Chapter VII: Act 1890 (1)

The first directors of a company are generally appointed by the articles of association. Their consent to act must now, under the Companies Act 1908, be filed with the registrar of joint-stock companies. Directors other than the first are elected at the annual general meeting, a certain proportion of the acting directors--usually one-third--retiring under the articles by rotation each year, and their places being filled up by election. A share qualification is nearly always required, on the well-recognized principle that a substantial stake in the undertaking is the best guarantee of fidelity to the company's interests. A director once appointed cannot be removed during his term of office by the shareholders, unless there is a special provision for that purpose in the articles of association; but a company may dismiss a director if the articles--as is usually the case--authorize dismissal. The authority and powers of directors are prima facie those necessary for carrying on the ordinary business of the company, but it is usual to define the more important of such powers in the articles of association. For instance, it is commonly prescribed how and when the directors may make calls, to what amount they may borrow, how they may invest the funds of the company, in what circumstances they may forfeit shares, or veto transfers, in what manner they shall conduct their proceedings, and what shall constitute a quorum of the board. Whenever, indeed, specific directions are desirable they may properly be given by the articles. But superadded to and supplementing these specific powers there is usually inserted in the articles a general power of management in terms similar to those of clause 55 of the model regulations for a company, known as Table A (clause 71 of the revised Table). The powers, whether general or specific, thus confided to directors are in the nature of a trust, and the directors must exercise them with a single eye to the benefit of the company. For instance, in allotting shares they must consult the interests of the company, not favour their friends. So in forfeiting shares they must not use the power collusively for the purpose of relieving the shareholder from liability. To do so is an abuse of the power and a fraud on the other shareholders.

It would give a very erroneous idea of the position and functions of directors to speak of them--as is sometimes done--as trustees. They are only trustees in the sense that every agent is. They are "commercial men managing a trading concern for the benefit of themselves and the other shareholders." They have to carry on the company's business, to extend and consolidate it, and to do this they must have a free hand and a large discretion to deal with the exigencies of the commercial situation. This large discretion the law allows them so long as they keep within the limits set by the company's memorandum and articles. They are not to be held liable for mere errors of judgment, still less for being defrauded. That would make their position intolerable. All that the law requires of them is that they should be faithful to their duties as agents--"diligent and honest," to use the words of Sir George Jessel, formerly master of the rolls. Thus in the matter of diligence it is a director's duty to attend as far as possible all meetings of the board; at the same time non-attendance, unless gross, will not amount to negligence such as to render a director liable for irregularities committed by his co-directors in his absence. A director again must not sign cheques without informing himself of the purpose for which they are given. A director, on the same principle, must not delegate his duties to others unless expressly authorized to do so, as where the company's articles empower the directors to appoint a committee. Directors may, it is true, employ skilled persons, such as engineers, valuers or accountants, to assist them, but they must still exercise their judgment as business men on the materials before them. Then in the matter of honesty, a director must not accept a present in cash or shares or in any other form whatever from the company's vendor, because such a present is neither more nor less than a bribe to betray the interests of the company, nor must he make any profit in the matter of his agency without the knowledge and consent of his principal, the company. He must not, in other words, put himself in a position in which his duty to the company and his own interest conflict or even may conflict. This rule often comes into play in the case of contracts between a company and a director. There is nothing in itself invalid in such a contract, but the onus is on the director if he would keep such a contract to show that the company assented to his making a profit out of the contract, and for that purpose he must show that he made full and fair disclosure to the company of the nature and extent of his interest under the contract. It is for this reason that when a company's vendor is also a director he does not join the board until his co-directors have exercised an independent judgment on the propriety of the purchase.

A director must also bear in mind--what is a fundamental principle of company management--that the funds of the company are entrusted to the directors for the objects of the company as defined by the company's memorandum of association and authorized by the general law, and that they must not be diverted from those objects or applied to purposes which are outside the objects of the company, _ultra vires_, as it is commonly called, or outside the powers of management given by the shareholders to the directors. This does not abridge the large discretion allowed to directors in carrying on the business of the company. The funds embarked in a trading company are intended to be employed for the acquisition of gain, and risk, greater or less according to circumstances, is necessarily incidental to such employment; but it is quite another matter when directors pay dividends out of capital, or return capital to the shareholders, or spend money of the company in "rigging" the market, or in buying the company's shares or paying commission for underwriting the shares of the company except where such commission is authorized under acts of 1900 and 1907, incorporated in the Companies Act 1908. Directors who in these or any other ways misapply the funds of the company are guilty of what is technically known as "misfeasance" or breach of trust, and all who join in the misapplication are jointly and severally liable to replace the sums so misapplied. The remedy of the company for misfeasance, if the company is a going concern, is by action against the delinquent directors; but where a company is being wound up, the legislature has, under the Winding-up Act 1890, provided a summary mode of proceeding, by which the official receiver or liquidator, or any creditor or contributory of the company, may take out what is known as a misfeasance summons, to compel the delinquent director or officer to repay the misapplied moneys or make compensation. The departmental committee of the Board of Trade in its report (July 1906) recommended that the court should be given a discretionary power, analogous to that it already possesses in the case of trustees under the Judicial Trustees Act 1896, s. 3, to relieve a director (or a promoter) in certain cases from liability. This recommendation has been given effect to by s. 279 of the Companies Act 1908, which provides that, "If in any proceeding against a director of a company for negligence or breach of trust it appears to a court that the director is or may be liable in respect of the negligence or breach of trust, but has acted honestly and reasonably and ought fairly to be excused for the negligence or breach of trust, the court may relieve him either wholly or partly from his liability on such terms as the court may think proper."

