now largely used in Scotland, in the distillation of grain whiskey; some of the stills are so large as to produce 3000 gallons per hour. Another kind of still, invented by Stein, is much used in Scotland for malt-whiskey. Most of the Scotch whiskey now sold in England is made from grain by Coffey's apparatus, and becomes marketable by mere dilution; but the malt-whiskey, mostly distilled in small establishments by the old apparatus, contains flavouring ingredients of various kinds. The peat-reek or turf-smoke flavour of some of the whiskey, made illicitly in out-of-the-way places, is, there is reason to believe, more or less imitated in whiskey distilled where no peat is employed-principally because English purchasers like that flavour, as an evidence of genuineness. The great spirit-distilleries of England, if few in number, and not among the largest of our immense factory establishments, are certainly among those which contribute most amply to the revenue; indeed it may be doubted whether they have any parallel in this particular. In order that every gallon distilled may pay its share of duty, excise officers watch the operations with a closeness unequalled in any other department of British industry. It is difficult to say whether the distiller or the exciseman is more completely the master. Some of the London firms pay more than 300,000l. annually each to the revenue; and the Excise insists, not only that all the spirit made shall pay duty, but that the distillery shall be so conducted as to obtain the greatest quantity of spirit from a given quantity of malt or grain; thus the exciseman becomes virtually a chemist as well as a tax-collector. Moreover, the duty is paid per gallon of spirit of a certain defined strength; and the exciseman must be learned on the subject of specific gravity, to see that various degrees of dilution are not produced in such a way as to defraud the revenue. Excisemen, one or more, are never absent from the distillery, day or night, Sunday or week-day; they relieve guard, and one does not depart until his successor arrives. Each exciseman employed knows every vessel on the premises; he has a voice in the number, size, and shape of them; he is empowered to limit the number of openings in the more important vessels, and to trace the course and action of every pipe, valve, cock, and tap connected with each; he has duplicate keys to some vessels, and the only key to certain others; he can lock up the furnace doors, and lock up the stills, whenever he deems it his duty so to do; he can require, and does require, that the distilling of the wash into spirit shall not take place in the same week as the brewing of wort into wash; in order that he may know exactly how much wort and wash, as well as spirit, is in the several vessels at one time. He tests the specific gravity of all the liquids as often as he pleases; he requires that the numerous pipes shall be painted, some black, some red, some blue, and some white, in order that he may know which is for the conveyance of wort, which for wash, which for the first spirit, and which for the finished spirit; he demands the aid of ladders and passages to give him access to every part of every piece of apparatus: in short, the master distiller is so thoroughly controlled in all the operations, that nothing but the prospect of large profits, arising out of a large business, would induce a manufacturer to wear such shackles. It is partly owing to this excise supervision, and partly to the enormous capital necessary, that the number of great distilleries remains pretty equal year after year. The following figures are interesting, showing the influence of different causes on the number of distilleries in different parts of the United Kingdom :: distilleries were, on an average, only about one third the size of the English, and the Scotch one-third that of the Irish. These ratios, however, may have undergone some modification by 1859; for it is known that there is a tendency to increase the size of the distillery establishments. The process of distilling, hitherto described, has been that in which grain, either raw or malted, has yielded the saccharine element; but we have now to notice certain recent attempts to produce ardent spirits from beet-root. That this can be done has long been known to chemists, practically in France, theoretically in England. The only question has been, whether beet-root distilling can be profitably conducted. One among many systems of operation patented is that of M. Le Play, depending on the fact that the refuse of the distillery can be profitably applied in the immediate neighbourhood of the distillery itself. In 1857 Mr. Dray, the agricultural implement maker, obtained permission from the Excise to make trial of Le Play's plan in a farm homestead owned by him at Farningham, in Kent. This consent was necessary, owing to the rigorous control exercised by the Excise over all spirit distilleries in this country. At Mr. Dray's homestead, spirit was distilled from the beet-root, and live stock were fed from the refuse. The roots, having been gathered from the fields, were washed, cut into slices, placed in vats, and allowed to ferment for twenty-four hours, the fermentation being aided by a little sulphuric acid. The same liquor was available many times over. The pulp, when removed from the vats, was placed in layers in cylinders, the layers being separated by perforated metal plates. The cylinders were then closed air-tight, and steam was admitted to the bottom of one of them. The steam extracted a juice or watery spirit from the pulp in the first cylinder, and passed thence into a second. The vapour was then condensed by passing through a worm in cold water, and, as a liquid, was received in a vat. While the first cylinder was being emptied and re-filled, steam was admitted to the second and third. The object of this three-fold process was, to make the operation a continuous one, and cause each portion of pulp to be acted on twice over, so as to render the extraction thoroughly complete. The hopes and expectations relating to this system were thus set forth in a letter to the Times,' written