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Tip: Click a synonym from the results below to see its synonyms.

1. Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
Schmerz, abashment, abuse, ache, aches and pains, aching, adversity, afflict, affliction, aggrieve, agitate, agitation, agonize, agony, ail, all-overs, amercement, angary, angst, anguish, annexation, annexure, annoy, anxiety, anxiety hysteria, anxiety neurosis, anxious bench, anxious concern, anxious seat, anxiousness, apprehension, apprehensiveness, attachment, be the matter, befoul, beset, bewitch, bite, bitter cup, bitter draft, bitter draught, bitter pill, bitterness, bleakness, blight, blow, bother, broken fortune, burden, burden of care, burn, calamity, cankerworm of care, care, catastrophe, chafe, chagrin, cheerlessness, collectivization, comfortlessness, commandeering, communalization, communization, complicate matters, concern, concernment, condemn, confiscation, confusion, constrain, convulse, corrupt, cramp, cross, crown of thorns, crucify, curse, cut, damage, damages, defile, deprave, depress, depression, desolation, despoil, destroy, difficulties, difficulty, disadvantage, disaster, discomfiture, discomfort, discommode, discomposure, disconcertion, disconcertment, discountenance, dismalness, dismay, disquiet, disquietude, disserve, distraint, distressfulness, disturb, disturbance, do a mischief, do evil, do ill, do wrong, do wrong by, dolor, doom, dread, dreariness, embarrassment, eminent domain, encumbrance, envenom, escheat, escheatment, excruciate, execution, exigency, expropriation, fear, fester, fine, foreboding, forebodingness, forfeit, forfeiture, frazzle, fret, gall, gall and wormwood, garnishment, genteel poverty, get into trouble, give concern, give pain, gnaw, grate, grief, grievance, grieve, grievousness, grind, gripe, harass, hard pinch, hardship, harm, harrow, harry, heartache, heartbreak, hex, hurt, hurting, impair, impecuniosity, impecuniousness, impoundment, impressment, inconvenience, infect, inflame, inflict pain, infliction, injure, injury, inquietude, insolvency, irk, irritate, jinx, joylessness, kill by inches, lacerate, lament, lamentability, lamentation, lesion, levy, light purse, load, load with care, malaise, maltreat, martyr, martyrize, menace, misery, misfortune, misgiving, mistreat, molest, mortification, mourn, mournfulness, mulct, narrow means, nasty blow, nationalization, nervous strain, nervous tension, nervousness, nip, oppress, oppression, outrage, overanxiety, pack of troubles, pain, painfulness, pang, pass, passion, pathos, peck of troubles, perplex, persecute, perturb, perturbation, pester, pierce, pinch, pins and needles, pitiability, pitiableness, pitifulness, plague, play havoc with, play hob with, poignancy, poison, pollute, poorness, pother, poverty, prejudice, prick, prolong the agony, pucker, put out, put to it, put to torture, puzzle, rack, rankle, rasp, regrettableness, right of angary, rigor, rub, sadness, savage, scathe, sconce, sea of troubles, sequestration, sharpness, shock, slender means, socialization, solicitude, sore, sore spot, sorrow, sorrowfulness, spasm, stab, stew, sting, strain, strait, straitened circumstances, straits, stress, stress of life, stroke, suffering, suspense, taint, tender spot, tension, thorn, threaten, throes, tight squeeze, torment, torture, tragedy, trial, tribulation, trouble, try, tweak, twinge, twist, uneasiness, unhappiness, unprosperousness, unquietness, upset, vex, vexation, vicissitude, violate, visitation, voluntary poverty, vows of poverty, waters of bitterness, weigh, weight, woe, woebegoneness, woefulness, worry, wound, wreak havoc on, wrench, wretchedness, wring, wrong, zeal
Dictionary Results for distress:
1. WordNet® 3.0 (2006)
distress
    n 1: psychological suffering; "the death of his wife caused him
         great distress" [syn: distress, hurt, suffering]
    2: a state of adversity (danger or affliction or need); "a ship
       in distress"; "she was the classic maiden in distress"
    3: extreme physical pain; "the patient appeared to be in
       distress"
    4: the seizure and holding of property as security for payment
       of a debt or satisfaction of a claim; "Originally distress
       was a landlord's remedy against a tenant for unpaid rents or
       property damage but now the landlord is given a landlord's
       lien" [syn: distress, distraint]
    v 1: bring into difficulties or distress, especially financial
         hardship [syn: straiten, distress]
    2: cause mental pain to; "The news of her child's illness
       distressed the mother"

2. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Distress \Dis*tress"\, n. [OE. destresse, distresse, OF.
   destresse, destrece, F. d['e]tresse, OF. destrecier to
   distress, (assumed) LL. districtiare, fr. L. districtus, p.
   p. of distringere. See Distrain, and cf. Stress.]
   1. Extreme pain or suffering; anguish of body or mind; as, to
      suffer distress from the gout, or from the loss of
      friends.
      [1913 Webster]

            Not fearing death nor shrinking for distress.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. That which occasions suffering; painful situation;
      misfortune; affliction; misery.
      [1913 Webster]

            Affliction's sons are brothers in distress. --Burns.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A state of danger or necessity; as, a ship in distress,
      from leaking, loss of spars, want of provisions or water,
      etc.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Law)
      (a) The act of distraining; the taking of a personal
          chattel out of the possession of a wrongdoer, by way
          of pledge for redress of an injury, or for the
          performance of a duty, as for nonpayment of rent or
          taxes, or for injury done by cattle, etc.
      (b) The thing taken by distraining; that which is seized
          to procure satisfaction. --Bouvier. --Kent. --Burrill.
          [1913 Webster]

                If he were not paid, he would straight go and
                take a distress of goods and cattle. --Spenser.
          [1913 Webster]

                The distress thus taken must be proportioned to
                the thing distrained for.         --Blackstone.
          [1913 Webster]

   Abuse of distress. (Law) See under Abuse.

   Syn: Affliction; suffering; pain; agony; misery; torment;
        anguish; grief; sorrow; calamity; misfortune; trouble;
        adversity. See Affliction.
        [1913 Webster]

3. The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Distress \Dis*tress"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Distressed; p. pr.
   & vb. n. Distressing.] [Cf. OF. destrecier. See Distress,
   n.]
   1. To cause pain or anguish to; to pain; to oppress with
      calamity; to afflict; to harass; to make miserable.
      [1913 Webster]

            We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed.
                                                  --2 Cor. iv.
                                                  8.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To compel by pain or suffering.
      [1913 Webster]

            Men who can neither be distressed nor won into a
            sacrifice of duty.                    --A. Hamilton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Law) To seize for debt; to distrain.

   Syn: To pain; grieve; harass; trouble; perplex; afflict;
        worry; annoy.
        [1913 Webster]

4. Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
DISTRESS, remedies. A distress is defined to be, the taking of a personal 
chattel, without legal process, from the possession of the wrong doer, into 
the hands of the party grieved, as a pledge for the redress of an injury, 
the performance of a duty, or the satisfaction of a demand. 3 Bl. Com. 6. It 
is a general rule, that a man who has an entire duty, shall not split the 
entire sum and distrain for part of it at one time, and part of it at 
another time. But if a man seizes for the whole sum that is due him, but 
mistakes the value of the goods distrained, there is no reason why he should 
not afterwards complete his execution by making a further seizure. 1 Burr. 
589. It is to be observed also, that there is an essential difference 
between distresses at common law and distresses prescribed by statute. The 
former are taken nomine penae, (q.v.) as a means of compelling payment; the 
latter are similar to executions, and are taken as satisfaction for a duty. 
The former could not be sold the latter might be. Their only similarity is, 
that both are replevisable. A consequence of this difference is, that averia 
carucae are distrainable in the latter case, although there be other 
sufficient distress. 1 Burr. Rep. 588. 
     2. The remedy by distress to enforce the payment of arrears of rent is 
so frequently adopted by landlords, (Co. Lit. 162, b,) that a considerable 
space will be allotted to this article under the following heads: 1. The 
several kinds of rent for which a distress may be made. 2. The persons who 
may make it. 3. The goods which may be distrained. 4. The time when a 
distress may be made. 5. In what place it may be made. 6. The manner of 
making it, and disposing of the goods distrained. 7. When a distress will be 
a waiver of a forfeiture of the lease. 
     3.-1. Of the rents for which a distress may be made. 1. A distress 
may generally be taken for any kind of rent in arrear, the detention of 
which, beyond the day of payment, is an injury to him who is entitled to 
receive it. 3 Bl. Com. 6. The rent must be reserved out of a corporeal 
hereditament, and must be certain in its quantity, extent, and time of 
payment, or at least be capable of being reduced to certainty. Co. Lit. 96, 
a.; 13 Serg. & Rawle, 64; 3 Penn. R. 30. An agreement that the lessee pay no 
rent, provided he make repairs, and the value of the repairs is uncertain, 
would not authorize the landlord to distrain. Addis. 347. Where the rent is 
a certain quantity of grain, the landlord may distrain for so many bushels 
in arrear, and name the value, in order that if the goods should not be 
replevied, or the arrears tendered, the officer may know what amount of 
money is to be raised by the sale, and in such case the tenant may tender 
the arrears in grain. 13 Serg. & Rawle, 52; See 3 Watts & S. 531. But where 
the tenant agreed, instead of rent, to render " one-half part of all the 
grain of every kind, and of all hemp, flax, potatoes, apples, fruit, and 
other produce of whatever kind that should be planted, raised, sown or 
produced, on or out of the demised premises, within and during the terms,", 
the landlord cannot, perhaps, distrain at all; he cannot, certainly, 
distrain for a sum of money, although he and the tenant may afterwards have 
settled their accounts, and agreed that the half of the produce of the land 
should be fixed in money, for which the tenant gave his note, which was not 
paid. 1 3 Serg. & Rawle, 5 2. But in another case it was held, that on a 
demise of a grist mill, when the lessee is to render one-third of the toll, 
the lessor may distrain for rent. 2 Rawle, 11. 
     4.-2. With respect to the amount of the rent, for which a lessor may 
in different cases be entitled to make a distress, it may be laid down as a 
general rule, that whatever can properly be considered as a part of the 
rent, may be distrained for, whatever be the particular mode in which it is 
agreed to be paid. So that where a person entered into possession of certain 
premises, subject to the approbation of the landlord, which was afterwards 
obtained, by agreeing to pay in advance, rent from the time be came into 
possession, it was, in England, determined that the landlord might distrain 
for the whole sum accrued before and after the agreement. Cowp. 784. For on 
whatever day the tenant agrees that the rent shall be due, the law gives the 
landlord the power of distraining for it at that time. 2 T. R. 600. But see 
13 S. & R. 60. In New York, it was determined, that an agreement that the 
rent should be paid in advance, is a personal covenant on which an action 
