DISTRESS (OF. destresser, destrceicr, des t•oisser, from hat. dist ringerc, to pull asunder, from dis-, apart stringer, to draw tight; con nected with Lith. strrgli. to fnwel. An ancient •reditor's remedy, CO111111011 to all systems of primitive which consists in the seizure and detention by the creditor of his debtor's goods. It is one of the few survivals in our law of the practice of the personal enforcement of one's legal rights, without the intervention of the courts or the of officers of justice. Originally applicable to a great variety of eases, it is now restricted to a limited number of situa tions, where its drastic diameter is mitigated by the relation of the parties to one another, and is strictly regulated by law.
Blackstone describes distress as "the taking of a personal chattel out of the possession of the wrong-doer into the possession of the party in jured, to procure a satisfaction for the wrong committed." Even in Blackstone's time, however, the scope of the remedy had been greatly nar rowed, and he enumerates only two principal cases in •hieh it was still available: (1) for non-payment of rent or other duties annexed to the tenure of land: and (2) in the case of cattle of a stranger trespassing and doing damage (damage fcasant) on one's land. It is still Alb ployed in these cases in England and in many of the United States. It was a remedy of feudal law, inseparable from fealty to the lord. and inci dent to every service. It does not seem to he very popular, however, as a means of collecting rents, as it places the landlord in a better posi tion than the other creditors. In several of the New England States distress has given place to an attachment on mesa,- profits. In New York and several other States it has been expressly abolished by statute, and in North Carolina it is held to be inconsistent with the spirit of the laws and not to exist in that State. The law of Lou isiana permits the landlord to follow his tenant's goods for fifteen days after removal from the premises. In general. in English and American
law. the right to distrait] is not limited to the goods of the debtor himself. but extends to any goods in his possession, whether belonging to him or not. But certain articles. as beasts of the plow, implements of trade, and any article at the time in personal use or occupation, have always been privileged from distress. So, also, where the owner. not being the debtor. is compelled by necessity to place his goods on the land, or where he does it for eorntnercial purposes; as, in the first instance, the goods of a traveler at an inn, or, in the second. goods deposited in a warehouse on storage. Formerly the remedy of distress was limited to the seizure and detainer of the goods until the claim sought to be enforced was paid, the distrainor having no right to sell the goods, and the debtor. if be claimed the distress to lie illegal, having recourse to an net ion of replevin (q.v.), for their recovery. Now, however, by statute goods taken under distress may often be sold after due advertisement at public auction and the c.aini of the distrainor satisfied out of the In such a jurisdiction, the charac ter of the remedy Ily distress has been completely hanged from a of to a vari of attachment or execution. See LAsolaatt) Axil TEN sx r: BENT.
: Blackstone, S On ihc 1.1,1 WS of ; lute, .1 /Wirt/ La ( New Dirk, : Ludt uns on the Early History of Institutions (6th ed., London. 15IK ; Gilbert, Treatise on the l..an• of Dist r• ss. s and 1:evb eins (1..t ed.. London. lti51 : llu1lcn. l'raet len 1 TITO um to i/1* Lair of ltiNt ri .0; for I it ( London, and the authorities referred to under LANDLORD AND Tt:N.txr.
Dort.!. See 1)(mA