Certain persons in Ireland, circ. 1616, who made it their business to investigate some of the older titles to land. In the event of their discovering any flaw in the titles, such lands were confiscated, the informer receiving a percentage of the value. Disinherited. The Barons who continued the Barons’ War after the Battle of Evesham were so called because a decree of forfeiture had been issued against all the supporters of Simon de Montfort. Dissolution of Monasteries. This was carried out by an Act passed in 1536, supplemented in 1539 by a further Act, vesting all monastic property in the Crown. Divine Right. The doctrine of the inalienable right of the next in succession to ascend the throne by virtue of inheritance, apart from any considerations of fitness or Parliamentary sanction. It reached its apogee in the Stuart times, and was discarded with the adoption of William III as King of Great Britain and Ireland. Dix-huit Brumaire. The _Coup d’Etat_ of November 9, 1799, when Napoleon overthrew the Directoire, and had himself appointed First Consul. Dix-huit Fructidor. The _Coup d’Etat_ of September 4, 1797, whereby the Royalist plot in which certain members of the Directoire and the Councils were implicated, was frustrated. Dixie’s Land. A popular name for the Southern States of America in the slavery days. Doctrinaires. The name given to the philosophic Liberals in France, in the reign of Louis XVIII. Domesday Book. A register of the holders of land compiled by Commissioners appointed by William the Conqueror. Dominicans. An order of mendicant friars, known as the Preaching Friars, and in England as the Black Friars, founded by St. Dominic and recognized by Pope Honorius III in 1216. To this Order was entrusted the conduct of the Inquisition. Dominus ac Redemptor noster, Bull. The Bull of Clement XIV, issued in 1773, suppressing the Jesuits. Don Pacifico. A British subject, a Jew of Gibraltar, whose house at Athens was burnt by a mob in 1847. The difficulty and delay in obtaining compensation led to Lord Palmerston sending a fleet to the Piraeus. Greece appealed to France and Russia, and a European war was for some time within measurable distance. Donation of Charles. A gift of Charlemagne to Pope Adrian I, in 774. It is uncertain of what the donation consisted, though it included a confirmation of the “Donation of Pepin.” It was declared by the Popes, however, to have been a gift of the whole of the Italian peninsula, and by some even to have been a renewal of the fabled “Donation of Constantine.” Donation of Constantine. A legendary gift to the Pope of the imperial sovereignty over Italy and the whole of the Western Empire. This document is included amongst the False Decretals. Donation of Pepin.