DECAZES. Louis XVIII., who made him prefect of po- lite, Minister of Police, and in 1818 Prime Minister. He carried out a number of liberal measures, but did not succeed in pleasing the radicals, and at the same time incuncd the enmity of the ultrarovaUsts, who availed them- selves of the murder of the Uuke de Berry in 1820 to accuse Decazes of complicity in the crime, alleging that his revolutionary policj- had in- stigated the assassin to his deed. The King accepted his minister's resignation with great reluctance, and sent him as Ambassador to Eng- land. Ilaving returned in 1821, Decazes took part in all important debates in the Chamber of Peers, opposing the Government, and after the Kevolu- tion of 1830 supported the Orleans dynasty. He retired from public life in 1848 and thereafter devoted himself to the administration of his estates. DECAZES, Loms Chabi^s Elie Amanieu, Duke de Gliicksberg (1819-86). A French diplo- mat, born in Paris. His father was the states- man Elie Decazes, and through his influence De- cazes became secretary to the embassy in Lon- don, and afterwards Minister Plenipotentiary to Spain and Portugal. The Revolution of 1848 forced him to retire to private life, but he re- mained a devoted Orleanist, and always hoped for a restoration of the dynasty. In 1873,. after having been for a short time Ambassador at Lon- don, he was given the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. He resigned in 1877. DEC'CAIT (Hind, dakhan, Prak. dakkhana, Skt. daksina, southern, pertaining to the right hand, from dakxa, right hand; connected with Gk. 5e?i(5s, dcxivs, Lat. dexter, right). A term .sometimes applied to the peninsula of India (Map: Asia, G 7), south of the Xerbudda, but now generally restricted to the portion bounded on the north by the Xerbudda and on the south by the Kistna or Krishna. In a still narrower sense, the name is applied to the elevated pla- teau region of the interior. It is also the official designation of a division of the Bombay Prov- ince. DECCAN HEMP. See Hiniscis. DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. By the law of England the marriage of a widower with the sister of his deceased wife is null and void. The origin of this law may be traced to the interpre- tation of the early Church upon the old Mosaic law as to marriages, contained in Lev. xviii. Formerly the ecclesiastical court had power to declare such marriages void during llie lifetime of both parties, thus rendering their children il- legitimate ; but until so declared they remained voidable. This led to great confusion, and in 183.T Parliament passed a statute, .'5 & Will. TV., c. 54, known as Lord Lj-ndhurst's Act, which provided that all such marriages should be null and void. Since that time there has been great opposition to this law, and bills have been intro- duced into practically every Parliament, includ- ing the session of 1001, but have always been defeated. Belationship by affinity is not consid- ered a bar to marriage in the United States, al- though the English law in this regard obtained in a few States until recent years. It has been abolished in the various countries of Europe and in most of the English colonies. See Affinity; CoNSAXoriNITY; MAnniAGE. 40 DECEIT. DECEBALUS, df-seb'aliis (Lat., from Gk. AtK^jSaXos, D( kchalos : supposed to be a title of honor i(juivalent to king) . A king of Dacia, who for a number of years was one of the most formidable of the enemies of Rome and was a military leader of no mean ability. He crossed the Danube during Domitian's reign, overran Moesia, and defeated the Imperial army under Cornelius Fuscus. Later he forced Domitian to conclude a treaty, according to the terms of which the latter was to pay an annual tribute. He was completely overthrown by Trajan in a.d. 105, and his territories were reduced to a Roman province. He committed suicide to escape cap- ture by the conquerors about lOG. DECE'DENT (Lat. decedens, from decedere, to depart, die). Strictly, a dying person; in English and American law, a deceased person — the term being employeil only in coimection with the passing of the estate of such person, or the administration thereof. When the estate in question is disposed of by will, the decedent is properly described as 'testator,' or 'devisor,' and thus the term decedent has come to be com- monly appropriated to a person dying intestate. As thus restricted, decedents' estates come under the operation of two distinct sets of rules, which, though now iisually embodied in statute form, do not depart in essential particulars from the common-law doctrines in which they originated. These rules are, first, that the real estate of a decedent shall descend to his heir, and, second, that his personal property shall pass to his per- sonal representative tor purposes of administra- tion and distribution. This personal representa- tive may or :nay not be a person entitled to share in the ultimate distribution of the property, and under some circumstances the duty of adminis- tration is undertaken by the State. In the early history of the law in England it devolved upon the Church, the right of administering njion the estate of a decedent being vested in the bishop of the diocese in which he died, such administration, together with the probate of wills, constituting an important part of the or- dinary jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts. This jurisdiction has now been assumed by the High Court of .Justice in England. In the United States it is commonly exercised by local tribunals of the rank of county courts, knowii, variously, as surrog.ates' courts, probate courts, orphans' courts, and the like. See those titles; also Descent; DiSTRiBtTioN ; Heir; Peksokal Rep- KESENTATI'E ; ExECUTOB ; AdMIMSTBATION. DECEIT. In law, a misrepresentation or other device or contrivance by which one man intentionally deceives another to the legal injury or damage of the latter. The deceit need not be accomplished by any spoken or written words, or by any positive statement or representation ; but the concealment of any fact or circumstance which the deceiver is under a legal obligation to disclose, or his mere silence concerning it when the circumstances are such as to put upon him an obliiiation to speak, amount to deceit as fully as if positive misrepresentation was made. But mere silence concerning matter which there is no obligation to disclose is not generally deceit, even thouffh the party misled may be known to be acting upon a false idea as to those facts. Thus, if . sells a plot of land to B. who pays a larger price for it than he otherwise wo)ild have done
