DEVOIR. Duty. It is used in the statute1 of 2 Ric. II., c. 3, in the sense of duties or customs.
DEVOLUTION, eccl. law. The transfer, by forfeiture2, of a right and power which a person has to another, on account of some act or negligence3 of the person who is vested with such right or power: for example, when a person has the right of preseptation, and he does not present within the time prescribed, the right devolves on his next immediate4 superior. Ayl. Par5. 331.
DI COLONNA, mar6. contracts. This contract tales place between the owner of a ship, the captain and the mariners7, who agree that the voyage shall be for the benefit of all. This is a term used in the Italian law. Targa, oh. 36, 37: Emerigon, Mar. Loans, s. 5.
2. The New England whalers are owned and navigated8 in this manner, and under this species of contract. The captain and his mariners are all interested in the profits of the voyage in certain proportion, in the same manner as the captain and crew of a privateer, according to the agreement between them. Such agreement, being very common in former times, all the mariners and the masters being interested in the voyage. It is. necessary to know this, in order to understand many of the provisions of the laws of Oleron, Wishuy, the Consolato del Mare9, and other ancient codes of maritime10 and commercial law. Hall on Mar. Loans, 42.
TO DICTATE11. To pronounce word for word what is destined12 to be at the same time written by another. Merlin Rep. mot Suggestion, p. 5 00; Toull. Dr. Civ. Fr. liv. 3, t. 2, c. 5, n. 410.
DICTATOR, civil law. A Magistrate13 at Rome invested with absolute power. His authority over the lives and fortunes of the citizens was without bounds. His office continued but for six months. Hist. de Ia Jur. h. t.; Dig. l, 2, 18; Id. 1, 1, 1.
DICTUM, practice. Dicta are judicial14 opinions expressed by the judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case.
2. Dicta are regarded as of little authority, on account of the manner in which they are delivered; it frequently happening that they are given without much reflection, at the bar, without previous examination. "If," says Huston, J., in Frants v. Brown, 17 Serg. & Rawle, 292, "general dicta in cases turning on special circumstances are to be considered as establishing the law, nothing is yet settled, or can be long settled." "What I have said or written, out of the case trying," continues the learned judge, "or shall say or write, under such circumstances, maybe taken as my opinion at the time, without argument or full consideration; but I will never consider myself bound by it when the point is fairly trying and fully15 argued and considered. And I protest against any person considering such obiter dicta as my deliberate opinion." And it was considered by another learned judge. Mr. Baron16 Richards, to be a "great misfortune that dicta are taken down from judges, perhaps incorrectly, and then cited as absolute propositions." 1 Phillim. Rep. 1406; S. C. 1 Eng. Ecc. R. 129; Ram17. on Judgm. ch. 5, p. 36; Willes Rep. 666; 1 H. Bl. 53-63; 2 Bos. & P. 375; 7 T. R. 287; 3 B. & A. 341; 2 Bing. 90. The doctrine18 of the courts of France on this subject is stated in 11 Toull. 177, n. 133.
3. In the French law, the report of a judgment19 made by one of the judges who has given it, is called the dictum. Poth. Proc. Civ. partie 1, c. 5, art. 2.
