DECREE. 55 or otherwise. These judgments were promul- gated as law, and the principles enunciated in them were binding on all the courts of the Em- pire.. See Civil L.^w; Cowls Juris; Decretal. In English and American law, the judgment, or order, of a court of equity, the term "judg- ment" being jiroperly restricted to the adjudica- tion of a matter by the courts of common law. Tlie difference between a judgment and a decree is fundamental, and springs out of the radical difference in the character of the jurisdiction ex- ercised by the two classes of tribunals. The function of the lav,- court is merely to decide the bare question in controversy between the litigat- ing parties, awarding an unconditional judg- Eicnt to one or the other of them. The court of equity, on the other hand, undertakes to do sub- stantial justice between the parties as to the whole matter submitted by them, and it may make such decree, or order, as justice may require, without being confined to the award or denial of the particular remedy sought by the complainant. Accordingly, it may, before the final adjudication of the case, grant an 'inter- locutoiw' decree, ^^hich may or may not become the 'final' decree of the court, or it may issue a conditional order, which shall become absolute or void, according as the condition is or is not com- plied with. A decree nisi (unless) is a conditional order, to become absolute 'unless,' before the date fixed therein, good cause shall be shown to the court for vacating it. A decree for a temporary in- junction, if drawn to become permanent, unless cause to the contrary be shown, is of this char- acter. The phrase is not in common use in the United States, however, and in England it has come to be appropriated to a particular case in which a decree nisi is commonly employed, namely, in decrees for divorce not to take effect for a probationary period of six months or more, during which time any person may show cause why the decree should be vacated, and the parties reinstated in their conjugal rights. In jurisdictions in which the law and eqtiity systems have been merged, or in which they are administered by the same tribunals, the term judgment is often employed in a compre- hensive sense to include decree ; and when the law permits both legal and equitable remedies to be afforded in the same action, the jtidgment rendered may be both a judgment and a decree. See DnoRCE; Chancery: Equity; Judgment; and the authorities there referred to. DE'CRESCEN1)0, Itah pron. da'kra-shen'do (It., decreasing). In music, the reverse of cres- cendo (q.v.) — viz., a gradual diminishing of the sound. Like the crescendo, it is also sometimes combined with a slight ritardando. especially in descending passages. It is frequentlv marked thus. ::>. DECRETAL (^TL. decretalis, from Lat. (Jecre- /:;m. a decree, from decernere, to decide) . Gener- ally, an authoritative order or decree: more spe- cifically in ecclesiology, a letter or decision of the popes, determining some question of eccle- siastical law referred to them. For detailed classification of various collections of these de- cretals, see Caxox Law; and for a famous col- lection, now universally admitted to be largely forged, PsEUDo-IsmoRiAN Decbetaxs. DEDICATION. DECRETALISTS. Commentators on the DcerctiiDi, or the Decretals. See Canon Law. DECRE'TUM OF GRA'TIAJST. See Canon Law. DECUMATES AGRI, dek'u-ma'tsz a'gri (Lat. tithe-lands). A term applied by the Ro- mans to their possessions north of the Danube and east of the Rhine. These lands were given to the Gauls, and later to Roman veterans, in re- turn for a tenth part of their produce. DECU'RION (Lat. decurio, from decuria, company of ten, from decern, ten). The chief of a body of ten men. This name was applied especially, in the Roman cavalry service, to the coumiander of a troop of ten (afterwards more) horsemen. In the free municipalites of Italy, and in the provinces, the chief magistrates were often called decuriones. DECUSSATION" ( Lat. decussatio, an intersect- ing of two lines crosswise, from decussis, the num- ber ten, X, on account of its shape ) . In anatomy, the crossing of nervous filaments. Certain fibres of the anterior pyramids and lateral colunms of the medulla oblongata are so crossed freely from side to side, so that disease on one side of the brain often leads to paralysis on the other side of the body. DEDEAGATCH, d.=l'da-a-gach'. A seaport town of European Turkcj". in the Province of Adrianople, on the -Egean Sea, northwest of the mouth of the jMaritza. Its harbor is small, but its trade is considerable. Dedeagateh has sup- planted Enos (q.v.) as the port for the JIaritza Valley. It is connected by rail with Constan- tinople, Bourgas, and Saloniki, and has steam communication with Greece. Population, about 2500. DEDHAM, ded'am. A toim. including three villages, and county-seat of Xorfolk County, ilass., 10 miles southwest of Boston; on the Charles River, and on the New York, Xew Haven and Hartford Railroad (Map: ^Massachusetts, E 3). It is principally a residential suburb of Boston; but has manufactures of cotton and woolen goods, carpets, and pottery. The town contains the county buildings, including the court-house, a jail, and house of correction, a public liljrarv, and an Historical Society build- ing. The government is administered by town meetings. Dedham was settled in 1G35. and was called "Contentment' until 1636. when it was in- corporated as a town imder its present name. The first free school in America supported by a general tax of the people was established here in 1644. Dedham is the mother town of a large number of other towns in Xorfolk County. Population, in 1890, 7123; in 1900. 7457. Coil- suit Mann, Historical Annals of Dedham from 1(135 to 18^7 (Dedham, 1847). Eight volumes of town records (1635-1890) have been published (Dedham, 1886-94). DEDICATION (Lat. dedicatio. from dedicare, to dedicate, from de, down + dicare, to say). In literature, the address of a book, or any literary work, to a particular person; vide Shakespeare's note to the Ri.ght Honorable Heni-y Wriothesly prefaced to Venus and Adonis. The custom, l>racticed by the ancients — i-ide Horace and Vergil — was adopted by the modei-n nations. In the .seventeenth and eighteenth centuries book'< were usually dedicated to a patron, whose influence
