len, etc., continued working enthusiastically to further the British decorative arts movements. In recent years the magnificent Victoria and Albert Museum (London) emerged from the less pretentious South Kensington Museum. Summing up the above historic facts we arrive at the following analysis of conditions. The movement brought about by Germany transformed the method of displaying the contents of the museums for archæological, cultural and esthetical purposes into a systematic arrangement for industrial, practical study propaganda. The scheme was so successful in industrial results that the other advanced European nations had to fall into line.

Until quite recent times nothing of this artistartisan propaganda was practised in the United States. European art students and artisan specialists have found here a free noncompetitive and highly profitable field for their talents. What little has been done to promote native teaching of the decorative arts has been of a sporadic nature, unsupported by the government. Its chief platform has been that of "extension" study in the schools. But a national awakening has taken place. Museums are being opened in all the industrial centres, and all are basing their activities in a systematic teaching of "Art" in a vocational sense; the art museums of New York, Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis, Buffalo, Worcester, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Toledo, San Francisco, etc., are vying with one another to excel in conceiving methods of teaching art for practical purposes to the neighboring schools with lectures and class visits to the exhibited examples of the Gothic, Renaissance and other periods. Art schools for vocational teaching are multiplying; in New York we have as centres, the Art Students' League, the National Academy of Design, Pratt Institute, the Independent School of Art, the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, the BeauxArts, Cooper-Union, Teachers College, the New York School of Applied Design for Women, etc.; a worthy beginning imbued with an enthusiastic impulse. See also INTERIOR DECORA

TION.

Bibliography.-Bucher, B., Geschichtte der technischen Künste (Stuttgart 1875-93) and 'Reallexikon der Kunstgewerbe' (Vienna 1883); Blümner and von Schorn, 'Geschichte des Kunstgewerbes' (Prague and Leipzig 1884-87); Bussler, F., Verzierungen aus dem Alterthume' (Berlin 1805); Bosc, E., Dictionnaire de l'Art, de la Curiosité et du Bibelot' (Berlin 1898-99); Champeaux, A. de, l'Art décoratif dans le vieux Paris (Paris 1898); Collinot, E. and Beaument, A. de, Ornements du Japon' (in Encyclopédie des Arts décoratifs de l'Orient' (Paris 1883); Cutler, T. W., A Grammar of Japanese Ornament and Design) (London 1880); Davillier, J. C., baron, Les Arts décoratifs en Espagne au Moyen Age et à la Renaissance) (Paris 1879); Dyer, W. A., Creators of Decorative Style; being a Survey of the Decorative Periods from 1600 to 1800 (Garden City 1917); Falke, J., 'Geschichte des deutschen Kunstgewerbes' (Berlin 1889); Harrer, A., Mittelalterliche Verzierungen aus dem 15 Jahrhundert für Tischler, Holzschnitzer, Schlosser, Gürtler) (Munich 1852); Heaton, J. A., Furniture and Decoration in England during the 18th Century (London 1890-93); Heideloff, C., 'Les Ornements du

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Moyen Age (Nuremberg 1847-52); Hessling, E., Louis XIV Möbel des Louvres und des Musée des Arts décoratifs) (Berlin 1909); Hirth, G., 'Das deutsche Zimmer vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart' (Munich and Leipzig 1899) and Formenschatz) (Leipzig 1877); Labarte, J., 'Histoire des Arts industriels' (Paris 1864); Lacroix, P., The Arts of the Middle Ages, and at the Period of the Renaissance' (London 1875); Lafond, P., 'L'Art décoratif et le Mobilier sous la République et l'Empire' (Paris 1906); Lenygon, F., 'Decoration in England from 1660-1770 (London 1914); Martin, C., 'L'Art roman en Italie; l'Architecture et la Décoration (Paris n. d.); Oppenart, G. M., 'Oeuvres de G. M. Oppenart' (Paris n. d.); Pfnor, R., R., Architecture, Décoration, et Ameublement, Epoque Louis XVI (Paris 1865); Poulson, F., Die dekorative Kunst des Altertums (Leipzig 1914); Roger-Milès, L., 'Architecture Décoration et Ameublement pendant le 18me Siècle) (Paris 1900); Quinn, J. E., 'Discourses on Decorative Art in England from the Accession of Henry VII, 1485, to the last Part of George III, 1820 (New York 1912); Polley, G. H., Gothic Architecture, Furniture and Ornament of England from the 11th to the 16th Century) (Boston 1908); Salvatore, C., 'Italian Architecture, Furniture and Interiors during the XIV, XV and XVI Centuries> (Boston 1904); Shaw, H., The Decorative Arts, Ecclesiastical and Civil, of the Middle Ages (London 1851); Teirich, V., 'Ornamente aus der Blütezeit italienischer Renaissance' (Vienna 1873).

