DISTRESS still too rigorous, and in its stead was substituted the seizure of cattle, and other movables found on the land, and the detention of them as a pledge until the damages were answered: but this remedy of Distress, however mild and indulgent it may appear in comparison with the severity of the ancient Laws of Forfeiture, soon became in the hands of powerful Lords an instrument of great oppression, the effects of which were so grievously felt by the Tenants, that it led them frequently to disturb the public peace of the kingdom. These oppressions ended with the distractions of the wars of the Barons: for towards the end of the reign of Henry III. there were particular Laws made to regulate the manner of Distraining; the Lord being empowered to seize and detain the chattels, so long only as the Tenant refused to do the services which were reserved by the feudal contract. Various statutory provisions were made to check the abuses of the power of Distress. By the tenth Chapter of Magna Charta, it was forbidden that any man should Distrain to do more service for a Knight's fee, or other Freehold, than was really due; and the Statute de districtione Scaccarii, 51 Henry III., declared that Distresses whether made by the King or a subject should be reasonable; and confirmed the rule of the ancient Common Law, that no man shall be distrained of his sheep or beasts of the plough, whilst another sufficient Distress can be had. But the most important regulations respecting the power of Distress, contained in any of our ancient Statutes, seem to be those of the Statute of Martebridge, ch. 4, which enforces the former provision, that a Distress shall not be unreasonable; and enacts, that persons making such Distresses shall be grievously amerced : and by the third Chapter of the same Statute it was enacted, “That if any, of what estate soever he be, will not suffer such Distresses, as he has taken, to be delivered by the King's Officers after the Custom and Law of the Realm, or will not suffer Summons, Attachments, or Executions of Judgments given in the King's Court to be done according to the Law and Custom of the Realm, he shall be punished by Fine as one that will not obey the Law, and that according to the quantity of the offence." But even this provision appears to have proved ineffectual, for the Lords drove the cattle into their Castles, which were inaccessible to the King's Officers, and whence it was impossible to recover the Distress; to such lengths does this violence seem to have been carried, that in the 3rd Edward I. it was found necessary to enact by ch. 17 of the Statute of Westminster primer, that if such Lords did not upon being duly warned make deliverance of the Distress, the King should for such trespasses cause their Castles to be demolished, and the Lord should restore double the value of the thing Distrained, or damage sustained by the Distress. Distresses were also frequently resorted to for the purpose of extorting illegal Fines; to remedy this abuse, the Statute of Westminster, ch. 2, sec. 36, 37, 13 Edward I. was passed. There still, however, remained one great inconvenience in the conducting of the Distress, which was not fully remedied till it was enacted by the 1 and 2 Philip and Mary, ch. 12, that no Distresses should be driven except to a Pound overt in the Shire, and not above three miles from the place of the taking, nor be impounded in several places, so as to compel the party to sue several re

plevins, on pain of 40s. and treble damages; and that DISTRESS no more than 4d. should be taken for impounding one Distress, or, where less had been used, then less, under à penalty of five pounds besides the excess of the sum to the party aggrieved.

This seems to have been the last occasion on which the Legislature interfered for the protection of persons liable to a Distress; from this period its attention appears to have been confined to Distresses for Rent in particular, and therein to be directed to a very different object; namely, that of improving the remedy of Distress in the hands of the Landlord, so as to render it an equitable and effectual remedy for the recovery of his rent.

