Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/14

 DEMURRAGE DENBIGH and >poke Greek and Latin with great facility, and was thoroughly ver.-cd in philosophy, civil law, and history. His elaborate works, An- tiytiitntiait luniKtiKirnni Cvrjju* Absolutissi- inniit and lh Etna-ill Itcjuli, evince remark- ahle industry and erudition. His Historia utiea Gentu ^<'tntm is a biographi- cal dictionary of Scottish worthies, in which fable and fact are mingled. Many names of authors who never wore in Scotland are claimed as Scottish, and the history of many others who never existed is given with minute particularity. He was as remarkable for per- sonal courage and skill in the use of weapons as for scholarship.* DKMIRRAGE (Lat. demoror, to delay), in maritime law, the detention of a vessel beyond the time allowed by the charter party (or by custom if there is no special contract) for load- ing or unloading or sailing ; also the compen- sation paid or damages claimed for such de- tention. It is usually stipulated in the contract between the owner of the ship and the freight- er that the ship shall not be detained beyond a certain time for the loading or delivery of goods, or for sailing. If there is no such stipu- lation, the time is fixed by usage, and called lay days. The claim for demurrage is recip- rocal, by the owner against the freighter, and by the freighter against the owner; the latter case being, however, only for delay in sailing. Demurrage is allowed only for voluntary de- tention, and not for any accidental delay ; as, if a vessel is detained for a cargo over the stipulated time, and after sailing is driven back by a storm, which would have been avoided if she had started at the time appointed, no damages are allowed for the incidental delay. Yet it would perhaps be otherwise if by the detention a further delay is caused by any- thing which could be foreseen, as a periodical wind, or the freezing up of a harbor, or the like. In inland transportation, where the lat- ter cause of delay most frequently occurs, as upon risers or canals, the rule is that the car- rier i< not responsible for the delay when there has been no fault on his part, but is entitled to deliver the cargo after the breaking up of win- ter, and earn the entire freight; or if the freighter elect to take the jfoods at the place of detention, he must pay pro rata itimrix. But if there has been voluntary delay by either party, in consequence of which the vessel is frozen up by the coming on of winter, he is r->pon-ihh- lor damages; but the measure of such damages would not be according to the rule of demurrage in respect to sea vessels. HKMIRRER, in law, an exception by a party to a suit to the sufficiency of the pleading of the oppo-itc party. In the common law courts a demurrer may be general or special; the former specifying no particular ground of ob- jection, and therefore raising only the question of the sufficiency in substance of the pleading demurred to; the latter being a specification of certain objections to the form of the plead- ing. It may be interposed by either party to the last pleading of his opponent, but on the argument the sufficiency of any prior pleading- may be inquired into, and judgment will be given against the party committing the first substantial error. In equity the demurrer is only applicable to the complainant's bill. A demurrer always raises a question of law to be determined by the court; but if the pleading demurred to is held bad, liberty to amend is usually given, unless the case is such that amendment can be of no avail. DENAIN, a town of France, in the department of Le Nord, on the left bank of the Scheldt, which is here navigable, and on the Northern railway, 6 m. W. S. W. of Valenciennes, and 14 m. E. S. E. of Douai. Owing to the successful working of the neighboring coal and iron mines, the population increased from 900 in 1826 to 1 1,022 in 1866. The town has manufactories of iron and of beet sugar. Denain was the scene of a brilliant victory achieved in 1712 by the French under Yillars over an army of the allies commanded by the earl of Albemarle. DENARIUS, a Roman silver coin, containing at first 10, and afterward 16 ases, first coined in 269 B. C. The average weight of a large number of denarii shows them to have con- Roman Denarius (exact size). tained about as much silver as three half dimes of our currency. The denarius aureus was a gold coin, the average value and weight of which it is difficult to determine. The speci- mens in the British museum differ much in these respects. The gold denarius does not seem to have been in common use in Rome. DENBIGH, a municipal and parliamentary borough, market and county town of Denbigh- shire, North "Wales, built on an eminence near the centre of the vale of Clwyd, 22 m. W. of Chester, and 180 m. N. W. of London ; pop. of the borough in 1871, 6,322. The principal edifices are three Anglican churches, one Cath- olic and four dissenting chapels, a town hall, grammar school, lunatic asylum, and a spacious market hall. The shoe and leather trade is the main support of the town, but Denbigh is best known as a pleasant spot for retirement. Den- bigh castle, a magnificent edifice, parts of which are well preserved, is supposed to have been built by Henry Lacy, earl of Lincoln, who re- ceived the lordship of this place from Edward I. Edward IV. was besieged in it by the army of Henry VI., and Charles I. took refuge here after the battle of Rowton Heath in 1645. At the close of the civil war it was garrisoned by royalists, but after a siege of two months