 

 also under seal ; and in every such I-MH-, the deed 

 must be made and executed in the name of the prin- 

 cipal. A deed takes effect only from the day of de- 

 livery ; and therefore, if it have no date, or a date 

 impossible, the delivery will in all cases, ascertain 

 the date of it; and if another party seal the deed, 

 yet, if the party deliver it himself, he thereby adopts 

 the sealing and signing, and, by such deli very, makes 

 them both his own. The delivery of a deed may be 

 alleged at any time after the date ; but unless it be 

 sealed and regularly delivered, it is no deed. Ano- 

 ther requisite of a deed is, that it be properly wit- 

 nessed or attested : the attestation is, however, ne- 

 cessary rather for preserving the evidence, than as 

 intrinsically essential to the validity of the instru- 

 ment. There are four principles adopted by the 

 courts of law, for the exposition of deeds, viz., 1. that 

 they be beneficial to the grantee, or person in whose 

 favour they are intended to operate ; 2. that where 

 the words may be employed to some intent, they 

 shall not be void ; 3. that the words be construed 

 according to the meaning of the parties, and the in- 

 tent of the parties be carried into effect, provided 

 such intent can possibly stand at law; 4. tliat 

 they are to be expounded consonantly to the rules 

 of law, and reasonably, without injury to the gran 

 tor, and to the greatest advantage of the grantee. 



DEER (cervtts). These beautiful and well known 

 quadrupeds belong to the order pecora, or ruminating 

 animals. They are distinguished from the ante- 

 lopes (q. v.) by their horns, which are composed ot 

 a bony substance, caducous, or falling off annually, 

 and again renewed of a larger size than in the pre- 

 ceding year. These horns or antlers always exist on 

 the head of the male, and sometimes on that of the 

 female. In their first or young state, they are cover- 

 ed by a velvet-like membrane, through which the 

 blood circulates with great freedom. At this time 

 the horn is extremely sensitive, the animal sufferin^ 

 much pain when it is roughly handled or struck" 

 After the horn has attained its full growth, the ba 

 becomes surrounded with an irregular, tuberculoi 

 ring, called the burr, and the blood- vessels gradually 

 contract and diminish, until they cease to convey 

 blood to the velvet membrane, which then dries, 

 loses its sensitiveness, and finally flakes off. The 

 form of the horns are various. Sometimes they 

 spread into broad palms, which send out sharp snags 

 around their outer edges ; sometimes they divide 

 fantastically into branches, some of which project 

 over the forehead, whilst others are reared upwards 

 in the air, or they may be so reclined backwards, that 

 the animal seems almost forced to carry its head in a 

 stiff, erect posture. Yet they communicate an air of 

 grandeur, seeming like trees planted on the head of 

 a living animal. The various species of deer, as well 

 as the antelopes, invariably remain in their original 

 situations, when left to themselves. Two species are 

 common to the north of the old and new continents ; 

 five belong to North America ; four to America south 

 of the equator ; four to Europe and the continent ot 

 Asia ; and fourteen to India, China, and the Asiatic 

 archipelagos. The writings of naturalists exhibit 

 much confusion in relation to the North American 

 species. This has arisen, in a great measure, from 

 the loose manner in which species have been pro- 

 posed en the authority of travellers, wholly incom- 

 petent to distinguish between mere varieties, and 