In order to show to what extent this remedy has been improved by the provisions of these modern Statutes, it is to be observed, that at the Common Law a Distress for Rent (and, indeed, every other Distress, except that for an amerciament) when made, was only a pledge in the hands of the Distrainer, but could not be sold, and, therefore, was a very ineffectual remedy for the recovery of Rent: to obviate this inconvenience it is provided, by the Statute 2 William and Mary, ch. 5, that in all cases of Distress for Rent, upon any demise, lease, or contract, if the Tenant or owner do not within five days after notice given to him of the cause of Distress, replevy the same with sufficient security, the Distrainer, with the Sheriff, Undersheriff, or Constable, shall, after appraisement thereof by two sworn Appraisers, sell the same towards satisfaction of the Rent and charges, rendering the overplus, if any, to the owner of the goods Distrained. Among other rules of the Common Law relative to Distresses, there was one, that things belonging to the Freehold were not Distrainable; and another, that such things only were to be Distrained as could be restored in as good plight as that in which they were taken. By the former of these rules, Landlords were prevented from Distraining growing crops on their Tenant's lands; and by the latter, from taking corn after it had been cut; restrictions which in fact deprived them of the best remedy for the recovery of their Rents: to correct this inconvenience, Landlords are empowered by the Statute 11 George II. ch. 19, to Distrain the product of the land, and to cut and gather it when ripe, to be disposed of by appraisement in satisfaction of the Rent; and by the beforementioned Statute of William and Mary, corn in sheaves or cocks or loose in the straw, or hay in barns, ricks, or otherwise, may be Distrained as well as other chattels. The Statute 8 Anne, ch. 14, enables persons having rent in arrear upon any lease for life, years, or at will, to Distrain for such arrears, within six months after the determination of the term, if made during the continuance of the Landlord's title, and the possession of the Tenant; the same Statute also provides against the clandestine and fraudulent removal of the Tenant's goods from the premises demised, in order to avoid a Distress; the Landlord being empowered to follow and Distrain the goods, within five days after such removal,neither of which remedies were open to Landlords at the Common Law; this latter provision has been rendered more effectual by the Statute 11 George II. ch. 19, which enacts, that Landlords may follow and Distrain the goods, wherever they may be found, within thirty days after such removal; and if they are locked up in any place, with the assistance of the Peace Officers of

DISTRESS the Parish, may break open the same, and take the goods, oath being first made, in case it is a dwelling house, of a reasonable ground to suspect that such goods are concealed therein. The party Distraining for Rent is also empowered, by the 10th Section of the same Statute, to impound the goods Distrained on any convenient part of the premises chargeable with the Rent; and by the 19th Section it is provided, that for any irregularity committed in making or conducting a Distress for Rent, the party guilty of it shall not be deemed a Trespasser ab initio, but that damages shall be recovered by the person aggrieved by such act, in proportion to the injury sustained.

A further statutory provision respecting the remedy of Distress for Rent, is made by the 5th Section of the Statute 4 George II. ch. 28, which gives the like remedy by Distress and impounding and selling the same, in cases of Rent Seck, Rents of Assize, and Chief Rents, which had been answered and paid for three years, within the space of twenty years before the first day of the Session of Parliament in which the act was passed, for Rent reserved on lease.

Such are the principal provisions which the Legislature has thought fit to enact, for the purpose of improving the remedy of Distress for the recovery of Rent; and by these means, a Distress which was formerly in some cases a hazardous, and in others a very ineffectual, proceeding, has been rendered one of the most equitable and efficient remedies known to the Law.

Although the recovery of Rent in arrear is the most usual cause of a Distress, yet there are various other things in respect of which a Distress may be made. → Some of these are, in their origin, analogous to that of Rent, as arising out of the relation of Lord and Tenant: as, 1st, a Distress for suit at the Lord's Courts, or services due from the Tenant to the Lord in respect of his land; 2dly, for a relief due upon the alienation of it; and 3rdly, for a Distress made by virtue of a custom established in some Manors, entitling the Lord to require the performance of some duty, or payment of some demand, to compel the satisfaction of which, the custom also enables the Lord to make a Distress upon the goods of the party making the default. 4thly, For a fine imposed or an amerciament made by a Court leet. To this Court is incident the right of imposing fines for some offences, and of making by a Jury an amerciament for others committed by persons within its jurisdiction; and for such fine or amerciament a Distress may be made of common right. 5thly, For Tolls and Port Duties. Tolls are sums payable in respect of things sold in a Fair or Market, within a Franchise or Manor, which Tolls are due to the Lord to whom such Fair or Market belongs; and this being a matter of public benefit, the law allows the Lord to Distrain for such Toll due therein. Port Duties are sums due to the Owners of a Port or Haven for Ships using the same, and for which Duties a Distress may also be made. 6thly, Where a man finds beasts of a stranger wandering in his grounds damage feasant, that is, doing him hurt or damage, by treading down his grass or the like; in which case, the Owner of the soil may Distrain them, till satisfaction be made him for the injury he has sustained. Lastly, for several Duties and Penalties imposed by Acts of Parliament (as for assessments made by Commissioners of Sewers, or

VOL. XXI.