CLEMENT W. COUMBE. DECORATIVE DESIGN. See ART

DRAWING.

DECORATIVE PLANTS. See PLANTS, ORNAMENTAL.

DE COSTA, Benjamin Franklin, American clergyman and writer: b. Charlestown, Mass., 10 July 1831; d. New York, 4 Nov. 1904. He entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church and was rector North Adams, Mass. (1857-58); Newton Lower Falls (1858-60); chaplain in the Federal army (1861-63) and rector of the church of Saint John the Evangelist in New York (1863-99). In the year last named he became a Roman Catholic. Included in his many publications are 'The Pre-Columbia Discovery of America by the Northmen) (1869); The Moabite Stone) (1870); (The Rector of Roxburgh,' a novel under the pen-name of William Hickling (1873); Verrazano the Explorer' (1880); and Whither Goest Thou? (1902). He became president (1884) of the first branch of the White Cross Society, of which he was the organizer. He was editor also of the Christian Times, The Episcopalian, The Magazine of American History and White's 'Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church' (1881).

DE COSTER, Charles Théodore Henri, Belgian poet: b. Munich, 20 Aug. 1827; d. 7 May 1879. He was professor of French literature at the military academy in Brussels. His principal work is the prose epic, La légende de Tiel Uylenspiegel' (1867); others are Légendes flamandes (1857); Contes brabançons? (1861); Voyage de noce) (1872). Consult Potvin, 'Histoire de lettres en Belgique' (1882).

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DECOURCELLE, dė-koor-sěl', Pierre, French dramatist: b. Paris, 25 Jan. 1856. His first work was the five-act drama 'The Ace of Clubs', written for Sara Bernhardt, which had extraordinary success. This was followed by a succession of comedies, dramas, comic-opera libretti, and dramatizations of popular novels, written by him individually or in collaboration with other authors; among them 'The Amazon (1885); Madame Cartridge'; 'The Abbé Constantin (founded on Halévy's story); and "The Man with the Broken Ear (after About). He wrote also a sensational novel, The Gray Hat' (1887), and (Fanfan' (1889), both of which were received with great favor. Among his later works are 'Gigolette' (1894); Les deux gosses (1896); and 'Papa la Vertu (1898).

DECOY, a place into which wild fowl are decoyed in order to be caught. A decoy pond Several is kept only in a secluded situation. channels or pipes of a curved form, covered with light hooped net-work, lead from the pond in various directions. The wild fowl are enticed to enter the wide mouth of the channel by tamed ducks, also called decoys, trained for the purpose, or by grain scattered on the water. When they are well into the covered channel they are surprised by the decoy-man and his dog, and driven up into the funnel net at the far end, where they are easily caught. There are differences of detail, but the general features of decoys are the same. Consult Grinnell, 'American Duck Shooting) (New York 1901).

DECREE, in general, an order, edict or law made by a superior as a rule to govern inferiors. In law it is a judicial decision or determination of a litigated cause. The decree of a court of equity or admiralty answers to the judgment of a court of common law. It differs from a judgment in that the decree, decides the justice of the case on the principles involved rather than the right or wrong of the bare question. In ancient history it signified a determination or judgment of the Roman emperor on a suit between parties. In the former German empire the resolutions of the emperor, declared to the estates of the empire, were called decrees. The old name of royal orders in France was ordonnances or lettres. The national convention, while it possessed sovereign power, used the expression, La convention nationale décrète; but the imperial government used the words imperial decree, for instance, in the famous decrees of Berlin and of Milan. In ecclesiastical history the term is especially used with reference to the authoritative decisions of councils; or to a decisioin of the Pope arrived at by consultation with the cardinals. See BERLIN DECREE; MILAN DEcree; Decretals.

DECREES OF GOD. This expression is of Calvinistic origin and is found in the Westminster Confession. The term includes the doctrines of predestination, foreordination and election. It has, however, a much wider application and includes the whole plan of God. By implication, also, it includes the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. The entire subject was much debated by Calvinists and Arminians.

