[1] For "decimal" in general see ARITHMETIC.
DECIUS, GAIUS MESSIUS QUINTUS TRAJANUS (201-251), Roman emperor, the
first of the long succession of distinguished men from the Illyrian
provinces, was born at Budalia near Sirmium in lower Pannonia in A.D.
201. About 245 the emperor Philip the Arabian entrusted him with an
important command on the Danube, and in 249 (or end of 248), having been
sent to put down a revolt of the troops in Moesia and Pannonia, he was
forced to assume the imperial dignity. He still protested his loyalty to
Philip, but the latter advanced against him and was slain near Verona.
During his brief reign Decius was engaged in important operations
against the Goths, who crossed the Danube and overran the districts of
Moesia and Thrace. The details are obscure, and there is considerable
doubt as to the part taken in the campaign by Decius and his son (of the
same name) respectively. The Goths were surprised by the emperor while
besieging Nicopolis on the Danube; at his approach they crossed the
Balkans, and attacked Philippopolis. Decius followed them, but a severe
defeat near Beroe made it impossible to save Philippopolis, which fell
into the hands of the Goths, who treated the conquered with frightful
cruelty. Its commander, Priscus, declared himself emperor under Gothic
protection. The siege of Philippopolis had so exhausted the numbers and
resources of the Goths, that they offered to surrender their booty and
prisoners on condition of being allowed to retire unmolested. But
Decius, who had succeeded in surrounding them and hoped to cut off their
retreat, refused to entertain their proposals. The final engagement, in
which the Goths fought with the courage of despair, took place on swampy
ground in the Dobrudja near Abritum (Abrittus) or Forum Trebonii and
ended in the defeat and death of Decius and his son. Decius was an
excellent soldier, a man of amiable disposition, and a capable
administrator, worthy of being classed with the best Romans of the
ancient type. The chief blot on his reign was the systematic and
authorized persecution of the Christians, which had for its object the
restoration of the religion and institutions of ancient Rome. Either as
a concession to the senate, or perhaps with the idea of improving public
morality, Decius endeavoured to revive the separate office and authority
of the censor. The choice was left to the senate, who unanimously
selected Valerian (afterwards emperor). But Valerian, well aware of the
dangers and difficulties attaching to the office at such a time,
declined the responsibility. The invasion of the Goths and the death of
Decius put an end to the abortive attempt.
See Aurelius Victor, _De Caesaribus_, 29, _Epit._ 29; Jordanes, _De
rebus Geticis_, 18; fragments of Dexippus, in C. W. Muller, _Frag.
Hist. Graec._ iii. (1849); Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, chap. 10; H.
Schiller, _Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit_, i. (pt. 2), 1883.
DECIZE, a town of central France, in the department of Nievre, on an
island in the Loire, 24 m. S.E. of Nevers by the Paris-Lyon railway.
Pop. (1906) 3813. The most important of its buildings is the church of
Saint Are, which dates in part from the 11th and 12th centuries; there
are also ruins of a castle of the counts of Nevers. The town has a
statue of Guy Coquille, the lawyer and historian, who was born there in
1523. Decize is situated at the starting-point of the Nivernais canal.
The coal mine of La Machine, which belongs to the Schneider Company of
Le Creusot, lies four miles to the north. The industries of Decize and
its suburbs on both banks of the Loire include the working of gypsum
and lime, and the manufacture of ceramic products and glass. Trade is
in horses from the Morvan, cattle, coal, iron, wood and stone.
Under the name of _Decetia_ the place is mentioned by Julius Caesar as a
stronghold of the Aedui, and in 52 B.C. was the scene of a meeting of
the senate held by him to settle the leadership of the tribe and to
reply to his demand for aid against Vercingetorix. In later times it
belonged to the counts of Nevers, from whom it obtained a charter of
franchise in 1226.
