KFLCC Kingdom Law 2nd Ed.

347

DEGRADATIONS

DELEGATE

performance of the contract. Such a factor is called a "del credere agent." He is a mere surety, liable only to his principal in case the purchaser makes default. Story, Ag. 28; Loeb v. Hellman, 83 N. Y. 603; Lewis v. Brehme, 33 Md. 424, 3 Am. Rep. 190; Lever ick v. Meigs, 1 Cow. (N. Y.) 663; Ruffner v. Hewitt 7 W. Va. 604. DEIJAISSEMENT. In French marine law. Abandonment Emerig. Tr. des Ass. ch. 17. DELATE. In Scotch law. To accuse. Delated, accused. Delatit oft arte and parte, accused of being accessary to. 3 How. St Tr. 425, 440. DELATIO. In the civil law. An accu sation or information. DELATOR. An accuser; an informer; a sycophant DELATURA. In old English law. The reward of an informer. Whishaw. DELAY. To retard; obstruct; put off; hinder; interpose obstacles; as, when it is said that a conveyance was made to "hinder and delay creditors." Mercantile Co. v. Ar nold, 108 Ga. 449, 34 S. E. 176; Ellis v. Val entine, 65 Tex. 532. DELECTUS PERSONS. Lat. Choice of the person. By this term is understood the right of a partner to exercise his choice and preference as to the admission of any new members to the firm, and as to the per sons to be so admitted, if any. In Scotch law. The personal preference which is supposed, to have been exercised by a landlord in selecting his tenant, by the members of a firm in making choice of part ners, in the appointment of persons to office, and other cases. Nearly equivalent to per sonal trust as a doctrine in law. Bell. Delegata potestas non potest delegari. 2 Inst. 597. A delegated power cannot be delegated. DELEGATE. A person who is delegated or commissioned to act in the stead of an other ; a person to whom affairs are commit ted by another; an attorney. A person elected or appointed to be a member of a representative assembly. Usu ally spoken of one sent to a special or occa sional assembly or convention. Manston v. Mcintosh, 58 Minn. 525, 60 N. W. 672, 28 L. R. A. 605. The representative in congress of one of the organized territories of the United States. —Delegates, the high court of. In English law. Formerly the court of appeal from the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts. Abolished upon the judicial committee of the privy coun cil being constituted the court of appeal in such cases.

knight at common law, and also by act of parliament Wharton. DEGRADATIONS. A term for waste in the French law. DEGRADING. Reviling; holding one up to public obloquy; lowering a person in the estimation of the public DEGREE. In the law of descent and family relations. A step or grade, i. e., the distance, or number of removes, which separates two persons who are related by consanguinity. Thus we speak of cousins in the "second degree.'* In criminal law. The term "degree" denotes a division or classification of one specific crime into several grades or stadia of guilt according to the circumstances at tending its commission. Thus, in some states, there may be "murder in the second degree." DEHORS. L. Fr. Out of; without; be yond; foreign to; unconnected with. Dehors the record; foreign to the record. 3 Bl. Comm. 387. DEI GRATIA. Lat. By the grace of God. A phrase used in the formal title of a king or queen, importing a claim of sover eignty by the favor or commission of God. In ancient times it was incorporated in the titles of inferior officers, (especially ecclesias tical,) but in later use was reserved as an as sertion of "the divine right of kings." DEI JUDICIUM. The judgment of God. The old Saxon trial by ordeal, so called be cause it was thought to be an appeal to God for the justice of a cause, and it was believ ed that the decision was according to the will and pleasure of Divine Providence. Wharton. DEJACION. In Spanish law. Surren der; release; abandonment; e. g., the act of an insolvent in surrendering his property for the benefit of his creditors, of an heir in re nouncing the succession, the abandonment of insured property to the underwriters. DEJERATION. A taking of a solemn oath. DEL BIEN ESTRE. L. Fr. In old Eng lish practice. Of well being; of form. The same as de bene esse. Britt. c. 39. DEI. CREDERE. In mercantile law. A phrase borrowed from the Italians, equiva lent to our word "guaranty" or "warranty," or the Scotch term "warrandice;" an agree ment by which a factor, when he sells goods on credit, for an additional commission, (called a "del credere commission,") guaran ties the solvency of the purchaser and his