DECREPITATION, the crackling noise made by several salts and minerals when suddenly heated. It is accompanied by a violent exfoliation of their particles, and is due to the sudden conversion into steam of the water

which is mechanically enclosed between the solid particles of the body; or to the unequal expansion of the lamina of which the mineral is composed in consequence of their being imperfect conductors of heat. The true cleavage of minerals may be often detected in this way, as they fly asunder at their natural fissures.

DECRETALS, The (Decretales), signifying pontifical disciplinary decisions, (1) the second part of the Canon Law or Corpus Juris Canonici which contains in five books the papal constitutions, laws, and decisions from the time of Gratian's Decretum, 1151 to 1234, when this second part was compiled by Saint Raymond of Pennafort at the order of Gregory IX. The subject matter of each of the five books is expressed in the mnemonic hexameter verse:

Judicium, judex, clerus, connubia, crimea; meaning that the decretals of the first book relate to the constitution of tribunals, those of the second to the duties of judges, those of the third to the rights, privileges, etc., of the clergy, those of the fourth to marriage, and those of the fifth to offenses against the Church's laws.

(2) The False Decretals, or the PseudoIsidorian Decretals, a collection of decretals, gathered ostensibly by Isidorus Mercator, in the middle of the 9th century. The exact date and authorship of the document are not known; but as a canon of the Council of Paris (829) is quoted, the collection must have been made later than the year in which the council was held. Some modern historians claim that the collection was well known before the year 845; the period has been narrowed down to 847-850. Rheims and Mayence are each given as the place where the work of collating and writing was done. The writer called himself Isidore Mercator (the "Merchant") and in some MSS "Peccator" (the "Sinner"). (The writer may have had in mind the great Saint Isidore, who had previously made a compilation of decrees and canons). Historians claim that the name was, like the decretals, false, and that evidence points to Benedict Levita of Mainz as the compiler. The collection was received at first as authentic. To have at hand and in convenient form all the decrees of councils and the decretal letters of deceased popes, was indeed a boon to be highly appreciated. It was known that letters and documents existed other than those to be found in any collection, so when this collection made its appearance, it was regarded as worthy of praise and thanks.

The collection opened with the 50 apostolic canons received and collected by Dionysius Exiguus; and these were followed by a number of decretal letters said to have been written by early popes, from Clement of Rome, one of the apostolic fathers, to Melchiades, at the end of the 3d century. None of the letters claimed to have been written by popes are genuine. Decrees purporting to have been promulgated at the councils of Nicæa and Seville, came next. Some of these are true. Then came other letters said to have been written by popes, beginning with Sylvester (who succeeded Melchiades) and ending with Gregory the Great. One letter in this collection credited to Pope Siricus (384-399) is genuine. The last part of the compilation is a copy of the canons passed by Gregory II (731) at the council held in Rome. Möhler, the German theologian, in commenting

upon the fact that these decretals were at first so well received, almost without a dissenting voice, says: "Pseudo-Isidore seized exactly that in his own age which corresponded to the wishes of all the higher and better order of men. Thence it was that this legislation was so joyfully received. No one suspected anything false, because it contained so much that was weighty and true. If we examine carefully these invented decretals, and try to characterize their composer in accordance with their general import and spirit, we must confess that he was a very learned man, perhaps the most learned man of his time, and at the same time an extremely intelligent and wise man, who knew his age and its wants as few did. Rightly he perceived that he must exalt the power of the centre - that is, of the Pope- because by that way only was deliverance possible. Nay, if we would pass an unconstrained judgment, we may venture even to call him a great man."

At the time of the appearance of the collection and for centuries afterward, its contents were so in harmony with the leading thoughts of Europe that the whole was accepted without thorough examination or criticism. Nicholas of Cusa, an able theologian of the 15th century, was the first one to express a doubt of the genuineness of the collection, and to advance proofs of the truth of his assertion. The Magdeburg Centuriators began investigations, and then many Protestant critics followed the same line of study, arriving at the same conclusion as that of Nicholas of Cusa. Finally, when the Isidore decretals were examined critically by theologians and historians, it was ascertained that nearly all were forgeries, and that anachronisms and blunders existed in large numbers. Phillips, Hefele, Möhler and others show that in the whole collection there was nothing against the supremacy of the Pope, as had been advanced by some writers; that the letters said to have been written by popes were nearly all false, also that several of the spurious documents existed prior to the 9th century and may have been used in good faith by the compiler. See CANON LAW; CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, De

VELOPMENT OF

Bibliography.-Paulus Hinschius, 'Decretales Pseudo-Isidoriana) (Leipzig 1863); Laurin, 'Introductio in corpus juris canonici' (Freiburg 1889); Schulte, 'Geschichte der Quellen und der Literatur des Kanonischen Rechts' (Stuttgart 1875-80); Taunton, The Law of the Church' (London 1906).