DISTRIBUTE.

for the relief of the Poor) remedy by Distress and DISTRESS Sale is given; for the particulars of which, Blackstone says, in vol. iii. p. 7, we must have recourse to the Statutes themselves; remarking only, that such Distresses are partly analogous to the ancient Distress at Common Law as being repleviable and the like, but more resembling the Common Law process of Execution, by seizing and selling the goods of the Debtor under a writ of Fieri Facias."

It has already been observed, that a Distress was regarded at Common Law only as a pledge; this principle has given rise to various exemptions from the general liability to Distress, both with respect to the nature of the thing Distrained, and the property or possession of the person from whom it is taken, of these exemptions a general outline only can be given.

As every thing which is Distrained is presumed to be the property of the wrong-doer, the Distress must be of a thing in which there may be a valuable property; and therefore animals feræ naturæ cannot be Distrained. Whatever is in a man's present use or occupation, is, during that time, privileged from Distress, as a Horse on which he is riding, or an Axe with which he is cutting wood, the Books of a Scholar, another person's Garment in the house of a Tailor. The Tools and Utensils of a man's trade, the Implements of Husbandry, Beasts of the Plough and Sheep are also privileged from Distress, not only whilst in actual use, but whilst any other sufficient Distress can be found on the premises. Things which are affixed to the Freehold, as Furnaces, Coppers, Windows, Doors, and the like cannot be Distrained, because they are not personal chattels but belong to the Freehold; and lastly, those things which are already in the custody of the Law cannot be Distrained, because the Distrainer cannot legally take them into his own possession. These general rules must, however, be understood with some limitations.

All Distresses must be made by day, unless in the case of damage feasant; an exception allowed, lest the Beasts should escape before they are taken. They must not be excessive, and in cases of Rent they must be taken on the premises.

Hunt's Law and Practice of Distresses and Replevin by the Late Lord Chief Baron Gilbert, 1793; Bradby, Treatise on the Law of Distresses, 1808; Odedy, Vindication of the Laws of England, showing that the Levying of Distresses by Middle Men is illegal, 1812; Selwyn's Law of Nisi Prius, sec. 17.

DISTRIBUTE, v. Fr. distribuer; It. distriDISTRIBUTABLE, buere; Sp. distribuir ; Lat. disDISTRIBUTER, tribuere; (Dis, and tribuere, DISTRIBUTION, from tribus; and tribus so DISTRIBUTIVE, called, says Varro, because DISTRIBUTIVely, the Roman land was at first DISTRIBUTIVENESS. divided into three parts; (Ager Romanus primum divisus in partes tres a quo tribus appellatæ, (Tatiensium, Ramnium, Lucerum.) See CONTRIBUTE.

To part, portion, share or deal out; to allot, to assign to each his share or portion; to divide, to dispense.

The lepre folke to Creseide than couth draw
To see the equal distributioun.

Chaucer. The Complaint of Creseide, fol. 197. The Englishe men required, that Kynge Charles, should haue nothing, but at the hande of the King of Englande, and that not as duetie, but as a benefite, by hym of hys mere liberallitie geuen, and distributed. Hall. Henry VI. The thirteenth Yerc.

U

DIS- This is my derelye beloued sonne, the delight of my mynde, TRIBUTE. & distributer of my goodnes towardes you. Udall. Matthew, ch. iii. And touchyng the distribution of my temporal goodes, my purpose is by the grace of God, to bestow them to be accepted as fruites of fayth.

Tyndall. Workes, fol. 430. Exposition vpon M. William Tracies
Will.

And if that no spare clothes to give he had,

His owne coate he would cut, and it distribute glad.
Spenser. Faerie Queene, book i. can. 10.

I am also by office, an assisting sister of the deacons, and a deuourer, instead of a distributer of the alms.

Ben Jonson. Bartholomew Faire, act v. sc. 2. Wherefore, to despite him the more, he [Agesilavs] made him [Lysander] distributer of his victuals; and having done so, some say that he spake these words in open presence of many: now let them go and honour my flesh-distributer.