lies, but not distress. 1 Johns. R. 384. The supreme court of Pennsylvania 
declined deciding this point, as it was not necessarily before them. 13 
Serg. & Rawle, 60. Interest due on rent cannot, in general, be distrained 
for; 2 Binn. 146; but may be recovered from the tenant by action, unless 
under particular circumstances. 6 Binn. 159. 
     5.-2. Of the persons entitled to make a distress. 1. When the 
landlord is sole owner of the property out of which rent is payable to him, 
he may, of course, distrain in his own right. 
     6.-2. Joint tenants have each of them an estate in every part of the 
rent; each may, therefore, distrain alone for the whole, 3 Salk. 207, 
although he must afterwards account with his companions for their respective 
shares of the rent. 3 Salk. 17; 4 Bing. 562; 2 Brod. & B. 465; 5 Moore, 297 
Y. B. 15 H. VIII, 17, a; 1 Chit. Pr. 270; 1 Tho. Co. Litt. 783, note R; Bac. 
Ab. Account; 5 Taunt. 431; 2 Chit. R. 10; 3 Chit. Pl. 1297. But one joint 
tenant cannot avow solely, because the avowry is always upon the right, and 
the right of the rent is in all of them. Per Holt, 3 Salk. 207. They may all 
join in making the distress, which is the better way. 
     7.-3. Tenants in common do not, like joint tenants, hold by one title 
and by one right, but by different titles, and have several estates. 
Therefore they should distrain separately, each for his share, Co. Lit. s. 
317, unless the rent be of an entire thing, as to render a horse, in which 
case, the thing being incapable of division, they must join. Co. Lit. 197, 
a. Each tenant in common is entitled to receive, from the lessee, his 
proportion of the rent; and therefore, when a person holding under two 
tenants in common, paid the whole rent to one of them, after having received 
a notice to the contrary from the other, it was held, that the party who 
gave the notice might afterwards distrain. 5 T. R. 246. As tenants in common 
have no original privity of estate between them, as to their respective 
shares, one may lease his part of the land to the other, rendering rent, for 
which a distress may be made, as if the land had been demised to a stranger. 
Bro. Ab. tit. Distress, pl. 65. 
     8.-4. It may be, perhaps, laid down as a general rule, that for rent 
due in right of the wife, the husband may distrain alone; 2 Saund. 195; even 
if it accrue to her in the character of executrix or administratrix. Ld. 
Raym. 369. With respect to the remedies for the recovery of the arrears of a 
rent accruing in right of his wife, a distinction is made between rent due 
for land, in which the wife has a chattel interest, and rent due in land, in 
which she has an estate of freehold and inheritance. And in some cases, a 
further distinction must be made between a rent accruing before and rent 
accruing after the coverture. See, on this subject, Co. Lit. 46, b, 300, a; 
351, a; 1 Roll. Abr. 350; stat; 32 Hen. VIII. c. 37, s. 3. 
     9.-5. A tenant by the curtesy, has an estate of freehold in the lands 
of his wife, and in contemplation of law, a reversion on all land of the 
wife leased for years or lives, and may distrain at common law for all rents 
reserved thereon. 
    10.-6. A woman may be endowed of rent as well as of land; if a 
husband, therefore, tenant in fee, make a lease for years, reserving rent, 
and die, his widow shall be endowed of one-third part of the reversion by 
metes and bounds, together with a third part of the rent. Co. Litt. 32, a. 
The rent in this base is apportioned by the act of law, and therefore if a 
widow be endowed of a third part of a rent in fee, she may distrain for a 
third part thereof, and the heir shall distrain for the other part of the 
rent. Bro. Abr. tit. Avowry, pl. 139. 
    11.-7. A tenant for his own life or that of another, has an estate of 
freehold, and if he make a lease for years, reserving rent, he is entitled 
to distrain upon the lessee. It may here be proper to remark, that at common 
law, if a tenant for life made a lease for years, if be should so long live, 
at a certain rent, payable quarterly, and died before the quarter day, the 
tenant was discharged of that quarter's rent by the act of God. 10 Rep. 128. 
But the 11 Geo. II. c. 19, s. 15, gives an action to the executors or 
administrators of such tenant for life. 
    12.-8. By the statute 32 Henry VIII. c. 37, s. 1, "the personal 
representatives of tenants in fee, tail, or for life, of rent-service, rent-
charge, and rents-seek, and fee farms, may distrain for, arrears upon the 
land charged with the payment, so long as the lands continue in seisin or 
possession of the tenant in demesne, who ought to have paid the rent or fee 