Directors who circulate a prospectus containing statements which they know to be false, with intent to induce any person to become a shareholder, may be prosecuted under S 84 of the Larceny Act 1861. They are also liable criminally for falsification of the company's books, and for this or any other criminal offence the court in winding up may, on the application of the liquidator, direct a prosecution. As to the liability of directors for statements or omissions in a prospectus see COMPANY.

In managing the affairs of the company directors must meet together and act as a body, for the company is entitled to their collective wisdom in council assembled. Board meetings are held at such intervals as the directors think expedient. Notice of the meeting must be given to all directors who are within reach, but the notice need not specify the particular business to be transacted. The articles usually fix, or give the directors power to fix, what number shall constitute a quorum for a board meeting. They also empower the directors to elect a chairman of the board. The directors exercise their powers by a resolution of the board which is recorded in the directors' minute-book.

The court will not as a rule interfere with the discretion of directors honestly exercised in the management of the affairs of the company. The directors have prima facie the confidence of the shareholders, and it is not for the court to say that such confidence is misplaced. If the stockholders are dissatisfied with the management the remedy is in their own hands--they can call a meeting and elect a new board.

A company's articles usually provide for the payment of a certain sum to each director for his services during the year. When this is the case it is an authority to the directors to pay themselves the amount of such remuneration. The remuneration, unless otherwise expressly provided, covers all expenses incidental to the directors' duties. A director, for instance, cannot claim to be paid in addition to his fixed remuneration his travelling expenses for attending board meetings.

When a company winds up, the directors' powers of management come to an end. Their agency is superseded in favour of that of the liquidator. (E. MA.)

DIRECTORY, a term meaning literally that which guides or directs, and so applied to a book or set of rules giving directions for public worship. The _directorium_ or _ordo_ of the Roman Church contains regulations as to the Mass and office to be used on each day throughout the year, and the word is found in the _Directory for the Publick Worship of God_ drawn up in 1644 at the Westminster Assembly. The term now usually signifies a book containing the names, addresses and occupations, &c. of the inhabitants of a town or district, or of a similar list of the users of a telephone supply, or of the members of a particular profession or trade. The name _Directoire_ or Directory was given to the body which held the executive power in France from October 1795 until November 1799 (see FRENCH REVOLUTION).

DIRGE, a song or hymn of mourning, particularly one sung at funerals or at a Service in commemoration of the dead. It is derived from the first word of the antiphon _"Dirige, Domine, Deus meus, in conspectu tuo viam meam"_ (Guide, O Lord, my God, my way in Thy sight), of the opening psalm in the office for the dead in the Roman Church. The antiphon is adapted from verse 8 of Psalm v.

DIRK, a dagger, particularly the heavy dagger carried by the Highlanders of Scotland. The dirk as worn in full Highland costume is an elaborately ornamented weapon, with cairngorms or other stones set in the head of the handle, which has no guard. Inserted in the sheath there may be two small knives. The dirk, in the shape of a straight blade, with a small guard, some 18 in. long, is worn by midshipmen in the British navy. The origin of the word is doubtful. The earlier forms were _dork_ and _durk_, and the spelling _dirk_, adopted by Johnson, represents the pronunciation of the second form. The name seems to have been early applied to the daggers of the Highlanders, but the Gaelic word is _biodag_, and the Irish _duirc_, often stated to be the origin, is only an adaptation of the English word. It may be a corruption of the German _Dolch_, a dagger. The suggestion that it is an application of the Christian name "Dirk," the short form of "Dieterich," is not borne out, according to the _New English Dictionary_, by any use of this name for a dagger, and is further disproved by the earlier English spelling.

DIRSCHAU, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Prussia, province of West Prussia, on the left bank of the Vistula, 20 m. S. from Danzig and at the junction of the important lines of railway Berlin-Konigsberg and Danzig-Bromberg. Pop. (1905) 14,185. It has a Roman Catholic and a Protestant church and several schools. The river is here crossed by two fine iron bridges. The older structure dating from the year 1857, originally used for the railway, is now given up to road traffic, and the railway carried by a new bridge completed in 1891. Dirschau has railway workshops and manufactories of sugar, agricultural implements and cement. During the war with Poland, Gustavus Adolphus made it his headquarters for many months after its capture in 1626.

DISABILITY, a term meaning, in general, want of ability, and used in law to denote an incapacity in certain persons or classes of persons for the full enjoyment of duties or privileges, which, but for their disqualification, would be open to them; hence, legal disqualification. Thus, married women, persons under age, insane persons, convicted felons are under disability to do certain legal acts. This disability may be absolute, wholly disabling the person so long as it continues, or partial, ceasing on discontinuation of the disabling state, as attainment of full age.

DISCHARGE (adapted from the O. Fr. _descharge_, modern _decharge_, from a med. Lat. _discargare_, to unload, _dis-_ and _carricare_, to load, cf. "charge"), a word meaning relief from a load or burden, hence applied to the unloading of a ship, the firing of a weapon, the passage of electricity from an electrified body, the issue from a wound, &c. From the sense of relief from an obligation, "discharge" is also applied to the release of a soldier or sailor from military or naval service, or of the crew of a merchant vessel, or to the dismissal from an office or situation. In law, it is used of a document or other evidence that can be accepted as proof of the release from an obligation, as of a receipt, on payment of money due. Similarly it is applied to the release in accordance with law of a person in custody on a criminal charge, and to the legal release of a bankrupt from further liability for debts provable in the bankruptcy except those incurred by fraud or debts to the crown. It is also applied to the reversal of an order of a court. In the case of divorce, where the rule _nisi_ is not made absolute, the rule is said to be discharged.

