Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/76

* DEED. 58 DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION. deeds being required only to convey the class of interests known as incorporeal, such as ease- ments, prolits. future interests in land, and the like. But deeds have now, under the technical description of grants, almost entirely superseded other modes of conveyance of interests in land. Only estates for years or tenancies at will are stili capable of arising by parol or by writing not under seal, and in England even leaseholds, lor three vears and upward, can be created or transferred only by deed. In Great Britain and most of the United States, the general use of deeds for purposes of conveyance is a matter of regulation by statute. In form, however, the deed remains substan- tially the same as at common law. The writing must still be on paper or parchment, though it may to-day be done by the typewriting machine or "the printing-press. " The old requirement of a seal is also generally adhered to. though in a few of the Western States it has been abolished, and in most others a scroll, or similar mark made with the pen, may be substituted for the more usual wafer or seaiing-wax. But, whatever its form, the important thing is not the adhesion to the paper of something called a seal, but the sealing of the instrument by the party to be bound by it. It must be 'his own act and seal.' At the present time, also, it is generally con- sidered that the instrument must cbntain the name of the maker in his own handwriting, al- though prior to the Statute of Frauds, in 1048, signing was not necessary to the validity of deeds, and it is not clear that the statute con- templated any addition to the formalities with which they were already surroimded. Delivery is properly accomplished by the obli- gated party handing over the sealed writing in person to the party to be benefited thereby. Either party may. however, be represented by an agent, and a delivery to an unauthorized third person is good if subsequently ratified by the benefited party. Indeed, it has been held that any unequivocal act on the part of the obligated party, showing an intention to vest the posses- sion of the document in the benefited party, is suflicient to constitute a delivery, even without a maniial transfer of possession to any one — as where the former, at or after the time of sealing, utters the words, '1 deliver this as my act and deed,' or where he incloses the sealed writing in an envelope, addressed to the benefited jiarty, though retaining it in his own possession. There is some conHict of authority, however, as to whether a delivery of the latter sort, or to a third person, which, in fact, never comes to the knowledge of the party intended to be benefited, will be sustained by the courts. There may also be a conditional delivery, which is made to a third person, as an 'escrow,' or mere writing, to be delivered over to the benefited party on the performance of some act or the happening of pome event. An escrow does not take etrect as a deed imtil the delivery over, when it takes effect, by relation back, as of the time of its first de- livery. See Escrow, and the titles of the vari- ous kinds of deeds, as Covex.xnt: Grant; Lease AND Kelease. Consult: Coke on Littleton; Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of Eng- land ; Kent. Cnmmentarirs on American Law; Pollock and ^Maitland. History of Enr/lish Law (2d cd., London and Boston, 1899) ; Holmes, The Common Law (Boston. 1881); and the au- thorities referred to under Real Pboi'EKIY. DEEMS, Charles Force ( 1820-!);{). An Amoriian clergyman. He was born in Baltimore, graduated at Dickinson College in 1889, and was for some time agent in North Carolina for the American Bible Society. He was professor of logic and rhetoric in the University of North Carolina from i842 to 184.5, and held the chair of natural sciences in Itandolph Jlacou College (.shland, Va.) from 184.5 to 1840. He then became a Methodist preacher at New Berne, and for five years was principal of the Greensboro Female College. In 1805 he went to New York, where he helped foujid the Church of the Stranger (unde- nominational), of which he became pastor. In 1881 he founded the American Institute of Chris- tian Pnilosophy. Among his manv publications are: Life of Dr. Adam Clarke (1840) ; The Uomc Altar (1850); Aitnals of Southern Methodism (1850) ; Life of Jesus (1872) : A Scotch Verdict in Evolution (1880) : The Lii/ht of the Xations (1880) ; The Gosjjcl of Common Sense as Con- tained in the Canonical Epistle of James ( 1889) ; Chips and Chunks for Every Fireside; and Wit, Wisdom, and Pathos (1890) ; The Gospel of Spiritual fnsit/ht, and Studies in the Gospel of John ( 1891). ' Consult his Autobiography (New York, 1897). DEEM'STER, Dempster, or Doomsteb (AS. dom, doom, judgment, as in Domesday Book; hence doomstcr or deemster, a judge). The name of an ollicer formerly attached to the High Court of .Justiciary in Scotland, who pronounced the doom or sentence of condemned persons. The ofiice was held along with that of executioner. At the conclusion of a trial, this dread official was produced in open court, in presence of the wretched criminal, as is graphically described by Scott in his tale of Old Mortality. See notes to that work, and also notes to Heart of Mid- lothian. The office of deemster lias been long abolished. In the Isle of Man and Jersey deem- sters are judges, the office as well as the title be- « ing of great antiquity and dignity. The highest judicial authority in the Isle of ^fan is divided between two deemsters, one for the northern and the other for the southern half of the island. DEEP RIVER. A river rising in Guilford County, N. C. (:Map: North Carolina, C 2). It flows southeast and then cast, and, joining the Haw River (q.v.) in Chatham County, fcums the Cape Fear River (q.v.). About 120 miles long, the stream drains an area of 1350 scpuire miles. Extensive coal and copper deposits are found in its valley. It furnishes extensive water-power at Lockville, and is navigable to Carbonton. DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION. The depths of the sea have been ex])lored with precision only during comparatively recent years. Deep-sea investigations began in the necessity for accurate soundings for submarine cables, and this is still the main reason for sounding, but much more has been accomplished in this field by dredging for purely scientific purposes. The most important part of our I<nowIedge of deep-sea conditions has been gained since 1870. The Challenqer expedition sent out by the British Government from 187.3 to 1878 (see CnALtEN- ger) engaged in pelagic investigations for nearly four years. somding and dredging iu the oceanic basins at more than 350 different places. This