Sir Thomas North. Plutarch, fol. 512. Agesilavs.

The church itself (which is the body mystical of Christ) might by analogy be properly resembled to the stomach of a body natural, which though it receive much, yet makes equal distribution, by dividing and dispersing that which it receives, to the use and sustenance of all the other parts.

State Trials. Speech of the Earl of Northampton. Trial of Henry
Garnet.

Of human positive laws, some are distributive, some penal. Distributive are those that determine the rights of the subjects, declaring to every man what it is by which he acquireth and holdeth a propriety in lands or goods, and a right or liberty of action; and these speak to all the subjects.

Hobbes. Of Commonwealth, part ii. ch. xxvi.

For in verie deed although wee cannot bee free from all sinne collectiuely in such sort that no part thereof shall be found inherent in vs, yet distributively at the least ail great and grieuous actuall offences, as they offer themselues one by one, both may and ought to bee by all means auoyded.

Hooker. Ecclesiastical Polity, book v. fol. 285.

The carving at the table he always made his province which he said he did as a diversion to keep him from eating over-much: but certainly that practice had another more immediate cause, a natural distributiveness of humour, and a desire to be employed in the relief of every kind of want of every person.

Hammond. Works, vol. i. Life by Fell, xvi.

ABDAL. Justice distributes to each man his right.

But what she gives not, should I take by might?
ZULE. If justice will take all, and nothing give,
Justice methinks is not distributive.

Dryden. The Conquest of Grenada, act ii.
In a government where the people are sharers in power, but no
distributers or dispensers of rewards, they expect it of their
princes and great men, that they shou'd supply the generous
part; and bestow honour and advantages on those from whom
the nation itself may receive honour and advantage.
Shaftesbury. Works, vol. i. p. 227. Advice to an Author, sec. 1.
part ii.

How his unvary'd labour he repeats,

Returns at morning, and at eve retreats;

And, by the distribution of his light,

Now gives to man the day, and now the night.

Blackmore. Creation, book ii.

Applied more largely to-Region, territory.

Distriction, in Collier, below, seems to be applied, met. (from districtus ensis ;) (i. e.) the glitter of a drawn sword.

They should not inforce nor compell the citizens, people, or inhabitants of the common society of the Hans, or of the aboue named cities, or of any other cities of the Hans aforesaid (hauing receiued sufficient information of their dwelling and place of abode) to more difficult or district proofes of their articles of complaints alreadie exhibited.

Hakluyt. Voyage, &c. Henry IV. Prussian Ambassador, vol. i. fol. 165.

And, to be short, there is such district seuerity in degrading those that vninstly or negligently demeane themselves, from an honourable vnto an inferiour and base office, or altogether in depriuing them of the king's authority; that all magistrates doe stand in feare of nothing in the world more than that.

Id. A Description of China, vol. ii. part ii. fol. 95. Even the decrees of general councils bind not but as they are accepted by the several churches in their respective districts and diocesses of which I am to give an account in the following periods.

Taylor. Polemical Discourses, fol. 390. The second Part of the Dissuasive from Popery.

The other which obstinatly persist in their errour, punishing with the rod of district seuerity according to the decrees of the canons and lawes of the church, that by their example, such as stand, may remain in faith, and they which are fallen may be reduced.

Fox. Martyrs, fol. 782. The Pope's slanderous Letter of Luther.

We send our mandats againe vnto your brotherhood, in these apostolical writings, districtlie and in virtue of obedience commanding you, that whether ye be present in your church, or absent, &c.

Id. Ib. fol. 218. Pope Vrban's Letter to Baldwine Archbishop of
Canterbury.

These districts which between the tropics lie,
Which scorching beams, directly darted, fry,
Were thought an uninhabitable seat,

Burnt by the neighbouring orb's immoderate heat.
Blackmore. Creation, book ii.

A smile plays with a surprising agreeableness in the eye, breaks out with the brightest distriction, and sits like a glory upon the countenance. Collier. On the Aspect.

The duty produced from them [salt works] amounts annually to near five thousand pounds: from the whole district, including the works at Lawton, and a small one at Durtwich from eighteen to twenty thousand pounds.

Pennant. Journey from Chester, p. 35.