DEM 
merit on the demurrer, here he may enter a non-prof, as 
to the iflue, and' proceed to a writ of enquiry upon tire 
demurrer; but otherwife he cannot have fitch writ of 
enquiry, i Salk. 219. If there be three counts in the 
declaration, to which there is a general demurrer; if any 
one of the counts be good, judgment mu ft be for the 
plaintiff, if fuch count can be joined with the other two. 
1 Wilf. 252. 
A demurrer is to be (igned, and argued on both Tides, 
by counfel. After a demurrer is joined, the plaintiff 
having entered it on the roll, delivers the roll to the fe- 
condary, and makes a motion for a conjilivm, or day to ar¬ 
gue it, which the court grants of courfe, on the fecon- 
dary’s reading the record; then the demurrer muff be 
entered by the plaintiff in the court-book with the fecon- 
dary, who, on his rule, fets down the day appointed for 
argument, at lead four days before the demurrer is ar¬ 
gued : and paper-books, containing all the proceedings 
at length, which are afterwards entered on record, are 
made and delivered to the judges two days before argu¬ 
ment. Imp. K. B. The demurrant argues firft, and the 
court will hear but two counfel on a day, viz. one of a 
fide; and, if defined on either fide, (unlefs the cafe be 
very plain,) the court will hear further arguments the 
next term. If the major part of the judges of the court 
cannot determine the matter on demurrer, it is to be fent 
into the exchequer-'Chamber to be determined by all the 
judges of England, 1 Injl. 71. Demurrers are now fre¬ 
quently put in for delay. In fuch cafes, the party wilh- 
ing to avoid the delay, makes up four demurrer-books, 
and delivers to the judges, two days before the day when 
judgment is moved for ; which is given of courfe with¬ 
out argument. 
When the court givgs judgment on demurrer in debt 
for the plaintiff in the atlion, the judgment is for the 
plaintiff to recover his debt, coils, and damages ; but, if 
it be in adlion on the cafe, a writ of enquiry of damages 
mud be awarded, before the plaintiff can have final judg¬ 
ment. If judgment on the demurrer is for the defendant 
in the adtion, the judgment is, that the plaintiff take no¬ 
thing by his writ, bill, &c. and that the defendant go 
without day. Wood’s Irfl. 6 03. General demurrer being 
entered, it cannot be afterwards waved, without leave of 
the court; but a fpecial demurrer generally may, unlefs 
the plaintiff hath loft a term, or the aflizes, by the de¬ 
fendant’s demurring.- 
Demurrer to Evidence. This happens where a re¬ 
cord or other matter is produced in evidence, concerning 
the legal confequences of which there arifes a doubt in 
law ; in which cafe the adverfe party may, if he pleafes, 
demur to the whole evidence ; which admits the truth 
of every fa£t that has been alleged, but denies the fuf- 
ficiency of them all in point of law to maintain or over¬ 
throw the iflue, as the cafe may be. 1 Injl. 70. This 
draws the queftion of law from the cognizance of the 
jury to be decided, as it ought, by the court, out of 
which the record is fent. 3 Conan. 372. So if the plain¬ 
tiff brings witneffes to prove a faff, and a matter of law 
arifeth upon it; if the defendant admits their teftimony 
to be true, there alfo the defendant may demur in law ; 
and fo may the plaintiff demur upon the defendant’s evi¬ 
dence. And, in thefe cafes, the counfel for the plaintiff 
and defendant agree the matter of faff in difpute; and 
the jury are difeharged; and the matter of law is refer¬ 
red to the judges to determine. But where evidence is 
given for the king, in an information, or other fuit, and 
the defendant offers to demur upon it, the king’s'Counfel 
are not obliged to join therein; but the court ought to 
direfl the jury to find the fpec.ial matter. And, indeed, 
becaufe juries of late ufually find a doubtful matter fpe- 
cially, demurrers upon evidence are now feldom ufed. 
5 Rep. 104. 2 Injl. 426. If the court doth not agree to a 
demurrer to evidence in a civil caufe, they ought to feal 
a bill of exceptions, &c. 9 Rep. 13. 
Demurrer to Indictments. This is incident to 
Vol. V. No. 308. 