DECURIONES, magistrates in the provincial municipia of the Roman state, corresponding to the senate at Rome. Originally the popular assemblies had the sovereign power in the municipia, and conferred the executive authority upon the decuriones. They consisted at first of 10 men, but in later times they frequently numbered more, and sometimes even amounted to 100. Each curia decurionum was presided over by two members who were called duumviri, and whose powers within their municipium resembled those of the Roman consuls during peace. Under the republic the whole administration of the internal affairs of their respective cities was in the hands of the decuriones, but after the establishment of the empire they exercised nearly all the circumscribed rights of the communities, though finally they were little more than receivers of

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taxes. The decuriones were created by election, and each decurio was required to be at least 25 years old, and to possess a certain annual income. Their election took place on the kalends of March. Consult Reid, The Municipalities of the Roman Empire' (Cambridge 1913).

DEDEKIND, da'dė-kint, Friedrich, German poet: b. Neustadt on the Leine 1525; d. 27 Feb. 1598. His principal work is Grobianus (1549), a satire in Latin distichs against drunkenness and obscenity; it had wide circulation, and was translated into German, Dutch and English. He wrote two dramas having a religious polemic end in view: The Christian Knight'; and 'The Converted

Papist.'

DEDHAM, Mass., town, county-seat of Norfolk County; on the Charles River about 25 miles from its mouth, and on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, 10 miles southwest of Boston. The town is one of the oldest in the State, the first settlement within the town's limits, having been made in 1635. The town is noted as having established the first public school in America supported by a general tax (1644). It has considerable manufacturing interests in cotton, wool, carpets, handkerchiefs and clay, but its chief interests are connected with Boston, of which it is practically a suburb. The prominent buildings of the town are the Historical Society building, the county buildings, including the courthouse, jail, and house of correction, and a public library. Water power is obtained from Mother Brook, a canal connecting the Charles and Neponset rivers, built in 1641. The government of the town is administered by means of town meetings. Pop. 10,063. Consult the town records (8 vols., 1635-1890); Mann, 'Historical Annals of Dedham' (Dedham 1847).

DEDICATION, Feast of the (Heb. Chanukka) an annual Jewish festival in commemoration of the purification of the Jehovah Temple in Jerusalem after it had been used for pagan worship by the Syrians and later recovered by Judas Maccabæus. The temple had been dedicated in B.C. 168 to the worship of Zeus Olympius by the then ruler of the land Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, and an altar to the god set up on the altar of burnt offerings. When Judas Maccabæus in B.C. 164-65 drove the Syrians out of Jerusalem, he removed the pagan altar, rebuilt the altar of burnt offerings and purged the temple. It was then rededicated to Jehovah with a series of festivals that covered a period of eight days. There is some doubt as to the exact date when the dedication took place; in 1 Macc. iv, 52-54, the date is given as the 25th of Chislev (December) "the same day the heathen had profaned it," but the day when the pagan altar was set up is given in 1 Macc. i, 54, as the 15th of Chislev. It is most probable, however, that it took place on the 25th from the manner in which the feast is now celebrated, and from the fact that both nations celebrated the winter solstice on that date. The use of lights is one of the characteristics of the feast, it is called the "Feast of Lights" by Josephus ('Antiq' xii, 7, § 7), and the custom is also mentioned in Talmudic literature. The feast is mentioned

only once in the New Testament (John ix, 22) in the following words: "And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter." Consult Wellhausen, 'Israelitische und jüdische Geschichte.'

DEDLOCK, Lady, the wife of Sir Leicester Dedlock, in Dickens' novel called 'Bleak House.' Outwardly cold and haughty she is inwardly wretched in consequence of being haunted by recollections of her past life, and by fear that the existence of her illegitimate child, Esther Summerson, will be revealed. Lady Dedlock dies at the cemetery where her former lover is buried.

