D A Y 
varia hath been taught, that merit and fei vice doth oblige 
the Spaniards but from day to day. Bacon. 
Different nations begin their day at a different hour. 
The Egyptians begin their day at midnight ; from whom 
Hippocrates introduced that way of reckoning into agro¬ 
nomy, and Copernicus and others have followed him j 
but aitronomers now reckon the day to begin at noon, 
and fo count twenty-four hours, till the noon of the next 
day ; and not twice twelve, according to the vulgar com¬ 
putation. The method of beginning the day at midnight 
prevails in Britain, France, Spain, and molt parts of Eu¬ 
rope, The Babylonians began their day at fun-rifing; 
reckoning the hour immediately before its riling again 
the twenty-fourth hour of the day ; from whence the 
hours reckoned in this way are called the Babylonic. In 
feveral parts of Germany, they begin their day at fun- 
fetting, and reckon on till it lets next day, calling that 
the twenty-fourth hour; thefe are generally termed Ita¬ 
lian hours. The Jews alfo began their nychthemeron, 
or period of day and night, at fun-fetjting ; but then they 
divided it into twice twelve hours as we do ; reckoning 
twelve for the day, be it long or fhort, and twelve for 
the night; fo that their hours continually varying with 
the day and night, the hours of the day were longer 
than thofe of the- night for one half year, and the con¬ 
trary the other; from whence their hours are called tem¬ 
porary,: thofe at the time of the equinoxes became equal, 
becaufe then thofe of the day and night are fo. The 
Romans alfo reckoned their hours after this manner, as 
do the Turk's at the prefent time. Thefe hours are called 
planetary, becaufe the feven planets were anciently fup- 
pofed to prefide over the affairs of the world, and to 
take it by turns each of thefe hours, according to the fol¬ 
lowing order : Saturn firft, then Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, 
Venus, Mercury, and hill of all the Moon: hence they 
denominated each day of the week from that planet 
-vvhofe turn it was to prefide the firft hour of the nych¬ 
themeron. Thus, by affigning the firft hour of Saturday 
to Saturn, the fecond will fall to Jupiter, the third to 
Mars, and fo the twenty-fecond of the fame nychthe¬ 
meron will fall to Saturn again, and therefore the twenty- 
third to Jupiter, and the laft to Mars : fo that on the firft 
hour of the next day it will fall to the Sun to prefide ; 
and by the like manner of reckoning the firft hour of the 
next will fall to the Moon; of the next, to Mars ; of the 
next, to Mercury; of the next to Jupiter; and of the 
next, to Venus : hence the days of tire week came to be 
diftinguifhed by the Latin names of Dies Saturni , Solis , 
Luna, Martis, Merciirii, Jovis, and Veneris ; and anronng 
ins, by the names of Saturday, Sunday, Monday, See. See 
the article Chronology, vol. iv. p. 533. 
“ The longed Day muft have an end.” Or, as the 
French fay : II n'cjl fi grand jour que ne vienne ci vepre : Be 
the day never fo long, at length cometh even-fong. This 
faying is ufed upon any occafion when we would fignify 
that a thing or lubjedt we are fpeaking of will have an 
end. 
DAY, f. in law proceedings, includes the night of 
the fame day. lhijl. 135. Day, in legal undsrftanding, 
is the day of appearance of the parties, or continuance 
of the fuit where a day is given. And there is a day of 
appearance in court by the writ, and by the roll; by 
writ, when the fheriff returns the writ; by roll, when 
he hath a day by the roll, and the fheriff returns not the 
writ, there the defendant, to lave his freehold, and pre¬ 
vent lofs of iffues, imprifonmejit, Sec. may appear by 
the day he hath by the roil. Co. Lit. 135. In real actions 
there are dies communes, common days; and in all fum- 
monfes there muft be fifteen days after the fummons be¬ 
fore the appearance; and before the ftatute of artlculi 
fuper chartas, in all fummons and attachment in plea of 
land, there fiiould be contained fifteen days. Co. Lit. 134.. 
As to offences in the court of king’s-bench, if the of¬ 
fence be committed in another county than where the 
court fits, and the indictment be removed by certiorari. 
