DIES. A day. There are four sorts of days: 1. A natural day; as, the morning and the evening made the first day. 2. An artificial day; that is, from d...
DEVOIR. Duty. It is used in the statute of 2 Ric. II., c. 3, in the sense of duties or customs.DEVOLUTION, eccl. law. The transfer, by forfeiture, of ...
DEVISAVIT VEL NON, practice. The name of an issue sent out of a court of chancery, or one which exercises chancery jurisdiction, to a court of law, to...
DEVIATION, insurance, contracts. A voluntary departure, without necessity, or any reasonable cause, from the regular and usual course of the voyage in...
DETINUIT, practice. He detained.2. Where an action of replevin is instituted for goods which the defendant had taken, but which he afterwards restored...
DETERMINABLE FEE. Also called a qualified or base fee, is one which has a quality subjoined to it, and which must be determined whenever the qualifica...
DETAINER. 1. The act of keeping a person against his will, or of keeping goods or property. All illegal detainers of the person amount to false impris...
DESPERATE. Of which there is no hope.2. This term is used frequently, in making an inventory of a decedent's effects, when a debt is considered so...
DESERTION, torts. The act by which a man abandons his wife and children, or either of them.2. On proof of desertion, the courts possess the power to g...
DESCRIPTIO PERSONAE. Description of the person. In wills, it frequently happens, that the word heir is used as a descriptio personae; it is then a suf...