siderably to preponderate, and the introduction of it to be merely a question of time. The coinage of the United States, which was made decimal in 1786, consists of the eagle =10 dollars, the dollar = 10 dimes, the dime = 10 cents, but of these de nominations dollars and cents are the only ones commonly used. In France, shortly after the great Revolution, a decimal system not only of money, but also of weights and measures, was introduced. The standard of value is the franc =100 centimss ; but though the only coins are francs, centimes, and multiples of these, the word sou, a term belonging to the superseded coinage, is often used to denote the 20th part of the franc, or 5 centimes. The Belgian and the Swiss monetary systems were assimilated to "that of France in 1833 and 1851 ; and in 1865 France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, became parties to a treaty for the maintenance of a common system. Germany, within the last few years, has effected a reform of her currency, the mark, which corresponds closely to our shilling, being = 10 groschen=100 pfennigs. A decimal coinage exists also in Russia, where the- ruble = 100 kopecks ; in Holland, where the guilder =10 dubbeltjes = 100 cents; and in Portugal, where the milrei = 1000 reis. See Observations on the Expediency and Practicability of Simpli fying and Improving the Measures, Weights, and Money, <kc., by General Sir Charles Pasley, 8vo, 1834 ; the Report of the Select Committee on a Decimal System of Coinage, August 1853 ; and the publications of the "Decimal Association." (J. S. M.)
DECIUS MUS. See Mus.|}}
DECLARATION in an action at law was the first step
in pleading the formal statement of the matter in respect
of which the defendant sued. It was divided into counts,
in each of which a specific cause of action was alleged, but
the language used was cautious and general, and the same
matter might be the subject of several counts. By the
simpler form of pleading established by the Judicature Act,
1873, the declaration is replaced by a statement of claim
setting forth the simple facts on which the plaintiff replies.
Statutory declaration. By 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 62
(which was an Act to make provisions for the abolition of
unnecessary oaths, and to repeal a previous Act of the
same session on the same subject) various cases are specified
in which a declaration shall be substituted for an affidavit
on oath. There is a general clause empowering any justice
of the peace, notary public, or other officer now by law
authorized to administer an oath, to take and receive the
declaration of any person voluntarily making the same
before him in the form in the schedule to the Act annexed ;
and if any declaration so made shall be false or untrue in
any material particular, the person wilfully making such false
declaration shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour.
DECLARATION OF PARIS, a diplomatic instrument
or protocol signed by the representatives of all the powers
present at the Congress of Paris in 1856, and subsequently
accepted as a binding engagement of public law by all the
other powers (except the United States of America, Spain,
and Mexico), for the purpose of settling and defining
certain rules of maritime law, in time of war, on points of
great moment to belligerent and neutral states points, it
must be added, upon which the ancient law of nations had
gradually undergone some change, and on which great
differences of opinion and practice prevailed. The four
propositions agreed to by ths plenipotentiaries were
embodied in the following terms :
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 an enemy s flag.
4. Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective, that is to
say, maintained by a force sufficient readily to prevent access to the
coast of the enemy.
By most of the modern writers on international lav/
these principles are regarded as a distinct gain to the cause
of civilization, international justice, commerce, and peace.
But a feeble and ineffectual attempt has been made to
repudiate these new rules of maritime law, though they
received the tacit assent of Parliament, and have been
acted upon by all nations in the six wars which have
occurred since 1856, including the American civil war,
although the United States had not concurred in the
Declaration. The American Government withheld its
assent, not because it objected to these principles, bufi
because it held that they did not go far enough, and
that they ought to be extended to secure from capture
all private property at sea. It is argued by the opponents
of the Declaration that the British envoy at Paris exceeded
his powers ; that the form of the instrument itself is
declaratory, but not binding either as a contract or a legis
lative act ; that it is not competent to a congress to change
the rights of belligerents founded on ancient law and
usage ; and that Great Britain committed a fatal error in
renouncing the right to seize enemy s goods in neutral ships
and to equip privateers.
To these arguments it is said in reply that the British
envoy at Paris had full powers to pledge the faith of the
Crown, with the concurrence of the Cabinet, and that if
Parliament disapproved his conduct, it ought to have been
pressed to a division at the time, and not when Great
Britain has enjoyed the benefit of the Declaration, as a
neutral, for twenty years. It is a part of the prerogative
of the Crown to fix our international relations, and to
determine the conditions of maritime warfare. The most
fitting and binding expression of international law (which
cannot assume the form of positive law by sovereign enact
ment) is to be found in instruments recording in solemn
form the consent of all civilized nations. On the ground
of expediency, it is contended by the supporters of the
Declaration of Paris, that Great Britain is, of all countries
in the world, that which has most to gain by it, because she
is not only the greatest naval power, but the power which
has the largest number of merchant vessels and the largest
amount of property afloat on the seas, and liable to attack.
The primary advantage of the Declaration no doubt
accrues to neutrals, as it secures to them a larger carrying
trade in time of war, and exempts them from the seizure of
enemy s goods in neutral ships. Hence, if a belligerent
were now to violate the rules of the Declaration, he would
have to encounter the opposition of all neutral states, and
would speedily find them arrayed on the side of the enemy.
But in the event of war, Great Britain is the state most
exposed, by reason of the magnitude of her maritime trade,
to the depredations of hostile cruisers ; the injury done is
to be measured by the amount of the shipping and property
exposed to it ; and a single cruiser of a small state may
cause enormous losses to the commerce of a great power, as
was seen in the American civil war. Since the establish
ment of a general system of railroads, the greater part of
the trade of all the states of continental Europe can be
carried on by land, either by direct communication or
through neutral ports. The power of a naval state to
inflict serious injury on an enemy by the interruption of
her trade is therefore by the nature of things greatly
diminished, and the same remark applies to commercial
blockades. To England all foreign commodities must
be brought by sea. and England is more dependent than
any other country on foreign trade for the raw material
of her manufactures, and even for the food of her inhabi
tants. It is therefore the paramount interest of England
to keep open all the channels of trade, as much as possible,
both in peace and war ; and injuries done to the trade of
an enemy are oftsn equally prejudicial to the state which
