Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

343

DEDICATION

DEED INDENTED

DEDICATION". In real property law. An appropriation of land to some public use, made by the owner, and accepted for such use by or on behalf of the public 23 Wis. 416; 33 N. J. Law, 13. A deliberate appropriation of land by its owner for any general and public uses, re serving to himself no other rights than such as are perfectly compatible with the full exercise and enjoyment of the public uses to which he has devoted his property. 22 Wend. 472. In copyright law. The first publication of a work, without having secured a copy right, is a dedication of it to the public; that having been done, any one may republish it. 5 McLean, 32; 7 West. Law J. 49; 5 Mc Lean, 328. DEDICATION-DAY. Thefeast of ded ication of churches, or rather the feast day of the saint and patron of a church, which was celebrated not only by the inhabitants of the place, but by those of all the neighboring Tillages, who usually came thither; and such assemblies were allowed as lawful. It was usual for the people to feast and to drink on those days. Cowell. DEDIMUS ET CONCESSIMUS. (Lat. We have given and granted.) Words used by the king, or where there were more gran tors than one, instead of dedi et conr.essi. DEDIMUS POTESTATEM. (Wehave given power.) In English practice. A writ or commission issuing out of chancery, em powering the persons named therein to per form certain acts, as to administer oaths to defendants in chancery and take their an swers, to administer oaths of office to justices of the peace, etc. 3 Bl. Comm. 447. It was anciently allowed for many puiposes not now in use, as to make an attorney, to take the acknowledgment of a fine, etc. In the United States, a commission to take testimony is sometimes termed a "dedimus potestatem." 8 Cranch, 293; 4 Wheat. 508. DEDIMUS POTESTATEM DE AT TORNO FACIENDO. In old English practice. A writ, issued by royal authority, empowering an attorney to appear for a de fendant. Prior to the statute of Westmin ster 2, a party could not appear in court by attorney without this writ. DEDITION. The act of yielding up any thing; surrender. DEDITITII. In Roman law. Crimi nals who had been marked in the face or on

the body with fire or an iron, so that the mark could not be erased, and subsequently manumitted. Calvin. DEDUCTION. By "deduction" is un derstood a portion or thing which an heir has a right to take from the mass of the suc cession before any partition takes place. Civil Code La. art. 1358. DEDUCTION FOR NEW. In marine insurance. An allowance or drawback cred ited to the insurers on the cost of repairing a vessel for damage arising from the perils of the sea insured against. This allowance is usually one-third, and is made on the theory that the parts restored with new materials are better, in that proportion, than they were before the damage. DEED. A sealed instrument, containing a contract or covenant, delivered by the party to be bound thereby, and accepted by the party to whom the contract or covenant runs. A writing containing a contract sealed and delivered to the party thereto. 3 Washb. Real Prop. 239. In its legal sense, a "deed" is an instru ment in writing, upon paper or parch ment, between parties able to contiact, sub scribed, sealed, and delivered. 60 Ind. 572; 4 Kent, Comm. 452. In a more restricted sense, a written agreement, signed, sealed, and delivered, by which one peison conveys land, tenements, or hereditaments to another. This is its ordinary modern meaning. The term is also used as synonymous with "fact," "actuality," or "act of parties." Thus a thing "in deed" is one that has been really or expressly done; as opposed to "in law," which means that it is merely implied or presumed to have been done. DEED INDENTED, or INDENT URE. In conveyancing. A deed exe cuted or purporting to be executed in parts, between two or more parties, and distin guished by having the edge of the paper GV parchment on which it is written indented or cut at the top in a particular manner. This was formerly done at the top or side, in a line resembling the teeth of a saw; a for mality derived from the ancient practice of dividing chirographs; but the cutting is now made either in a waving line, or more com monly by notching or nicking the paper at the edge. 2 Bl. Comm. 295, 296; Litt. § 370; Smith, Cont. 12.

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