DEN 717 
criminal cafes, as well afc civil, when the faft, as alleged, 
is allowed to be true, but the prifoner joins iflue upon 
fome point of law-in the indiffment; by which he infifts 
that the faff, as Hated, is no felony, treafon, or whatever 
the crime is alleged to be. ' Thus, for inftance, if a man 
be indiffed for felonioufly ftealing a greyhound, which 
is an animal in which no valuable property can be had, 
and therefore it is not felony, but only a civil trefpafs 
to fteal it : in this cafe the party indiffed may demur to 
the indiffment, denying it to be felony, though he con- 
fefles the aft of taking it. Some have held, that if on 
demurrer the point of law be adjudged againfl the pri¬ 
foner, he fliall have judgment and execution, as if con¬ 
victed by verdict. But this is denied by others, wiio 
hold, that in-fuch cafe he fliall be directed and.received 
to plead the general iflue, Not guilty, after a demurrer 
determined againfl him ; which appears the more rea- 
fonable, becaufe it is clear, that if the prifoner freely 
difeovers the faff in court, whether it be felony or-no ; 
and, upon the faff-thus fhewn, it appears to be felony ; 
the court will not record the confeflion, but admit him 
afterwards to plead not guilty. 2 Hal. P. C. 225. And 
this feems to be a cafe of the fame nature, being, for the 
moft part, a miftake in point of law, and in the conduft 
of his pleading ; and, though a man by mif-pleading may 
in fome cafes lofe his property, yet the law' will not buf¬ 
fer him by fuch niceties to lofe his life. However, upon 
this doubt, demurrers to indictments are feldom ufed ; 
fince the fame advantages may be taken upon a plea of 
Not guilty; or .afterwards in arreft of judgment, when 
the verdict has eflabliflied the faCt. Smith v. Bourn, Mich. 
7 Anne, in which cafe the demurrer was continued on the 
record with a ccjfet triatio exitus, &c. and after the demur¬ 
rer was determined againfl the defendant, a venire was 
awarded. Salk. 5 9. Dyer, 58. 2 Hawk. P. C. uhijupra in n. 
4 Comm. 333. 
DEMY',y. A term adopted in our univerfities for a 
half-fellow, or fellow eleCt, againfl the next vacancy in 
his college. A fort of paper principally ufed for printing 
books. There is alfo a finer fort, called writing demy. 
DE'MY-NA'TURED, adj. of one fame being: 
He grew unto his feat; 
And to fuch wondrous doing brought his horfe. 
As he had been incorps’d, and demy-natur’d 
With the brave beaft, Sha/tejpeare. 
DE'MY-SANGUE,y. A term in law for half-blood : 
where a man marries a woman, and hath ilfue by her fon, 
and the wife dying he marries another woman, by whom 
he hath alfo a fon; now thefe two fons, though they are 
called brothers, are but brothers of the half-blood, be¬ 
caufe they had not both one father and mother; and 
therefore by law they cannot be heirs to one another; 
for he that claims freehold as heir to another by defeent, 
mud be of the whole blood to him from whom he claim- 
eth. See the article Descent. 
DEN,y. [ben, Sax.] A cavern or hollow running ho¬ 
rizontally, or with a fmall obliquity, under ground ; dif- 
tinft from a hole which runs down perpendicularly._ 
They here difperfed, fome in the air, fome on the earth, 
fome in the waters, fome amongft the minerals, dens, and 
caves, under the earth. Hooker. —The cave of a wild 
beaft.—What, fliall they feek the lion in his den? Shake - 
Jpeare. 
'Tis then the fliapelefs bear his den forfakes; 
In woods and fields a w ild deftruCtion makes. Dryden . 
Den, the termination of a local name, as Biddenden, Ten- 
terden, &c. may lignify either a valley, or a woody place; 
for the Saxon ben imports both. Gibjbn. 
DEN and STROND,y A liberty for firip s or veflels 
to run or come a-fhore : and king Edward I. -by charter, 
granted this privilege to the barons of the cinque ports. 
DENA'IN, a towm of France, in the department of 
the north, fituated on the weft fide of the Scheldt, near 
2 U which 