DISCHARGING ARCH, in architecture, an arch built over a lintel or architrave to take off the superincumbent weight. The earliest example is found in the Great Pyramid, over the lintels of the entrance passage to the tomb: it consisted of two stones only, resting one against the other. The same object was attained in the Lion Gate and the tomb of Agamemnon, both in Mycenae, and in other examples in Greece, where the stones laid in horizontal courses, one projecting over the other, left a triangular hollow space above the lintel of the door, which was subsequently filled in by vertical sculptured stone panels. The Romans frequently employed the discharging arch, and inside the portico of the Pantheon the architraves have such arches over them. In the Golden Gateway of the palace of Diocletian at Spalato the discharging arches, semicircular in form, were adopted as architectural features and decorated with mouldings. The same is found in the synagogues in Palestine of the 2nd century; and later, in Byzantine architecture, these moulded archivolts above an architrave constitute one of the characteristics of the style. In the early Christian churches in Rome, where a colonnade divided off the nave and aisles, discharging arches are turned in the frieze just above the architraves.

DISCIPLE, properly a pupil, scholar (Lat. _discipulus_, from _discere_, to learn, and root seen in _pupillus_), but chiefly used of the personal followers of Jesus Christ, including the inner circle of the Apostles (q.v.).

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST, or CHRISTIANS, an American Protestant denomination, founded by Thomas Campbell, his son Alexander Campbell (q.v.) and Barton Warren Stone (1772-1844). Stone had been a Presbyterian minister prominent in the Kentucky revival of 1801, but had been turned against sectarianism and ecclesiastical authority because the synod had condemned Richard McNemar, one of his colleagues in the revival, for preaching (as Stone himself had done) counter to the Westminster Confession, on faith and the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. He had organized the Springfield Presbytery, but in 1804 with his five fellow ministers signed "The Last Will and Testament of the Springfield Presbytery," giving up that name and calling themselves "Christians." Like Stone, Alexander Campbell had adopted (in 1812) immersion, and, like him, his two great desires were for Christian unity and the restoration of the ancient order of things. But the Campbellite doctrines differed widely from the hyper-Calvinism of the Baptists whom they had joined in 1813, especially on the points on which Stone had quarrelled with the Presbyterians; and after various local breaks in 1825-1830, when there were large additions to the Restorationists from the Baptist ranks, especially under the apostolic fervour and simplicity of the preaching of Walter Scott (1796-1861), in 1832 the Reformers were practically all ruled out of the Baptist communion. The Campbells gradually lost sight of Christian unity, owing to the unfortunate experience with the Baptists and to the tone taken by those clergymen who had met them in debates; and for the sake of Christian union it was peculiarly fortunate that in January 1832 at Lexington, Kentucky, the followers of the Campbells and those of Stone (who had stressed union more than primitive Christianity) united. Campbell objected to the name "Christians" as sectarianized by Stone, but "Disciples" never drove out of use the name "Christians."

During the Civil War the denomination escaped an actual scission by following the neutral views of Campbell, who opposed slavery, war and abolition. In 1849 the American Christian Missionary Society was formed; it was immediately attacked as a "human innovation," unwarranted by the New Testament, by literalists led in later years by Benjamin Franklin (secretary of the missionary society in 1857), who opposed all church music also. Isaac Errett (1820-1888) was the most prominent leader of the progressive party, which was considered corrupt and worldly by the literalists, many of whom, in spite of his efforts, broke off from the main body, especially in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas.

The main body appointed in 1890 a standing committee on Christian union; their aim in this respect is not for absorption, as was clearly shown by their answer in 1887 to overtures from the Protestant Episcopal Church regarding Christian unity. The credal position of the Disciples is simple: great stress is put upon the phrase "the Christ, the Son of the living God," and upon the recognition by Jesus of this confession as the foundation of His church; as to baptism, agreement with Baptists is only as to the mode, immersion; this is considered "the primitive confession of Christ and a gracious token of salvation," and as being "for the remission of sins"; the Disciples generally deny the authority over Christians of the Old Covenant, and Alexander Campbell in particular held this view so forcibly that he was accused by Baptists of "throwing away the Old Testament." The Lord's Supper is celebrated every Sunday, the bread being broken by the communicants. The Disciples are not Unitarian in fact or tendency, but they urge the use of simple New Testament phraseology as to the Godhead. Their church government is congregational.