farm, or some person claiming under him by purchase, gift or descent." By 
the words of the statute, the distress must be made on the lands while in 
the possession of the "tenant in demesne," or some person claiming under 
him, by purchase, gift or descent; and therefore it extends to the 
possession of those persons only who claim under the tenant, and the statute 
does not comprise the tenant in dower or by the curtesy, for they come in, 
not under the party, but by act of law. 1 Leon. 302. 
    13.-9. The heir entitled to the reversion may distrain for rent in 
arrear which becomes due after the ancestor's death; the rent does not 
become due till the last minute of the natural day, and if the ancestor die 
between sunset and midnight, the heir, and not the executor, shall have the 
rent. 1 Saund. 287. And if rent be payable at either of two periods, at the 
choice of the lessee, and the lessor die between them, the rent being 
unpaid, it will go to the heir. 10 Rep. 128, b. 
    14.-10. Devisees, like heirs, may distrain in respect of their 
reversionary estate; for by a devise of the reversion the rent will pass 
with its incidents. 1 Ventr. 161. 
    15.-11. Trustees who have vested in them legal estates, as trustees of 
a married woman, or assignees of an insolvent, may of course distrain in 
respect of their legal estates, in the same manner as if they were 
beneficially interested therein. 
    16.-12. Guardians may make leases of their wards' lands in their, own 
names, which will be good during the minority of the ward. and, 
consequently, in respect of such leases, they possess the same power of 
distress as other persons granting leases in their own rights. Cro. Jac. 55, 
98. 
    17.-13. Corporations aggregate should generally make and accept leases 
or other conveyances of lands or rent, under their common seal. But if a 
lease be made by an agent of the corporation, not under their common seal, 
although it may be invalid as a lease, yet if the tenant hold under it, and 
pay rent to the bailiff or agent of the corporation, that is sufficient to 
constitute a tenancy at least from year to year, and to entitle the 
corporation to distrain for rent.  New Rep. 247. But see Corporation. 
    18.-3. Of the things which may or may not be distrained. Goods found 
upon the premises demised to a tenant are generally liable to be distrained 
by a landlord for rent, whether such goods in fact belong to the tenant or 
other persons. Coin. Dig. Distress, B 1. Thus it has been held, that a 
gentleman's chariot, which stood in a coach-house belonging to a common 
livery stable keeper, was distrainable by the landlord for the rent due him 
by the livery stable keeper for the coach-house. 3 Burr. 1498. So if cattle 
are put on the tenant's land by consent of the owners of the beasts, they 
are distrainable by the landlord immediately after for rent in arrear. 3 Bl. 
Com. 8. But goods are sometimes privileged from distress, either absolutely 
or conditionally. 
   19. First. Those of the first class are privileged, 1. In respect of the 
owner of 2. Because no one can have property in them. 3. Because they cannot 
be restored to the owner in the same plight as when taken. 4. Because they 
are fixed to the freehold. 5. Because it is against the policy of law that 
they should be distrained. 6. Because they are in the custody of the law. 7. 
Because they are protected by some special act of the legislature. 
    20.-1. The goods of a person who has some interest, in the land 
jointly with the distrainer, as those of a joint tenant, although found upon 
the land, cannot be distrained. The goods of executors and administrators, 
or of the assignee of an insolvent regularly discharged according to law, 
cannot, in Pennsylvania, be distrained for more than one year's rent. The 
goods of a former tenant, rightfully on the land, cannot be distrained for 
another's rent. For example, a tenant at will, if quitting upon notice from 
his landlord, is entitled to the emblements or growing crops; and therefore 
even after they are reaped, if they remain on the land for the purpose of 
husbandry, they cannot be distrained for rent due by the second tenant. 
Willes, 131. And they are equally protected in the hands of a vendee. Ibid. 
They cannot be distrained, although the purchaser allow them to remain uncut 
an unreasonable time after the are ripe. 2 B. & B. 862; 5 Moore, 97, S. C. 
    21.-2. As every thing which is distrained is presumed to be the 
property of the tenant, it will follow that things wherein no man can have 
an absolute and valuable property, as cats, dogs, rabbits, and all animals 