DECKER, SIR MATTHEW, Bart. (1679-1749), English merchant and writer on
trade, was born in Amsterdam in 1679. He came to London in 1702 and
established himself there as a merchant. He was remarkably successful in
his business life, gaining great wealth and having many honours
conferred upon him. He was a director of the East India Company, sat in
parliament for four years as member for Bishops Castle, and was high
sheriff of Surrey in 1729. He was created a baronet by George I. in
1716. Decker's fame as a writer on trade rests on two tracts. The first,
_Serious considerations on the several high duties which the Nation in
general, as well as Trade in particular, labours under, with a proposal
for preventing the removal of goods, discharging the trader from any
search, and raising all the Publick Supplies by one single Tax_ (1743;
name affixed to 7th edition, 1756), proposed to do away with customs
duties and substitute a tax upon houses. He also suggested taking the
duty off tea and putting instead a licence duty on households wishing to
consume it. The second, an _Essay on the Causes of the Decline of the
Foreign Trade, consequently of the value of the lands in Britain, and on
the means to restore both_ (1744), has been attributed to W. Richardson,
but internal evidence is strongly in favour of Decker's authorship. He
advocates the licence plan in an extended form; urges the repeal of
import duties and the abolition of bounties, and, in general, shows
himself such a strong supporter of the doctrine of free trade as to rank
as one of the most important forerunners of Adam Smith. Decker died on
the 18th of March 1749.
DECKER, PIERRE DE (1812-1891), Belgian statesman and author, was
educated at a Jesuit school, studied law at Paris, and became a
journalist on the staff of the _Revue de Bruxelles_. In 1839 he was
elected to the Belgian lower chamber, where he gained a great reputation
for oratory. In 1855 he became minister of the interior and prime
minister, and attempted, by a combination of the moderate elements of
the Catholic and Liberal parties, the impossible task of effecting a
settlement of the educational and other questions by which Belgium was
distracted. In 1866 he retired from politics and went into business,
with disastrous results. He became involved in financial speculations
which lost him his good name as well as the greater part of his fortune;
and, though he was never proved to have been more than the victim of
clever operators, when in 1871 he was appointed by the Catholic cabinet
governor of Limburg, the outcry was so great that he resigned the
appointment and retired definitively into private life. He died on the
4th of January 1891. Decker, who was a member of the Belgian academy,
wrote several historical and other works of value, of which the most
notable are _Etudes historiques et critiques sur les monts-de-piete en
Belgique_ (Brussels, 1844); _De l'influence du libre arbitre de l'homme
sur les faits sociaux_ (1848); _L'Esprit de parti et l'esprit national_
(1852); _Etude politique sur le vicomte Ch. Vilain XIIII_ (1879);
_Episodes de l'hist. de l'art en Belgique_ (1883); _Biographie de H.
Conscience_ (1885).
DECLARATION (from Lat. _declarare_, to make fully clear, _clarus_),
formerly, in an action at English law, the first step in pleading--the
precise statement of the matter in respect of which the plaintiff sued.
It was divided into counts, in each of which a specific cause of action
was alleged, in wide and general terms, and the same acts or omissions
might be stated in several counts as different causes of actions. Under
the system of pleading established by the Judicature Act 1875, the
declaration has been superseded by a statement of claim setting forth
the facts on which the plaintiff relies. Declarations are now in use
only in the mayor's court of London and certain local courts of record,
and in those of the United States and the British colonies in which the
Common Law system of pleading survives. In the United States a
declaration is termed a "complaint," which is the first pleading in an
action. It is divided into parts,--the _title_ of the court and term;
the _venue_ or county in which the facts are alleged to have occurred;
the _commencement_, which contains a statement of the names of the
parties and the character in which they appear; the _statement_ of the
cause of action; and the _conclusion_ or claim for relief. (See
PLEADING.)
The term is also used in other English legal connexions; e.g. the
Declaration of Insolvency which, when filed in the Bankruptcy Court by
any person unable to pay his debts, amounts to an act of bankruptcy (see
BANKRUPTCY); the Declaration of Title, for which, when a person
apprehends an invasion of his title to land, he may, by the Declaration
of Title Act 1862, petition the Court of Chancery (see LAND
REGISTRATION); or the Declaration of Trust, whereby a person
acknowledges that property, the title of which he holds, belongs to
another, for whose use he holds it; by the Statute of Frauds,
declarations of trust of land must be evidenced in writing and signed by
the party declaring the trust. (See TRUSTS.) By the Statutory
Declarations Act 1835 (which was an act to make provision for the
abolition of unnecessary oaths, and to repeal a previous act of the same
session on the same subject), various cases were specified in which a
solemn declaration was, or might be, substituted for an affidavit. In
nearly all civilized countries an affirmation is now permitted to those
who object to take an oath or upon whose conscience an oath is not
binding. (See AFFIDAVIT; OATH.)