' DEDUCTION. Deduction is reasoning from a general principle to other less general truths which are dependent upon this principle. It consists in showing that the general law or principle assumed as the starting point is applicable to a particular subject matter, and in drawing the necessary consequences of its application. The form of this mode of inference is therefore given by the syllogism (q.v.), where the major premise (all M is P) states the general law, the minor premise (S is M) the application to a particular case, from which the conclusion (S is P) follows as a necessary consequence. The principle of this method of reasoning is commonly described as subsumption: the conclusion is shown to fall under or be included in the more fundamental propositions which are assumed as the starting point. These latter propositions can similarly be derived from others of still greater generality, until at last we reach the ultimate principles which form the foundation of all science. As to the foundation on which the ultimate principles themselves rest, various theories have been held. Until comparatively recent times the prevailing view (though by no means universally adopted) has maintained that these propositions neither require nor admit of any demonstration. They are necessary intuitions of the mind whose certainty is direct and immediate, and of a higher type than demonstrations can yield. They thus constitute the basis of all science, since they are the fundamental first truths to which all science appeals as to an unquestioned authority. In the 17th and 18th centuries particularly, mathematics was regarded as the ideal science, and the position of the indemonstrable first principles of all science was often paralleled with that of the axioms of mathematics. It was assumed before the time of Kant that mathematics was wholly a deductive science which derived its results through an analysis of its initial concepts. In like manner it was hoped to put all knowledge on a demonstrative basis by discovering the whole system of necessary truths, and by showing how all particular facts in the various fields could be derived from them; for this would afford the absolute certainty which science was supposed to demand, i.e., every fact would be deduced as a necessary consequence from some general principle. At this time the empirical conclusions reached by inductive reasoning were not regarded as worthy of the name of science, for they are not universal and necessary truths, but only particular and more or less probable.

The development of thought in recent times has, however, entirely revolutionized

our

ideal of knowledge, and at the same time broken down the sharp distinctions between necessary, or a priori principles, and empirical truth, as well as between induction and deduction as contrasted methods of reasoning. It is now widely recognized that there are no a priori truths in the old sense; no propositions that are certain in themselves apart from their connection with the rest of experience. It is true, the principles of logic itself and of mathematics, which is a branch of logic, may be said to partake of apriority to such an extent that we are justified, for most purposes, in treating them as quite a priori. No matter how ultimate any truth may appear, or how necessary in itself, its certainty and necessity are mediated in and through its relation to other experienced facts with which it is connected in the organic unity of a system. It is only through this systematic connection of the parts of knowledge that any inference is possible. For it is only in a whole, where the parts are systematically connected, that the nature of one part enables us to say what the other parts must be. And when it is seen that reasoning consists in making explicit the systematic connections of facts, the contrast between induction and deduction falls away. The structure of every inference is essentially the same; every inference is constituted by the relating of facts through a general principle. In deduction, as we have seen, the general truth is the starting point and we go on to explicate it in its application to some particular group of facts. On the other hand, the problem may be to find some relating principle for a given group of facts; and here we have to work in the reverse direction, beginning with the particulars and by the use of inductive methods seeking to bring to light some universal principles of connection. There are no sciences which use exclusively either one of these methods. Even mathematics, which popularly is supposed to employ only deductive reasoning, depends for a very essential class of demonstrations, known as existence proofs, on a more or less direct reference to concrete experience; and, on the other hand, the so-called observational sciences reason deductively in tracing out the application of the laws which have already been discovered and the consequences of the hypotheses which are employed. In every field thought uses all the means and methods which it can command to aid in solving its problems. Induction and deduction, observation and reasoning, are not separate and isolated processes, but functions of the knowledge-process which are supplementary and go hand in hand. See INDUCTION, MATHEMATICAL; LOGIC.

JAMES E. CREIGHTON, Professor of Logic and Metaphysics, Cornell University.

In

DEE, John, English astrologer: b. London, 13 July 1527; d. Mortlake, England 1608. early life he had devoted much of his time to mathematical, astronomical and chemical studies; and in 1548 rumors began to prevail that he was addicted to the black art. They were probably well founded; and to avoid the consequences he went abroad. In 1551 he returned to England and through the instrumentality of Cecil, who presented him to Edward VI, obtained a pension of 100 crowns. The suspicion

of the black art appears still to have clung to him, and shortly after Queen Mary's accession he was charged with practising against the queen's life by enchantment and imprisoned. He obtained his liberty in 1555 and after Queen Elizabeth's accession was consulted by Lord Dudley as to "a propitious day" for the coronation. Lilly's account of him is that he was the queen's intelligencer, with a fixed salary; a great investigator of the more secret hermetical learning, a perfect astronomer, a curious astrologer, a serious geometrician and excellent in all kinds of learning. The nature of his employments excited strong suspicion and in 1576 he was furiously attacked by a mob, from which he had difficulty in escaping with his life. In 1578 during an illness of the queen, he was sent to consult with the German physicians and philosophers as to her recovery and after his return was employed to draw up a sketch of the countries which, from having been discovered by English subjects, belonged to the crown. He accordingly prepared two rolls, giving both a geographical description and a historical acccount of the countries. These curious documents are still extant in the British Museum. After many wanderings, Dee, returning home, obtained from the queen in 1594 the chancellorship of Saint Paul's Cathedral and in 1595, the wardenship of Manchester College, which he held nine years. It has been supposed, with some plausibility, that Dee's character as an alchemist was merely assumed to enable him to act more securely and effectually as a spy in the employment of the English government. His writings on the occult sciences were published in 1659.