ferae naturae, cannot be distrained. Yet, if deer, which are of a wild 
nature, are kept in a private enclosure, for the purpose of sale or profit, 
this so far changes their nature by reducing them to a kind of stock or 
merchandise, that they may be distrained for rent. 3 B1. Com. 7. 
    22.-3. Such things as cannot be restored to the owner in the same 
plight as when they were taken, as milk, fruit, and the like, cannot be 
distrained. 3 Bl. Com. 9. 
    23.-4. Things affixed or annexed to the freehold, as furnaces, windows, 
doors, and the like, cannot be distrained, because they are not personal 
chattels, but belong to the realty. Co. Litt. 47, b. And this rule extends. 
to such things as are essentially a part of the freehold, although for a 
time removed therefrom, as a millstone removed to be picked; for this is 
matter of necessity, and it still remains in contemplation of law, a part of 
the freehold. For the same reason an anvil fixed in a smith's shop cannot be 
distrained. Bro. Abr. Distress, pl. 23; 4 T. R. 567; Willis, Rep. 512 6 
Price's R. 3; 2 Chitty's R. 167. 
    24.-5. Goods are privileged in cases where the proprietor is either 
compelled, from necessity to place his goods upon the land, or where be does 
so for commercial purposes. 17 S. & R. 139; 7 W. & S. 302; 8 W. & S. 302; 4 
Halst. 110; 1 Bay, 102, 170; 2 McCord, 39; 3 B. & B. 75; 6 J. B. Moore, 243; 
1 Bing. 283; 8 J. B. Moore, 254; 2 C. & P. 353; 1 Cr. M. 380. In the first 
case, the goods are exempt, because the owner has no option; hence the goods 
of a traveller in an inn are exempt from distress. 7 H. 7, M. 1, p. 1.; 
Hamm. N. 380, a.; 2 Keny. 439; Barnes, 472; 1 Bl. R. 483; 3 Burr. 1408. In 
the other, the interests of the community require that commerce should be 
encouraged, and adventurers will not engage in speculations, if the property 
embarked is to be made liable for the payment of debts they never 
contracted. Hence goods landed at a wharf, or deposited in a warehouse on 
storage, cannot be distrained. 17 Serg. & Rawle, 138; 6 Whart. R. 9, 14; 9 
Shepl. 47; 23 Wend. 462. Valuable things in the way of trade are not liable 
to distress; as, a horse standing in a smith's shop to be shod, or in a 
common inn; or cloth at a tailor's house to be made into a coat; or corn 
sent to a mill to be ground, for these are privileged and protected for the 
benefit of trade. 3 Bl. Com. 8. On the same principle it has been decided, 
that the goods of a boarder are not liable to be distrained for rent due by 
the keeper of a boarding house; 5 Whart. R. 9; unless used by the tenant 
with the boarder's consent, and without that of the landlord: 1 Hill , 565. 
    25.-6. Goods taken in execution cannot be distrained. The law in some 
states gives the landlord the right to claim payment out of the proceeds of 
an execution for rent, not exceeding one year, and he is entitled to payment 
up to the day of seizure, though it be in the middle of a quarter 2 Yeates, 
274; 5 Binn. 505; but he is not entitled to the day of sale. 5 Binn. 505. 
See 18 Johns. R. 1. The usual practice is, to give notice to the, sheriff 
that there is a certain sum due to the landlord as arrears of rent; which 
notice ought to be given to the sheriff, or person who takes the goods in 
execution upon the premises for the sheriff is, not bound to find out 
whether rent is due, nor is he liable to an action, unless there has been a 
demand of rent before the removal. 1 Str. 97, 214; 3 Taunt. 400 2 Wils. 140; 
Com. Dig. Rent, D 8; 11 Johns. R. 185. This notice can be given by the 
immediate landlord only a ground landlord is not entitled to his rent out of 
the goods of the under tenant taken in execution. 2 Str. 787. And where 
there are two executions, the landlord is not entitled to a year's rent on 
each. See Str. 1024. Goods distrained and replevied may be distrained by 
another landlord for subsequent rent. 2 Dall. 68. 
    26.-7. By some special acts of the legislature it is provided that tools 
of a man's trade, some designated household furniture, school books, and the 
like, shall be exempted from distress, execution, or sale. And by a recent 
Act of Assembly of Pennsylvania, April 9, 1849, property to the value of 
three hundred dollars, exclusive of all wearing apparel of the defendant and 
his family, and all bibles and school books in use in the family, are 
exempted from levy and sale on execution, or by distress for rent. 
    27.-Secondly. Besides the above mentioned goods and chattels, which 
are absolutely privileged from distress, there are others which are 
conditionally so, but which may be distrained under certain circumstances. 