The growth of the denomination has been greatest in the states along
the Ohio river, whence they have spread throughout the Union. In 1908
there were 6673 ministers and 1,285,123 communicants in the United
States. There are churches in Canada, in Great Britain and in
Australia. Bethany College, at Bethany, West Virginia, was chartered
in 1840, and Alexander Campbell, who had founded it as Buffalo
Seminary, was its president until his death in 1866; other colleges
founded by the sect are: Kentucky University, Lexington, Ky.; Hiram
College, Hiram, Ohio (1850, until 1867 known as Western Reserve
Eclectic Institute); Butler College, Indianapolis, Indiana (1855);
Christian University, Canton, Missouri (1851; coeducational); Eureka
College, in Woodford county, Illinois (1855; coeducational); Union
Christian College, Merom, Ind. (1859); Texas Christian University,
Waco, Texas (1873, founded as Add Ran College at Thorpe's Springs,
removing to Waco in 1895); Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa (1881);
Milligan College, Milligan, Tennessee (1882); Defiance College,
Defiance, O. (1885); Cotner University, Lincoln, Nebraska (1889); Elon
College, Elon, North Carolina (1890); American University, Harriman,
Tenn. (1893); the Virginia Christian College, Lynchburg, Virginia
(1903), and for negroes, the Southern Christian Institute, Edwards,
Mississippi (1877), and the Christian Bible College, Newcastle, Henry
County, Ky. Theological seminaries are the Berkeley Bible Seminary,
Berkeley, California (1896); the Disciples' Divinity House, Chicago,
Ill. (1894); and the Eugene Divinity School, Eugene, Oregon (1895).
"Bible chairs" were established in state universities and elsewhere by
the Disciples,--at the University of Michigan (1893), at the
University of Virginia (1899), at the University of Calcutta (1900)
and at the University of Kansas (1901). The denomination has
publishing houses in Cincinnati, St Louis, Louisville and Nashville.

See Errett Gates's _History of the Disciples of Christ_ (New York,
1905), in "The Story of the Churches" series, and his _Early Relation
and Separation of Baptists and Disciples_ (Chicago, 1904), a
University of Chicago doctoral thesis; and B. B. Tyler's _History of
the Disciples of Christ_ in vol. xii. of "The American Church History
Series" (New York, 1894).

DISCLAIMER, a renunciation, denial or refusal; a disavowal of claims. In law the term is used more particularly in the following senses:--(1) In the law of landlord and tenant, the direct repudiation of that relation by some act on the part of the tenant. A disclaimer may be verbal or written, but in such case it must be something more than a mere renunciation of the tenant's title, or it may be an act which is wholly inconsistent with the existence of such relation, as the setting up by the tenant of a distinct title either in himself or some third party. (2) In the law of bankruptcy, where any part of the property of a bankrupt consists of land of any tenure burdened with onerous covenants, of stocks or shares in companies, of unprofitable contracts, or of any property that is unsaleable, or not readily saleable, by reason of its binding the possessor to the performance of any onerous act, the trustee, notwithstanding that he has endeavoured to sell or has taken possession of the property, or exercised any act of ownership in relation to it, may, subject to certain provisions, by writing signed by him, at any time within twelve months after the first appointment of a trustee, "disclaim" the property (see BANKRUPTCY). (3) In the law of trusts, disclaimer is the refusal or renunciation of the office or duties of a trustee. It is an undisputed rule that no one is compellable to undertake a trust, so that as soon as a person knows he has been appointed a trustee under some instrument, he should determine whether he will accept the office or not. Disclaimer of trust should be by deed, as admitting of no ambiguity, but it may be by conveyance to other accepting trustees, or orally, or by written declaration, or even by conduct. (4) In the law of patents, disclaimer is the renunciation, by amendment of specifications, of the portion of an inventor's claim to protection.

DISCOUNT. (1) A money-market term for the price paid in order to obtain immediate realization of a bill not yet due. If a bill for L100 due six months hence is discounted at the rate of 3% per annum, its holder will obtain L98, 10s. in cash for it. (2) A Stock-Exchange term applied to a security, not fully paid, which has fallen below its issue price, and so is said to stand at so much discount. See PREMIUM.

DISCOVERY, in law, the revealing or disclosing of any matter. The English common law courts were originally unable to compel a litigant before a trial to disclose the facts and documents on which he relied. In equity, however, a different rule prevailed, there being an absolute right to discovery of all material facts on which a case was founded. Now the practice is regulated by the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1883, Order 31. Discovery is of two kinds, namely, by interrogatories and by affidavit of documents, provision being also made for the production and inspection of documents. Where a party to a suit can make an affidavit stating that in his belief certain specified documents are or have been in the possession of some other party, the court may make an order that such party state on affidavit whether he has or ever had any of those documents in his possession, or if he has parted with them or what has become of them. A further application may then be made by notice to the party who has admitted possession of the documents for production and inspection. Copies also may be taken of the more important documents. There is also discovery of facts obtained by means of interrogatories, i.e. written questions addressed on behalf of one party, before trial, to the other party, who is bound to answer them in writing upon oath. In order to prevent needless expense the party seeking discovery must first secure the cost of it by paying into court a sum of money, generally not less than five pounds. See also EVIDENCE.

DISCUS (Gr. [Greek: diskos], disk), a circular plate of stone, later of metal, which was used by the ancient Greeks for throwing to a distance as a gymnastic exercise. Judging from specimens found by excavators, the ancient discus was about 8 or 9 in. in diameter and weighed from 4 to 5 lb., although one of bronze, preserved in the British Museum, weighs over 8 lb. Sometimes a kind of quoit, spherical in form, was used, through a hole in which a thong was passed to assist the athlete in throwing it. The sport of throwing the discus was common in the time of Homer, who mentions it repeatedly. It formed a part of the _pentathlon_, or quintuple games, in the ancient Olympic Games. Statius, in _Thebais_, 646-721, fully describes the use of the discus. In the British Museum there is a restored copy of a statue by Myron (see GREEK ART, Plate IV. fig. 68) of a discus-thrower (_discobolus_) in the act of hurling the missile; but the investigations of N. E. Norman Gardiner show that a wrong attitude has been adopted by the restorer.

