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DEB. 57 the sea, in the neighborhood of Ben Macdhui (ilap: Scotliiud, F 2). After Hewing 12 miles Bouth-southeast, it is joined by the Geauley, 12'J-l feet above sea-level, tumbles through a narrow chasm, called the Linn of Dee, runs east-north- east through Aberdeensliirc and a small part of Kincardineshire, and ends in the North Sea at the harbor of Aberdeen. In its course of 90 miles, it receives the Lui, Muick, Feugh, etc. On its banks is Balmoral Castle. The smaller Dec rises near the northern boundary of Kirkcudbright- shire (Map: Scotland, D 5). For the first forty miles, it flows southeasterly, then westerly, fall- ing into the Solway Firth at Kirkcudbright Bay. It is about 50 miles long and navigable for the last seven miles. The Dee is noted for its sal- mon, which are superior in hue and size to those of most rivers in the south of Scotland. DEE, John (1527-lGOS). An English astrolo- ger and mathematician. He was educated at Cambridge, lived for some time at the University of Louvain, and went to Paris in 1550, where, at the College of p>heims, he lectured on the Elements of Euclid with great success. In 1551 he returned to England, was introduced to Ed- ward VI., and was pensioned; but during the next reign he was falsely accused of attempting Queen Slary's life, and came very near being executed. Queen Elizabeth received him kindly and promised him an appointment. This promise was not fulfilled, and Dee again set out for the Continent in 1504. ostensibly for the purpose of presenting to Emperor Maximilian a book which he had previously dedicated to him. Lilly, how- ever, in his ileinoir.i. affirms that he acted as Queen Elizabeth's 'intelligencer* or spy. In 1594 he wa.s made chancellor of Saint Paul's Cathedral, and in the next year warden of Manchester Col- lege. He died very poor. Dee's writings, mostly on the occult sciences, were published in London in 1G59. DEED (an act, Lat. factum, something done). A written instrument, sealed and delivered, whereby a legal right is created or transferred. Though the term is popularly emjiloyed only in ^ connection with instruments for the conveyance of land, it is not, in the legal sense, thus re- stricted, being equally applicable to a consider- able variety of other legal transactions efiTected by the same solemn form. A contract, an ap- pointment to oflice, the surrender of a right of action, may be effected by deed, as well as the transfer of title to land or goods. In other words, it is not the event, or transaction, biit the manner in which it is performed, which con- stitutes the deed. So. too, it is in a popular, rather than a strictly legal sense, that a sealed writing, in and by itself considered, is described as a deed. Until delivered to the paity who is to have the benefit of it, it is still a mere writing, an escrow lecrit, script urn) , an inchoate deed. The perfected deed is compounded of three dis- tinct things — the writing, the act of sealing, and the act of delivery. The superior validity of a transaction effected by deed, as compared with one consinnmated by spoken words or by ordinary writings, is a matter of history. Blaekstone declares that a deed derives its name (deed, factum) from the circumstance that "it is the most solemn and authentic act that a man can possibly perform with relation to the disposal of his property; and therefore a man shall always be estopped by DEED. his o^^Ti deed, or not permitted to aver or prove anything in contradiction to what he has once so solemnly and deliberately avowed" (2 151. Com. 295). In fact, the deed is the one form in which the formal or ceremonial mode of incurring an obligation or transferring a legal right survives among us, corresponding in that respect to the mancipatio and the stipulatio of the Roman law, the latter of which still appears in the usual ceremony of marriage. Becent investigations into early legal procedure show conclusively that in primitive society a peculiar importance and validity- attaches to legal transactions of the formal sort, and, though the teudenc- of advanc- ing civilization is to reduce or eliminate the dis- tinction betwen formal and informal obligations, this has never been completely accomplished. The conclusive effect of a deed is probably due to the fact that it originated at a time when writing was a rare accomplishment, confined to those who had taken holy orders, and that its char- acter, as a solemn form of engagement, had become established before the art of writing became more general. Its superior validity still consists in the fact mentioned by Blaekstone, in the passage quoted above, that he who makes a deed is conclusively bound by the statements which it contains, and that, in contracts and other transactions which ordinarily require a consideration to support them, no consideration is necessary if the transaction be consummated by deed. Technicallj', a contract in the form of a deed is known as a specialty. Deeds are of two kinds, deeds poll and inden- tures — the former being of only one part, i. e. binding only one person or group of persons, in the same way and to the same effect; and the latter having two or more parties, who become bound to one another. Thus, the ordinary deed of conveyance, whereby A, or A and B. convey land to C, the latter entering into no engagement with reference to the transaction, and the grantor or grantors, only, executing it, is a deed poll ; whereas, articles of association or of part- nership, or any other bilateral contract, under seal, whereby several parties become mutually bound to one another, is an indenture. The names are derived from the circumstance that deeds of the latter sort were formerly written in duplicate, etc., on the same piece of parcli- ment, which was then ctit so as to separate them by an indented and irregular line, whereby their identity cotild afterwards be established. The deed poll, on the other hand, only one copy being required, was polled, 1. e. shaved or cut off smooth. This difference in the form of deeds having disappeared, the term indenture is often carelessly employed in deeds which are really deeds poll. The distinction between them has not, however, been obliterated by their assimila- tion in form, and a deed purporting to bind only one party, or, whatever it may purport, executed by only one, is still a deed poll and binds only the giver thereof and not the person to whom it y is delivered. Deeds have from an early period been em- ployed for the transfer of certain interests in land. Imt their general and almost excltisive use for this purpose is quite modem. Formerly, at common law. freehold interests in land were created or conveyed by the formal ceremony knouTi a-s livery of seizin, while all estates less than freehold were subject to alienation by parol,