These are, 1. Beasts of the plough, which are exempt if there be a 
sufficient distress besides on the land whence the rent issues. Co. Litt. 
47, a; Bac. Abr. Distress, B. 2. Implements of trade; as, a loom in actual 
use; and there is a sufficient distress besides. 4 T. R. 565. 3. Other 
things in actual use,; as, a horse whereon a person is riding, an axe in the 
hands of. a person cutting wood, and the like. Co. Litt. 4 7, a. 
    28.-4. The time when a distress may be made. 1. The distress cannot be 
made till the rent is due by the terms of the lease; as rent is not due 
until the last minute of the natural day on which it is reserved, it follows 
that a distress for rent cannot be made on that day. 1 Saund. 287; Co. Litt. 
47, b. n. 6. A previous demand is not generally necessary, although there be 
a clause in the lease, that the lessor may distrain for rent," being 
lawfully demanded Bradb. 124; Bac. Abr. Rent, 1; the making of the distress 
being a demand though it is advisable to make such a demand. But where a 
lease provides for a special demand; as, if the clause were that if the rent 
should happen to be behind it should be demanded at a particular place not 
on the land; or be demanded of the person of the tenant; then such special 
demand is necessary to support the distress. Plowd. 69 Bac. Abr. Rent, I. 
    29.-2 A distress for rent can only be made during the day time. Co. 
Litt. 142, a. 
    30.-3. At common law a distress could not be made after the expiration 
of the lease to remedy this evil the legislature of Pennsylvania passed an 
act making it "lawful for any person having any rent in arrear or due upon 
any lease for life or years or at will, ended or determined, to distrain for 
such arrears after the determination of the said respective leases, in the 
same manner as they might have done, if such lease had not been ended: 
provided, that such distress be made during the continuance of such lessor's 
title or interest.", Act of March 21, 1772, s. 14, 1 Smith's Laws of Penna. 
375. 4. In the city and county of Philadelphia, the landlord may, under 
certain circumstances, apportion his rent, and distrain before it becomes 
due. See act of March 25, 1825, s. 1, Pamph. L. 114. 
    31.-5. In what place a distress may be made. The distress may be made 
upon the land, or off the land. 1. Upon the land. A distress generally 
follows the rent, and is consequently confined to the land out of which it 
issues. If two pieces of land, therefore, are let by two separate demises, 
although both be contained in one lease, a joint distress cannot be made for 
them, for this would be to make the rent of one issue out of the other. Rep. 
Temp. Hardw. 245; S. C. Str. 1040. But where lands lying in different 
counties are let together by one demise, at one entire rent, and it does not 
appear that the lands are separate from each other, one distress may be made 
for the whole rent. Ld. Raym. 55; S. C. 12 Mod. 76. And, where rent is 
charged upon land, which is afterwards held by several tenants, the grantee 
or landlord may distrain for the whole upon the land of any of them; because 
the whole rent is deemed to issue out of every part of the land. Roll. Abr. 
671. If there be a house on the land, the distress may be made in the house; 
if the outer door or window be open, a distress may be taken out of it. 
Roll. Abr. 671. And if an outer door be open, an inner door may be broken 
open for the purpose of taking a distress. Comb. 47; Cas. Temp. Hard. 168. 
Barges on a river, attached to the leased premises (a wharf) by ropes, 
cannot be distrained. 6 Bingh. 150; 19 Eng. Com. Law R. 36. 
    32.-2. Off the land. By the 5th and 6th sections of the Pennsylvania 
act of assembly of March 21, 1772, copied from the 11 Geo. II. c. 19, it is 
enacted, that if any tenant for life, years, at will, or otherwise, shall 
fraudulently or clandestinely convey his goods off the premises to prevent 
the landlord from distraining the same, such person, or any person by him 
lawfully authorized, may, within thirty days after such conveyance, seize 
the same, wherever they shall be found, and dispose of them in such manner 
as if they had been distrained on the premises. Provided, that the landlord 
shall not distrain any goods which shall have been previously sold, bona 
fide, and for a valuable consideration, to one not privy to the fraud. To 
bring a case within the act, the removal must take place after the rent 
becomes due, and must be secret, not made in open day, for such removal 
cannot be said to be clandestine within the meaning of the act. 3 Esp. N. P. 
C. 15; 12 Serg. & Rawle, 217; 7 Bing. 422; 1 Moody & Malkin, 585. It has 