Throwing the discus was introduced as an event in modern athletics at the revived Olympic Games, first held at Athens in 1896, and since that time it has become a recognized event in the athletic championship meetings of several European nations, as well as in the United States, where it has become very popular. According to the American rules the discus must be of a smooth, hard-wood body without finger-holes, weighted in the centre with lead disks and capped with polished brass disks, with a steel ring on the outside. Its weight must be 4-1/2 lb., its outside diameter 8 in. and its thickness at the centre 2 in. It must be thrown from a 7-ft. circle, which may not be overstepped in throwing, and the throw is measured from the spot where the discus first strikes the ground to the point in the circumference of the circle on a line between the centre and the point of striking.

DISINFECTANTS, substances employed to neutralize the action of pathogenic organisms, and prevent the spread of contagious or infectious disease. The efficiency of any disinfectant is due to its power of destroying, or of rendering inert, specific poisons or disease germs. Therefore antiseptic substances generally are to this extent disinfectants. So also the deodorizers, which act by oxidizing or otherwise changing the chemical constitution of volatile substances disseminated in the air, or which prevent noxious exhalations from organic substances, are in virtue of these properties effective disinfectants in certain diseases. A knowledge of the value of disinfectants, and the use of some of the most valuable agents, can be traced to very remote times; and much of the Levitical law of cleansing, as well as the origin of numerous heathen ceremonial practices, are clearly based on a perception of the value of disinfection. The means of disinfection, and the substances employed, are very numerous, as are the classes and conditions of disease and contagion they are designed to meet. Nature, in the oxidizing influence of freely circulating atmospheric air, in the purifying effect of water, and in the powerful deodorizing properties of common earth, has provided the most potent ever-present and acting disinfecting media. Of the artificial disinfectants employed or available three classes may be recognized:--1st, volatile or vaporizable substances, which attack impurities in the air; 2nd, chemical agents, for acting on the diseased body or on the infectious discharges therefrom; and 3rd, the physical agencies of heat and cold. In some of these cases the destruction of the contagium is effected by the formation of new chemical compounds, by oxidation, deoxidation or other reaction, and in others the conditions favourable to life are removed or life is destroyed by high temperature. Among the first class, aerial or gaseous disinfectants, formic aldehyde has of late years taken foremost place. The vapour is a powerful disinfectant and deodorant, and for the surface disinfection of rooms, fulfils all requirements when used in sufficient amount. It acts more rapidly than equal quantities of sulphurous acid, and it does not affect colours. It is non-poisonous, though irritating to the eyes and throat. With the exception of iron and steel it does not attack metals. It can be obtained in paraform tabloids, and with a specially constructed spirit lamp disinfection can be carried out by any one. Twenty tabloids must be employed for every 1000 cubic ft. of space. Disinfection by sulphurous acid fumes is of great antiquity, and is still in very general use; for the purpose of destroying vermin it is more powerful than formic aldehyde. Camphor and some volatile oils have also been employed as air disinfectants, but their virtues lie chiefly in masking, not destroying, noxious effluvia. In the 2nd class--non-gaseous disinfecting compounds--all the numerous antiseptic substances may be reckoned; but the substances principally employed in practice are oxidizing agents, as potassium manganates and permanganates, "Condy's fluid," and solutions of the so-called "chlorides of lime," soda and potash, with the chlorides of aluminium and zinc, soluble sulphates and sulphites, solutions of sulphurous acid, and the tar products--carbolic, cresylic and salicylic acids. Of the physical agents heat and cold, the latter, though a powerful natural disinfectant, is not practically available by artificial means; heat is a power chiefly relied on for purifying and disinfecting clothes, bedding and textile substances generally. Different degrees of temperature are required for the destruction of the virus of various diseases; but as clothing, &c., can be exposed to a heat of about 250 deg. Fahr. without injury, provision is made for submitting articles to nearly that temperature. For the thorough disinfection of a sick-room the employment of all three classes of disinfectants, for purifying the air, for destroying the virus at its point of origin, and for cleansing clothing, &c., may be required.

DISMAL, an adjective meaning dreary, gloomy, and so a name given to stretches of swampy land on the east coast of the United States, as the Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina. The derivation has been much discussed. In the early examples of the use the word is a substantive, especially in the expression "in the dismal," i.e. in the dismal time or days. Later it became adjectival, especially in combination with "days." It has been connected with "decimal," med. Latin _decimalis_, belonging to a tithe or tenth, and thus the "dismal days" are the unpleasant days connected with the extortion and oppression of exacting payment of tithes. According to the _New English Dictionary_, quoting Professor W. W. Skeat, "dismal" is derived, through an Anglo-Fr. _dis mal_, from the Lat. _dies mali_, evil or unpropitious days. This Anglo-French expression, explained as _les mal jours_, is found in a MS. of Rauf de Linham's _Art de Kalender_, 1256. These days of evil omen were known as _Dies Aegyptiaci_ (Du Cange, _Glossarium_, s.v.) or Egyptian days, either as having been instituted by Egyptian astrologers or with reference to the "ten plagues"; so Chaucer, "I trowe hit was in the dismal, That were the ten woundes of Egipte" (_Book of the Duchesse_, 1206). There were two such days in each month.

See Skeat, Trans. _Philol. Soc._ (1888), p. 2, and note on the line in
the "Book of the Duchesse," _The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer_,
vol. i. (1894).

