a solatium for wounded feelings, as does French law under the name of dommage moral, éprouvé par la partie lésée dans sa liberté, sa sûreté, son honneur, sa considération, ses affections légitimes ou dans la jouissance de son patrimoine. Under this head compensation is awarded to widow, child or sister, for the loss of husband, parent or brother, in addition to the actual pecuniary loss (Dalloz, Nouveau Code civil, art. 1382). Claims of damage for negligence are defeated by proof of what is known as contributory negligence (faute commune). In other claims of tort, as already stated, the conduct of the claimant may materially reduce the amount of his damages.
In cases of damages to ships or cargo by collision at sea, the rule of the old court of admiralty (derived from the civil law and preserved by the Judicature Acts) is that when both or all vessels are to blame, the whole amount of the loss is divided between them. The rule appears not to apply to cases where death or personal injury results from the collision (“Vera Cruz,” 1884, 14 A.C. 59. “Bernina,” 1888, 13 A.C. 1).
Costs.—The costs of a legal proceeding are no longer treated as damages to be assessed by the jury, nor do they depend on any act of the jury. The right to receive them depends on the court, and they are taxed or assessed by its officers (see Costs). In a few cases where costs cannot be given, e.g. on compulsory acquisition of land in London, the assessing tribunal is invited to add to the compensation price the owner’s expense in the compensation proceedings.
Death.—In English law a right to recover damages for a tort as a general rule was lost on the death of the sufferer or of the delinquent. The cause of action was considered not to survive. This rule differs from that of Scots law (under which the claim for damages arises at the moment of injury and is not affected by the death of either party). The English rule has been criticized as barbarous, and has been considerably broken in upon by legislation, in cases of taking the goods of another (4 Edw. III., c. 7, 1330), and injuries to real or personal property (3 & 4 Will. IV., c. 42, 1833), but continues in force as to such matters as defamation, malicious prosecution and trespass to the person. By the Fatal Accidents Act 1846 (commonly called Lord Campbell’s Act), it is enacted that wherever a wrongful act would have entitled the injured person to recover damages (if death had not ensued), the person who in such case would have been liable “shall be liable to an action for damages for the pecuniary loss which the death has caused to certain persons, and although the death shall have been caused under such circumstances as amount in law to felony.” The only persons by whom or for whose benefit such an action may be brought are the husband, wife, parent and child (including grandchild and stepchild, but not illegitimate child) of the deceased. The right of action and the measure of damages are statutory and distinct from the right which the deceased had till he died. It was held in Osborne v. Gillett, 1873, L.R. 8 Ex. 88, and has since been approved (Clark v. London General Omnibus Co., 1906, 2 K.B. 648), that no person can recover damages for the death of another wrongfully killed by the act of a third person, unless he claims through or represents the person killed, and unless that person in case of an injury short of death would have had a good claim to recover damages.
In Scotland the law of compensation for breach of contract is substantially the same as in England. In cases of delict or quasi-delict, the measure of reparation is a fair and reasonable compensation for the advantage which the sufferer would, but for the wrong, have enjoyed and has lost as a natural and proximate result of the wrong, coupled with a solatium for wounded feelings. The claim for reparation vests as a debt when it arises and survives to the representatives of the sufferer, and against the representatives of the delinquent. In other words, the maxim actio personalis moritur cum persona does not apply in Scots law; and even in cases of murder there has always been recognized a right to “assythement.”
See also Mayne on Damages, 7th ed.; Sedgwick on Damage; Bell, Principles of Law of Scotland. (W. F. C.)
DAMANHŪR, a town of Lower Egypt, 38 m. E.S.E. of Alexandria by rail, capital of the richly-cultivated province of Behera. It is the ancient Timenhōr, “town of Horus,” which in Ptolemaic times was capital of a nome and lay on the Canopic branch of the Nile. Its name and other circumstances imply that Horus (= Apollo) was worshipped there in the same form as at Edfu (Brugsch, Dictionnaire géographique, p. 521), but its Greek name, Hermopolis Parva, should indicate Thoth as the local god. This apparent contradiction is perhaps due to some early misunderstanding that held its ground after the Greeks knew Egypt better. A much frequented fair is held at Damanhūr three times a year, and there are several cotton manufactories. Population (1907) 38,752.
DAMARALAND, a region of south-western Africa, bounded
W. by the Atlantic, E. by the Kalahari, N. by Ovampoland,
and S. by Great Namaqualand. It forms the central portion
of German South-West Africa. Damaraland is alternatively
known as Hereroland, both names being derived from the tribes
inhabiting the region. The so-called Damara consist of two
probably distinct peoples. They are known respectively as
“the Hill Damara” and “the Cattle Damara,” i.e. those who
breed cattle in the plains. The Hill Damara are Negroes with
much Hottentot blood, and have adopted the Hottentot tongue,
while the Cattle Damara are of distinct Bantu-Negro descent
and speak a Bantu language. The term Damara (“Two Dama
Women”) is of Hottentot origin, and is not used by the people,
who call themselves Ova-herero, “the Merry People” (see
Hottentots and Herero).
DAMASCENING, or Damaskeening, a term sometimes applied
to the production of damask steel, but properly the art of in-crusting
wire of gold (and sometimes of silver or copper) on the
surface of iron, steel or bronze. The surface upon which the
pattern is to be traced is finely undercut with a sharp instrument,
and the gold thread by hammering is forced into and securely
held by the minute furrows of the cut surface. This system of
ornamentation is peculiarly Oriental, having been much practised
by the early goldsmiths of Damascus, and it is still eminently
characteristic of Persian metal work.
DAMASCIUS, the last of the Neoplatonists, was born in
Damascus about A.D. 480. In his early youth he went to Alexandria,
where he spent twelve years partly as a pupil of Theon,
a rhetorician, and partly as a professor of rhetoric. He then
turned to philosophy and science, and studied under Hermeias
and his sons, Ammonius and Heliodorus. Later on in life he
migrated to Athens and continued his studies under Marinus,
the mathematician, Zenodotus, and Isidore, the dialectician.
He became a close friend of Isidore, succeeded him as head of the
school in Athens, and wrote his biography, part of which is
preserved in the Bibliotheca of Photius (see appendix to the
Didot edition of Diogenes Laërtius). In 529 Justinian closed the
school, and Damascius with six of his colleagues sought an
asylum, probably in 532, at the court of Chosroes I., king of
Persia. They found the conditions intolerable, and in 533, in a
treaty between Justinian and Chosroes, it was provided that they
should be allowed to return. It is believed that Damascius
settled in Alexandria and there devoted himself to the writing
of his works. The date of his death is not known.
His chief treatise is entitled Difficulties and Solutions of First Principles (Ἀπορίαι καὶ χύσεις περὶ τῶν πρώτων ἀρχῶν). It examines into the nature and attributes of God and the human soul. This examination is, in two respects, in striking contrast to that of certain other Neoplatonist writers. It is conspicuously free from that Oriental mysticism which stultifies so much of the later pagan philosophy of Europe. Secondly, it contains no polemic against Christianity, to the doctrines of which, in fact, there is no allusion. Hence the charge of impiety which Photius brings against him. His main result is that God is infinite, and as such, incomprehensible; that his attributes of goodness, knowledge and power are credited to him only by inference from their effects; that this inference is logically valid and sufficient for human thought. He insists throughout on the unity and the indivisibility of God, whereas Plotinus and Porphyry had admitted not only a Trinity, but even an Ennead (nine-fold personality).
Interesting as Damascius is in himself, he is still more interesting