however been made a question, whether goods are protected that were 
fraudulently removed on the night before the rent had become due. 4 Camp. 
135. The goods of a stranger cannot be pursued; they can be distrained only 
while they are, on the premises. 1 Dall. 440. 
    33.-6. Of the manner of making a distress. 1. A distress for rent may 
be made either by the person to whom it is due, or, which is the preferable 
mode, by a constable, or bailiff, or other officer properly authorized by 
him. 
    34.-2. If the distress be made by a constable, it is necessary that he 
should be properly authorized to make it; for which purpose the landlord 
should give him a written authority, or; as it is usually called, a warrant 
of distress; but a subsequent assent and recognition given by the party for 
whose use the distress has been made, is sufficient. Hamm. N. P. 382. 
    35.-3. When the constable is thus provided with the requisite 
authority to make a distress, he, may distrain by seizing the tenant's 
goods, or some of them in the name of the whole, and declaring that he takes 
them as a distress for the sum expressed in the warrant to be due by the 
tenant to the landlord, and that he takes them by virtue of the said 
warrant; which warrant he ought, if required, to show. 1 Leon. 50. 
    36.-4. When making the distress it ought to be made for the whole 
rent; but if goods cannot be found at the time, sufficient to satisfy the 
rent, or the party mistake the value of the thing distrained, he may make a 
second distress. Bradb. 129, 30; 2 Tr. & H. Pr. 155; supra 1. 
    37.-5. As soon as a distress is made, an inventory of the goods 
distrained should be made, and a copy of it delivered to the tenant, 
together with a notice of taking such distress, with the cause for taking 
the same. This notice of taking a distress is not required by the statute to 
be in writing; and, therefore, parol or verbal notice may be given either to 
the tenant on the premises, or to the owner of the goods distrained. 12 Mod. 
76. And although notice is directed by the act to specify the cause of 
taking, it is not material whether it accurately state the period of the 
rent's becoming due; Dougl. 279; or even whether the true cause of taking 
the goods be expressed therein. 7 T. R. 654. If the notice be not personally 
given, it should be left in writing at the tenant's house, or according to 
the directions of the act, at the mansion-house or other most notorious 
place on the premises charged with the rent distrained for. 
    38.-6. The distrainor may leave or impound the distress on the 
premises for the five days mentioned in the act, but becomes a trespasser 
after that time. 2 Dall. 69. As in many cases it is desirable for the sake 
of the tenant that the goods should not be sold as soon as the law permits, 
it is usual for him to sign an agreement or consent to their remaining on 
the premises for a longer time, in the custody of the distrainor, or of a 
person by him appointed for that purpose. While in his possession, the 
distrainor cannot use or work cattle distrained, unless it be for the 
owner's benefit, as to milk a cow, or the like. 5 Dane's Abr. 34. 
    39.-7. Before the goods are sold they must be appraised by two 
reputable free-holders, who shall take an oath or affirmation to be 
administered by the sheriff, under-sheriff, or coroner, in the words 
mentioned in the act. 
    40.-8. The next requisite is to give six days public notice of the 
time and place of sale of the things distrained; after which, if they have 
not been replevied, they may be sold by the proper officer, who may apply 
the proceeds to the payment and satisfaction of the rent, and the expenses 
of the distress, appraisement and sale. The over-plus, if any, is to be paid 
to the tenant. 
    41.-7. When a distress will be a waiver of a forfeiture of the lease. 
On this subject, see 1 B. & Adol. 428. The right of distress, it seems, does 
not exist in the New England states. 4 Dane's Ab. 126; 7 Pick. R. 105; 3 
Griff. Reg 404; 4 Griff. Reg. 1143; Aik. Dig. 357, nor in Alabama, 
Mississippi, North Carolina, nor Ohio; and in Kentucky, the right is limited 
to a distress for a pecuniary rent. 1 Hill. Ab. 156. Vide, generally, Bouv. 
Inst. Index, h . t.; Gilb. on Distr. by Hunt; Bradb. on Distr.; Com. Dig.
h.t.; Bac. Ab. h.t.; Vin. Ab. h.t.; 2 Saund. Index, h.t.; Wilk. on Repl.; 3 
Chit. Bl. Com. 6, note; Crabb on R. P. Sec. 222 to 250. 



5. The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906)
DISTRESS, n.  A disease incurred by exposure to the prosperity of a
friend.


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