DISORDERLY HOUSE, in law, a house in which the conduct of its inmates is such as to become a public nuisance, or a house where persons congregate to the probable disturbance of the public peace or other commission of crime. In England, by the Disorderly Houses Act 1751, the term includes common bawdy houses or brothels,[1] common gaming houses, common betting houses and disorderly places of entertainment. The keeping of such is a misdemeanour punishable by fine or imprisonment, and in the case of a brothel also punishable on summary conviction by the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885; the letting out for gain for indiscriminate prostitution of a room or rooms in a house will make it as much a brothel in law as if the whole house were let out for the purpose. Where, however, a woman occupies a house or room which is frequented by men for the purpose of committing fornication with her, she cannot be convicted of keeping a disorderly house. See also PROSTITUTION.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The etymology of this word has been confused by the early
adoption into English usage of the O. Fr. _bordel_. The two words are
in origin quite distinct. Brothel is an O. Eng. word for a person,
not a place. It meant an abandoned vagabond, one who had gone to ruin
(_abreothan_). _Bordel_, on the contrary, is a place, literally a
small hut or shelter, especially for fornication, Med. Lat.
_bordellum_, diminutive of the Late Lat. _borda_, board. The words
were early confused, and brothel-house, bordel-house, bordel or
brothel, are all used for a disorderly house, while bordel was
similarly misused, and, like brothel in its proper meaning, was
applied to a disorderly person.

DISPATCH, or DESPATCH, to send off immediately, or by express; particularly in the case of the sending of official messages, or of the immediate sending of troops to their destination, or the like. The word is thus used as a substantive of written official reports of events, battles and the like, sent by ambassadors, generals, &c., by means of a special messenger, or of express correspondence generally. From the primary meaning of the prompt sending of a message, &c., the word is used of the quick disposal of business, or of the disposal of a person by violence; hence the word means to execute or murder. The etymology of the word has been obscured by the connexion with the Fr. _depecher_, and _depeche_, which are in meaning the equivalents of the Eng. verb and substantive. The Fr. word is made up of the prefix _de-_, Lat. _dis-_, and the root which appears in _empecher_, to embarrass, and means literally to disentangle. The Lat. origin of _depecher_ and _empecher_ is a Low Lat. _pedicare_, _pedica_, a fetter. The Fr. word came into Eng. as _depeach_, which was in use from the 15th century until "despatch" was introduced. This word is certainly direct from the Ital. _dispacciare_, or Span, _despachar_, which must be derived from the Lat. root appearing in _pactus_, fixed, fastened, from _pangere_. The _New English Dictionary_ finds the earliest instance of "dispatch" in a letter to Henry VIII. from Bishop Tunstall, commissioner to Spain in 1516-1517.

DISPENSATION, a term with two main applications, (1) to the action of administering, arranging or dealing out, and (2) to the action of allowing certain things, rules, &c., to be done away with, relaxed. Of these two meanings the first is to be derived from the classical Latin use of _dispensare_, literally, to weigh out, hence to distribute, especially of the orderly arrangement of a household by a steward; thus _dispensatio_ was, in theology, the word chosen to translate the Greek [Greek: oikonomia], economy, i.e. divine or religious systems, as in the Jewish, Mosaic, Christian dispensations. Dispensation in law is, strictly speaking, the suspension by competent authority of general rules of law in particular cases. Its object is to modify the hardships often arising from the rigorous application of general laws to particular cases, and its essence is to preserve the law by suspending its operation, i.e. making it non-existent, in such cases. It follows, then, that dispensation, in its strict sense, is anticipative, i.e. it does not absolve from the consequences of a legal obligation already contracted, but avoids a breach of the law by suspending the obligation to conform to it, e.g. a dispensation or licence to marry within the prohibited degrees, or to hold benefices in plurality. The term is, however, frequently used of the power claimed and exercised by the supreme legislative authority of altering or abrogating in particular cases conditions established under the existing law and of releasing individuals from obligations incurred under it, e.g. dispensations granted by the pope _ex plenitudine potestatis_ from the obligation of celibacy, from religious and other vows, from _matrimonium ratum_, _non consummatum_, &c.

1. _Ecclesiastical Law._--In the theory of the canon law the dispensing power is the corollary of the legislative, the authority that makes laws, and no other, having power to suspend them. It follows that the law of nature (_jus naturae_) and _a fortiori_ the law of God (_jus divinum_) are not subject to dispensation of any earthly authority, and that it is only the disciplinary laws made by the Church that the Church is empowered to suspend or to abrogate. Thus, not even the pope could grant a dispensation for a marriage between persons related in the direct line of ascent or descent, e.g. father and daughter, or between brother and sister, while dispensations are granted for marriages within other prohibited degrees, e.g. uncle and niece.

