england-and-wales legal-terms legal-history any-jurisdiction
What is &quot;distress,&quot; as in &quot;distress for rent&quot;?
<p>There have been several distress for rent acts in the 17th and 18th centuries, which provide a right for distress. What is the nature of this right and the origin of its name?</p>

<p>Distress or distraint refers to a right to seize the personal property of a wrong-doer to satisfy a demand. The landlord might seize your horse for non-payment of rent, under this right. For example (1414) &quot;Full power and autorite..the same tenantz and tenantdris til distreyn and hald, till all rerages and dettes..be assethid&quot;. This is an example of Law French, deriving from Old French destreindre &quot;to strain, press, wring, vex extremely, straighten&quot; and Old French  destresser, destrecier, both ultimately derives from Latin distringere (distringo)..</p>