by Messrs. Ridley: "It is much to be regretted that misconception prevails respecting the properties of beet-root to yield a fine consumable spirit. In France, during the last three years, millions of gallons have been distilled from this cereal, converted into and freely consumed as cognac brandy. So far this tends to demonstrate its superiority over grain for spiritmaking purposes. Beet-root contains from 10 to 12 per cent. of solid saccharine matter, which, when disengaged by maceration and distilled in the ordinary manner, will yield, in good seasons, 25 gallons of proof spirit from one ton of root. The root can be cultivated at a cost of 10s. per ton; and allowing its value to be augmented to 208., or even 308., when used for distilling purposes, a very handsome profit might be obtained by selling its spirit at 2s. per gallon. Besides which, the pulp of the root, after being denuded of its saccharum, is in no way deteriorated as cattle food; on the contrary, some authorities assert that, being partially cooked, it is then more nutritious. Our Inland Revenue laws in many instances are found to operate obnoxiously against native enterprise. Why not allow our farmers freely to distil their produce and apply the refuse to fatten cattle, as is the common order of things on the continent, particularly in Germany. A new field might easily be opened for the cultivation of beet-root, on lands now lying waste, which could be profitably turned to account, to provide spirit for man and food for beast; while the highly-cultivated grain lands could be more exclusively devoted to their legitimate purpose of raising breadstuffs for the actual wants of the community." This bright picture has hitherto been only a picture: either because the estimates were far beyond the average truth, or because the heavy spirit-duty operates as a bar to improvement in England. The Excise authorities have certainly not been obdurate in the matter. Farningham, the spirit produced was found to be very raw, but was improved by rectifying; and it was proposed to fix a rectifying apparatus to the stills themselves, so as to complete all the operations on the spot. The spent pulp was said to be worth 158. per ton, to be mixed with cut hay as a food for horses, cattle, and sheep. Listening to the representations made, the Excise, on the authority of the Treasury, permitted eleven more beet-root distilleries to be established in various parts of England. The result, after a year or so, came out as follows: England began to increase its relative ratio about the year 1851. To what extent poverty, to what extent temperance advocacy, caused the fluctuations in the Scotch and Irish ratios, this is not the place to discuss. Dividing the quantity of spirits which paid duty, by the number of distilleries known to the excise, it appears that, in 1854, the English distilleries produced 600,000 gallons on an average each, the Irish 200,000, and the Scotch 70,000; showing that the Irish Reading Otford Fulham At The produce thus varied from 5 to 9 gallons per ton, instead of 25 gallons according to the estimate. The Board of Inland Revenue thus reported on the whole subject in 1858 to the Treasury: "Messrs. Dray, who made the apparatus, and are licensed by the patentee of the process, represented to us so strongly the necessity of giving a fair scope to their experiment, by trying it on a large scale, and with the produce of various qualities of soil, that we obtained your lordships' leave (not without first ascertaining that the licensed distillers would have no objection) to permit the erection of twelve beet-root spirit distilleries in different parts of the United Kingdom, the selection of persons and of places being left to Messrs. Dray. Only ten (?) of these distilleries have been in operation; but as none of them have succeeded in producing a saleable spirit, or spirit of any kind in sufficient quantity per ton of root to pay their working expenses according to the calculations of the projectors, it may fairly be assumed that the process can never be successfully adopted in this country. The observations of our officers on the results obtained at each place will be found in the appendix; and it may therefore be sufficient to state here, that one of the most enterprising of these experimentalists has recently applied to the chairman of the Excise for protection against the grain distillers, in the shape of a differential duty of 2s. 6d. in his favour; and has acknowledged that, without some such advantage, it would be impossible for him to make a profit, or even to pay the working expenses of the distillery." Whether the spirit be obtained from grain, malt, or beet-root, it is generally in too crude and distasteful a state to be used as beverage without further preparation. Whatever may be the case in Ireland or Scotland, the English spirit is always rectified before it passes into the hands of the retailer. The great distillers may not rectify their spirit; they must sell it in a crude state-this is a precautionary measure on the part of the Excise. The rectifiers buy the spirit, and convert it into gin, hollands, whiskey, British brandy, British rum, spirits of wine, and such cordials as aniseed, cloves, peppermint, &c. This is done by re-distilling, with water as a diluent; and by further distillation in company with such herbs, spices, seeds, berries, fruits, leaves, perfumes, or sweetening ingredients, as may be necessary to impart flavour. One of these distillations is called rectifying, and the other compounding. There is no limit to the varieties of flavour that may thus be produced. Spirits of wine contains none of these subsidiary ingredients; it contains only spirit and water, the spirit being strengthened to a great degree of intensity. A very interesting kind of distilling, whereby sea water is converted into fresh, will be more conveniently treated under FILTER, in connection with other modes of purifying water. DISTORTION. Deformity of the person may be advantageously classed for the purpose of discussion under two principal heads: malformation and distortion. The former is, for the most part, congenital, and