The dispensing power, like the legislative authority, was formerly invested in general councils and even in provincial synods; but in the West, with the gradual centralization of authority at Rome, it became ultimately vested in the pope as the supreme lawgiver of the Church. Subject, however, to the supreme jurisdiction of the pope, the power of dispensation continued to reside in the other organs of the Church in exact proportion to their legislative capacities, i.e. in provincial synods in respect of regional rules laid down by them, and in bishops in respect of rules laid down by them for their dioceses. According to Du Cange, the earliest record of the use of the word _dispensatio_ in this connexion is in the letter of Pope Gelasius I. of the 11th of March 494, to the bishops of Lucania (in Jaffe, _Reg. Pont. Rom._, ed. 2, tom. i. no. 636): necessaria rerum Dispensatione constringimur, ... sic canonum paternorum decreta librare, ... ut quae praesentium necessitas temporum restaurandis Ecclesiis relaxanda deposcit, adhibita consideratione diligenti, quantum fieri potest temperemus.[1] Dispensations from the observance of traditional rules were, however, during the early centuries exceedingly rare, and there are more instances of the popes repudiating than of their exercising the power to grant them. Thus Celestine I. (d. 432) wrote: "The rules govern us, not we the rules: we are subject to the canons, since we are the servants of the precepts of the canons" (_Epist. 3 ad Episcopos Illyrici_); and Pope Zozimus wrote even more strongly: "This see possesses no authority to make any concession or change; for with us abides antiquity firmly rooted (_inconvulsis radicibus_), reverence for which the decrees of the Fathers enjoined." As time went on, however, and the Church expanded, this rigidly conservative attitude proved impossible to maintain, and the principle of "tempering" the law when forced to do so "by the exigencies of affairs or of the times" (_rerum vel temporum angustia_), as laid down by Gelasius, was adopted into the canon law itself. The principle was, of course, singularly open to abuse. In theory it was laid down from the first that dispensations were only to be granted in cases of urgent necessity and in the highest interests of the Church; in practice, from the 11th century onwards, the power of dispensation was used by the popes as one of the most potent instruments for extending their influence. Dispensations to hold benefices in plurality formed, with provisions and the papal claim to the right of direct appointment, a powerful means for extending the patronage of the Holy See and therefore its hold over the clergy, and from the 13th century onwards this abuse assumed vast proportions (Hinschius iii. p. 250). Even more scandalous was the almost unrestrained traffic in licences and dispensations at Rome, which grew up, at least as early as the 14th century, owing to the fees charged for such dispensations having come to be regarded by the Curia as a regular source of revenue (Woker, _Das kirchliche Finanzwesen der Papste_, Nordlingen, 1878, pp. 75, 160). Loud complaints of these abuses were raised in the reforming councils of Constance and Basel in the 15th century, but nothing was done effectually to check them.

The actual practice of the Roman Catholic Church is based upon the decisions of the council of Trent, which left the medieval theory intact while endeavouring to guard against its abuses. The proposal put forward by the Gallican and Spanish bishops to subordinate the papal power of dispensation to the consent of the Church in general council was rejected, and even the canons of the council of Trent itself, in so far as they affected reformation of morals or ecclesiastical discipline, were decreed "saving the authority of the Holy See" (_Sess._ xxv. cap. 21, de ref.). At the same time it was laid down in respect of all dispensations, whether papal or other, that they were to be granted only for just and urgent causes, or in view of some decided benefit to the Church (urgens justaque causa et major quandoque utilitas), and in all cases _gratis_. The payment of money for a dispensation was _ipso facto_ to make the dispensation void (_Sess._ xxv. cap. 18, de ref.).

Though verbal dispensations are valid, papal dispensations are given in writing. Before the constitution _Sapienti_ of Pius X. (1908) all dispensations in _foro externo_, especially in matrimonial causes, were dealt with by the Dataria Apostolica, those _in foro interno_ by the Penitentiary, which latter also possessed _in foro externo_ the right to grant dispensations in matrimonial causes to poor people. Since 1908 the Dataria only deals with dispensations in matters concerning benefices, dispensations in matrimonial matters having been transferred to the new Congregation on the discipline of the sacraments (see CURIA ROMANA).

The regular form of dispensation is the _forma commissaria_ (_Trid. Sess._ xxii. cap. 5, de ref.), i.e. a mandate to the bishop to grant the dispensation, after due inquiry, in the pope's name. In exceptional cases, e.g. sovereigns or bishops, the dispensation is sent direct to the petitioner (_forma gratiosa_). Dispensations are nominally gratuitous; but the officials are entitled to fees for drawing them up, and there are customary "compositions" (_compositiones_) which are destined for charitable objects in Rome. These fees were and are regulated according to the capacity of the petitioners to pay, the result being that the abuses which the council of Trent had sought to abolish continued to flourish. In the 17th century a specially privileged class of bankers (_banquiers expeditionnaires_) existed at Rome whose sole business was obtaining dispensations on commission, and one of these, named Pelletier, published at Paris in 1677, under the royal _imprimatur_, a regular tariff of the sums for which in any given case a dispensation might be obtained. That the "urgent and just cause" was, in the circumstances, a very minor consideration was to be expected, and the enlightened pope Benedict XIV., himself a canon lawyer of eminence, complained "Dispensationem non raro concedi in Dataria, sine causa, nempe ob eleemosynam quae praestatur" (Inst. 87, No. 26). It may be added that the worst abuses of this system have long since disappeared. The bishops have their own correspondents at Rome, and one of the duties of the diplomatic representatives of foreign states at the Curia is to see that their nationals receive their dispensations without overcharge.

Bishops are by right (_jure ordinario_) competent to dispense in all cases expressly reserved to them by the canon law, e.g. in the matter of publication of banns of marriage. They possess besides special powers delegated to them by the pope and renewed every five years (_facultates quinquennales_), or by virtue of faculties granted to them personally (_facultates extraordinariae_), e.g. to dispense from rules of abstinence, from simple vows, and with some exceptions from the prohibition of marriage within prohibited degrees.