D A Y fas 
there muft he fifteen days between every procefs and the 
return thereof; but if it be committed in the fame county 
where the bench fits, they may fit de die in dim-, but this 
they will very, rarely do. There is a day called dies fpe- 
cialis, as in an aflife in the king’s-bench or common-pleas, 
the attachment need, not be fifteen days before the ap¬ 
pearance ; otlierwife it is before juftices afligned ; but 
generally in aftifes the judges may give a fpecial day at 
their pleafure, and are not bound to the common days; 
and thefe days they may give as well out of term as 
within. There is alfo a day of grace, dies gratia: ; and 
generally this is granted by the court at the prayer of 
the demandant or plaintiff', in vvhofe delay it is; but it 
is never granted where the king is party, by aidpricr of 
the tenant or defendant; nor where any lord of parlia¬ 
ment, or peer of the realm, is tenant or defendant. And 
fometimes theday thatis quarto die pojl, is called dies gratia, 
for the very day of return is the day in law, and to that 
day the judgment hath relation, but no default fliall be 
recorded till the fourth day be paft; unlefs it be in a 
writ of right, w’here the law alloweth no day but the 
day of the return. Co. Lit. 135. 
There are feveral return-days in the terms ; and if 
either of them happen upon a Sunday, the day follow ing 
is taken inftead of it; for Sunday is dies non juridicus ; 
and fo is Afcenfion day in Eafter term, St. John Baptift 
in Trinity term, All Saints and All Souls in Michaelmas 
term, and the Purification of the Virgin Mary in Hilary 
term. 2 Injl. 264. Days in bank are days fet down Joy fta¬ 
tute, or order of the court, when writs ftiall be returned, 
or when the party ftiall appear upon the w-rit ferved. 
51 Hen. III. ft, 2 & 3. 32 Hen. VIII. c. 21. i6Car. I.c.#. 
and 24 Geo. II. c. 48. And by the ftatute de anno bijjextili, 
21 Hen. III. the day increafmg in the leap-year, and the 
day next going before, are to be accounted but one day. 
It is commonly faid that the day of nifi prius, and the 
day in the bank, is all one day ; but this is to be under- 
ftood as to pleading, not to other purpofes. llrtft. 135. 
But after ilfue found for the plaintiff at the nifi prius, if 
a day be given in bank, and the defendant makes default, 
judgment fhall be given againft him. 2 Danv.Ab. 477. 
To be difmlfled without day , is to be finally difiniffed 
the court: and when the juftices before whom caufes 
were depending, do not come on the day to which they 
were continued, whether fuch abl'ence be occafioned by 
death, or otlierwife, they are faid to be put without day : 
but may be revived or re-continued by re-iummons, re- 
attachment, See. 1 Edzo.Vl. c. 7. Alfo by the common 
law, all proceedings upon any indictment, &c. whereon 
no judgment had been given, were determined by the 
demife of the king, and nothing remained but the indict¬ 
ment, original writ, &c. which were put without day, 
till re-continued byre-attachment to bring in the defend¬ 
ants to plead de novo: though this is remedied by 4 & 5 
Will. III. c. 18. 1 Anne, c. 8. by which fuch procefs, 
& r c. are to continue in the fame force after the king’s de¬ 
mife, as they would have done if he had lived. 
In adtion of trefpafs, if the day laid in the declaration 
be either before or after the actual day on which the 
trefpafs is committed, it is not material, if a trefpafs be 
proved. Co. Lit. 283. But the day laid muft be before 
the firft day of that term of which the declaration is in¬ 
tituled, or if the trefpafs be committed within the term, 
there muft be a fpecial memorandum of fome particular 
day, if by bill, or of fome general return day, if ir >t p e 
Common-pleas, or King’s-bench, by original writ Tubfe- 
quent to the day whereon the trefpafs was co’ inm ; tte( j . 
and fo as to other aCtions, where the cav' ie 0 f a( rj.; 0l ^ 
arifes within the term. See the article Dr claration 
DAY (Thomas,) an ingenious write^ p orn in London 
the 22d ot June, 1748. ths parent vwere Thomas Day 
efq. who enjoyed a confiderable office in the cuftoms 
and Jane his wife, the daughter 0 f Samuel Bonham, elo’ 
When he was thirteen months old, his father died ; and 
accordingly the care of hj, s education, and the honour of 
leaving 