An exceptional position in law is accorded to a Dying or Deathbed
Declaration. As a general rule, hearsay evidence is excluded on a
criminal charge, but where the charge is one of homicide it is the
practice to admit dying declarations of the deceased with respect to the
cause of his death. But before such declarations can be admitted in
evidence against a prisoner, it must be proved that the deceased when
making the declaration had given up all hope of recovery. Unsworn
declarations as to family matters, e.g. as to pedigree, may also be
admitted as evidence, as well as declarations made by deceased persons
in the course of their duty. (See EVIDENCE.)
DECLARATION OF PARIS, a statement of principles of international law
adopted at the conclusion (16th of April 1856) of the negotiations for
the treaty of Paris at the suggestion of Count Walewski, the French
plenipotentiary. The declaration set out that maritime law in time of
war had long been the subject of deplorable disputes, that the
uncertainty of the rights and duties in respect of it gave rise to
differences of opinion between neutrals and belligerents which might
occasion serious difficulties and even conflicts, and that it was
consequently desirable to agree upon some fixed uniform rules. The
plenipotentiaries therefore adopted the four following principles:--
1. Privateering is and remains abolished; 2. The neutral flag covers
enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war; 3. Neutral
goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to
capture under the enemy's flag; 4. Blockades, in order to be binding,
must be effective, that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient
really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy.
They also undertook to bring the declaration to the knowledge of the
states which had not taken part in the congress of Paris and to invite
them to accede to it. The text of the declaration concluded as
follows:--"Convinced that the maxims which they now proclaim cannot but
be received with gratitude by the whole world, the undersigned
plenipotentiaries doubt not that the efforts of their governments to
obtain the general adoption thereof will be crowned with full success."
The declaration is of course binding only on the powers which adopted it
or have acceded to it. The majority which adopted it consisted of Great
Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, Sardinia and Turkey. The
United States government declined to sign the declaration on the ground
that, not possessing a great navy, they would be obliged in time of war
to rely largely upon merchant ships commissioned as war vessels, and
that therefore the abolition of privateering would be entirely in favour
of European powers, whose large navies rendered them practically
independent of such aid. All other maritime states acceded to the
declaration except Spain, Mexico[1] and Venezuela.
Although the United States and Spain were not parties to the
declaration, both, during the Spanish-American War, observed its
principles. The Spanish government, however, expressly gave notice that
it reserved its right to issue letters of marque. At the same time both
belligerents organized services of auxiliary cruisers composed of
merchant ships under the command of naval officers. In how far this
might operate as a veiled revival of the forbidden practice has now
ceased to be a matter of much importance, the Hague Conference having
adopted a series of rules on the subject which may be said to interpret
the first of the four principles of the declaration with such precision
as to take its place.
The New Convention on the subject (October 18th, 1907) sets out that, in
view of the incorporation in time of war of merchant vessels in
combatant fleets, it is desirable to define the conditions under which
this can be effected, that, nevertheless, the contracting powers, not
having been able to come to an understanding on the question whether the
transformation of a merchant ship into a war vessel may take place on
the high sea,[2] are agreed that the question of the place of
transformation is in no way affected by the rules adopted, which are as
follows:--
Art. i. No merchant ship transformed into a war vessel can have the
rights and obligations attaching to this condition unless it is placed
under the direct authority, the immediate control and the
responsibility of the power whose flag it carries.
Art. ii. Merchant ships transformed into war vessels must bear the
distinctive external signs of war vessels of their nationality.
Art. iii. The officer commanding must be in the service of the state,
and properly commissioned by the competent authorities. His name must
appear in the list of officers of the combatant fleet.
Art. iv. The crew must be subject to the rules of military discipline.
Art. v. Every merchant ship transformed into a war vessel is bound to
conform, in its operation, to the laws and customs of war.
Art. vi. The belligerent who transforms a merchant ship into a war
vessel must, as soon as possible, mention this transformation on the
list of vessels belonging to its combatant fleet.
Art. vii. The provisions of the present convention are only applicable
as among the contracting powers and provided the belligerents are all
parties to the convention.
See T. Gibson Bowles, _Declaration of Paris_ (London, 1900); Sir T.
Barclay, _Problems of International Practice and Diplomacy_ (London,
1907), chap. xv.^2. (T. Ba.)