_Church of England._--By 25 Henry VIII. cap. 21. sec 2 (1534), it was enacted that neither the king, his successors, nor any of his subjects should henceforth sue for licences, dispensations, &c., to the see of Rome, and that the power to issue such licences, dispensations, &c., "for causes not being contrary or repugnant to the Holy Scriptures and laws of God," should be vested in the archbishop of Canterbury for the time being, who at his own discretion was to issue such dispensations, &c., under his seal, to the king and his subjects. The power of dispensation thus vested in the archbishops partly fell obsolete, partly has been curtailed by subsequent statutes, e.g. the Pluralities Act of 1838. It is now confined to granting dispensations for holding two benefices at once, to issuing licences for non-residence, and in matrimonial cases to the issuing of special licences. The dispensing power of bishops in the Church of England survives only in the right to grant marriage licences, i.e. dispensations from the obligation to publish the banns. Though, however, these licences and dispensations are given under the archiepiscopal and episcopal seals, they are actually issued by the commissaries of faculties and vicars-general (chancellors), independently, in virtue of the powers conferred on them by their patents. This has led, since the passing of the Divorce Acts and the Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister Act, to a curiously anomalous position, licences for the remarriage of divorced persons having been issued under the bishop's seal, while the bishop himself publicly protested that such marriages were contrary to "the law of God," but that he himself had no power to prevent his chancellor licensing them.

See Hinschius, _Kirchenrecht_ (Berlin, 1883), iii. 250, &c.; article
"Dispensation" by Hinschius in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_
(Leipzig, 1898); article "Dispensation" in Wetzer and Welte's
_Kirchenlexikon_ (2nd ed. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1882-1901); F.
Lichtenberger, _Encyclopedie des sciences religieuses_ (Paris, 1878),
s.v. "Dispense"; Phillimore, _Eccl. Law_.

2. _Constitutional Law._--The power of dispensation from the operation of the ordinary law in particular cases is, of course, everywhere inherent in the supreme legislative authority, however rarely it may be exercised. Divorce (in Ireland) by act of parliament may be taken as an example which still actually occurs. On the other hand, the dispensing power once vested in the crown in England is now merely of historical interest, though of great importance in the constitutional struggles of the past. This power possessed by the crown of dispensing with the statute law is said to have been copied from the dispensations or non obstante clauses granted by the popes in matters of canon law; the parallel between them is certainly very striking, and there can be no doubt that the principles of the canon law influenced the decisions of the courts in the matter. It was, for instance, very generally laid down that the king could by dispensation make it lawful to do what was _malum prohibitum_ but not to do what was _malum in se_, a principle of the canon law, but one difficult to reconcile with English legal principles, since no act is legally _malum_ unless forbidden by law. This was pointed out by Chief Justice Vaughan in the celebrated judgment in the case of _Thomas_ v. _Sorrell_, when he rejected the distinction between _mala in se_ and _mala prohibita_ as confusing, and attempted to define the dispensing power of the crown by limiting it to cases of individual breaches of penal statutes where no third party loses a right of action, and where the breach is not continuous, at the same time denying the power of the crown to dispense with any general penal law. This judgment, as Sir William Anson points out, only showed the extreme difficulty of limiting the power ascribed to the crown, a standing grievance from the time that parliament had risen to be a constituent part of the state. So long as the legal principle by which the law was "the king's law" survived there was in fact no theoretical basis for such limitation, and the matter resolved itself into one of the great constitutional questions between crown and parliament which issued in the Revolution of 1688. The supreme crisis came owing to the use made by James II. of the dispensing power. His action in dispensing with the Test Act, in order to enable Roman Catholics to hold office under the crown, was supported by the courts in the test case of _Godden_ v. _Hales_, but it made the Revolution inevitable. By the Bill of Rights the exercise of the dispensing power was forbidden, except as might be permitted by statute. At the same time the legality of its exercise in the past was admitted by the clause maintaining the validity of dispensations granted in a certain form before the 23rd of October 1689.

See Anson, _Law and Custom of the Constitution_, part i. "Parliament,"
3rd ed. pp. 311-319; F. W. Maitland, _Const. Hist. of England_
(Cambridge, 1908), pp. 302, &c.; Stubbs, _Const. Hist._ ss. 290, 291.
(W. A. P.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] In this quotation the word _dispensatio_ still has its meaning of
"economy": "we are bound by the necessary economy of things."
Possibly its use by the pope in this connexion may have led to the
technical meaning of the word _dispensatio_ in the medieval canon
law.

DISPERSION (from Lat. _dispergere_, to scatter), the act or process of separation and distribution. Apart from the technical use of the term, especially in optics (see below), the expression particularly applied to the settlements of Jews in foreign countries outside Palestine. These were either voluntary, for purposes of trade and commerce, or the results of conquest, such as the captivities of Assyria and Babylonia. The word _diaspora_ (Gr. [Greek: diaspora]) is also used of these scattered communities, but is usually confined to the dispersion among the Hellenic and Roman peoples, or to the body of Christian Jews outside Palestine (see JEWS).

DISPERSION, in OPTICS. When a beam of light which is not homogeneous in character, i.e. which does not consist of simple vibrations of a definite wave-length, undergoes refraction at the surface of any transparent medium, the different colours corresponding to the different wave-lengths become separated or _dispersed_. Thus, if a ray of white light AO (fig. 1) enters obliquely into the surface of a block of glass at O, it gives rise to the divergent system of rays ORV, varying continuously in colour from red to violet, the red ray OR being least refracted and the violet ray OV most so. The order of the successive colours in all colourless transparent media is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Dispersion is therefore due to the fact that rays of different colours possess different refrangibilities.