DEE, the name of several British rivers. 1. A river in Scotland, partly in Kincardineshire, but chiefly in Aberdeenshire, one of the best salmon rivers in Great Britain. It rises on the southwest border of Aberdeenshire in the Cairngorm Mountains and flows generally east, 87 miles to the North Sea. Its total course is 96 miles. The city of Aberdeen is at its mouth. 2. A river of North Wales and Cheshire; rises in Lake Bala, Merionethshire; flows north-northeast and northwest to the Irish Sea, 20 miles below Chester; length, about 70 miles. 3. A river of Scotland, county of Kirkcudbright, rises in Loch Dee. It flows southeast and south into Kirkcudbright Bay; length, 50 miles.

DEED, a written instrument under seal, containing a contract or agreement which has been delivered by the party to be bound and accepted by the obligee or covenantee. It has also been defined as follows: "A writing containing a contract sealed and delivered by the party thereto." (2 Wash. Real Prop. 553.) The law requires greater form and solemnity in the conveyance of land than in that of chattels. This arises from the greater dignity of the freehold in the eye of the ancient law, and from the light and transitory nature of personal property, which enters much more deeply into commerce, and requires the utmost facility in its incessant circulation.

In the early period of English history the conveyance of land was ordinarily without writing, but it was accompanied with certain acts, equivalent, in point of formality and certainty, to deeds. As knowledge increased, conveyance by writing became more prevalent and ulti

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mately by the statute of frauds and perjuries, of 29 Charles II, ch. 3, secs. 1, 2, all estates and interests in lands (except leases not exceeding three years) created, granted, or assigned, by livery of seisin only, or by parol, and not in writing, and signed by the party, were declared to have no greater force or effect than estates at will only. And by the fourth section no person could be charged upon any "contract or sale of lands, or any interest in or concerning the same," unless the agreement, or some memorandum or note thereof, was in writing, and signed by the party to be charged therewith, or some other person by him lawfully authorized.

With some trivial changes this statute provision has been adopted or assumed as law throughout the United States. Deeds must be upon paper or parchment, must be completely written before delivery, must be between competent parties, and certain classes are excluded from holding lands and, consequently, from being grantees in a deed; must be made without restraint; must relate to suitable property, and should be signed, sealed and delivered. The consideration of a deed must be good or valuable and not partaking of anything immoral, illegal or fraudulent.

A deed to be effective must be delivered and accepted. A delivery is the transfer of a deed from the grantor or his agent to the grantee, or some other person acting in his behalf, in such a manner as to deprive the grantor of the right to recall it at his option. An absolute delivery is one which is complete upon the actual transfer of the instrument from the possession of the grantor. A conditional delivery is one which passes the deed from the possession of the grantor, but is not to be completed by possession in the grantee, or a third person as his agent, until the happening of a specified event. A deed delivered in this manner is an escrow, and such delivery should be always made to a third person. No particular form of procedure is required to effect a delivery. It may be by acts merely, by words merely, or by both combined, but in all cases an intention that it shall be a delivery must exist. It may be made by an agent as well as by the grantee himself. To complete a delivery, an acceptance must take place, which may be presumed from the grantee's possession.

In a deed the premises embrace the statement of the parties, the consideration, recitals inserted for explanation, description of the property granted, with the intended exceptions. The habendum begins at the words "to have and to hold," and limits and defines the estate which the grantee is to have. The reddendum, which is used to reserve something new to the grantor; the conditions; the covenants; and the conclusion, which mentions the execution, date, etc., constitute the formal parts of a deed and properly follow in the order observed here.

The construction of deeds is favorable to their validity; the principal includes the incident; punctuation is not regarded; a false description does not harm; the construction is least favorable to the party making the conveyance or reservation; the habendum is rejected if repugnant to the rest of the deed. The lex rei sita governs in the conveyance of lands, both as to the requisites and the forms of conveyances.