is usually characterised by the deficiency or redundancy of parts, or by imperfections and irregularities of structure. The latter, arising generally after birth, comprises all permanent deviations from the natural shape or position which are effected by the influence of external or internal force in parts originally soft and flexible, or such as have acquired unnatural pliancy by accident or disease. It is to the latter class of deformities only that our attention is for the present directed. But even thus limited, the subject is so extensive that we must once for all refer the reader for more precise information on several of its most interesting subdivisions to professional works. [CONTRACTION.] I. Every part of the body capable of independent motion is furnished with two sets of muscles, acting in contrary directions, the purpose of which is obviously to bring the part back to its place after movement in either direction. In the position of equilibrium these muscles are not in a state of absolute relaxation, even during sleep; on the contrary, they continue to act with considerable energy, each exactly counterbalancing the other. This is called their tone or tension, and it is calculated to give great steadiness to the part thus held at rest between opposite forces. But if one set of the muscles should be suddenly cut across, the tension of their antagonists still remaining in action, the consequence would be a movement in obedience to the latter, till the contraction had reached its limit; and the part in question would permanently retain the position into which it had thus been moved. The same effect would result if the muscle, instead of being divided, were paralysed by the interruption of its nervous communication with the brain. Again, if the tone of one muscle were increased by spasm or otherwise, so as to give it a decided preponderance over its antagonist, the result would be similar. These considerations will sufficiently explain the nature of one large class of distortions, namely, those which result from affections of the brain, muscles, and nerves. 1. The simplest of these is the drawn mouth, or hemiplegia. It arises in this way: in consequence of an extravasation of blood or some other cause, the functions of one side of the brain are interrupted; the muscles of the cheek on the same side, deriving their nerves from that part of the brain, are paralysed, and the retractors on the opposite angle of the mouth being no longer balanced by an equal force, draw it up towards their origin, and retain it in that position. 2. Strabismus, or squinting, is frequently produced in the same way by a partial paralysis of that muscle the office of which is to turn the globe of the eye in the opposite direction, or it may arise from undua contraction of the muscle on the same side. 3. It is remarkable that hysteria is sometimes accompanied by a distortion of the last-mentioned kind, produced by a spasmodic contraction of the flexor muscles of one of the joints, commonly the knee or hip. For months or years this painful condition may last without mitigation: yet it may vanish all at once under the influence of some powerful impression of the body or mind. The entire loss of the voice, which sometimes comes on suddenly in similar constitutions, and after long resisting every remedy, as suddenly departs, is probably an analogous affection of the muscles of the larynx. 4. Wry-neck is a distortion also due to irregular muscular action. It generally comes on gradually in infancy, and consists in a shortened and contracted state of the sterno-mastoid muscle, of that side to which the head is inclined and from which the face is turned. Club-foot is often nothing more than a similar contraction of the muscles of the calf, which draw up the heel and eventually disturb the integrity of the ankle joint. This complaint also comes on at an early age, and is sometimes congenital. By proper means they both admit of relief, and often of a cure. [CONTRACTION.] The list of distortions depending on a morbid condition of the muscular or nervous functions might easily be extended. II. But by far the most common and important class of these affections is that which originates in disease of the bones. 1. The firmness and rigidity of the bones depends upon the due proportion of the earthy matter, phosphate of lime, that enters into their composition. If the proportion of this ingredient be too great, as in old age, and in the disease called fragilitas ossium, they become brittle, and are broken by the slightest causes; if it be too small, they become unnaturally pliant, and are distorted by the pressure of the superincumbent weight, or the contraction of the muscles. The latter condition is prevalent with other structural changes in the disorder called rickets. The medical name of this complaint is rachitis (from páxis, the spine), and was given to it by Glisson, who first described it, partly because he conceived the vertebræ to be the bones most commonly implicated; but chiefly, it would appear, from the resemblance to the English name. His doctrine was erroneous; and the error perpetuated by the misnomer has led to serious mistakes in practice as well as theory. The spine is undoubtedly liable to partake with the rest of the skeleton in the morbid condition of rickets, but certainly not in a greater degree than the other bones. This malady seldom appears within the ordinary period of lactation, or after puberty. It is ushered in and attended throughout by general febrile disturbance, and is closely connected with a peculiar morbid condition of the nutritive functions. The opinion that it is of scrofulous origin has lately been strongly controverted, and does not in reality appear to be well supported by facts. It is most common among the poor, and in closely-peopled districts, as all the diseases of children are; but it is by no means confined to either, or to children whose constitutions are apparently the most feeble in other respects. Indeed it is a frequent remark, that the most robust and powerful men exhibit tokens of having been rickety in their childhood. Among such indications are smallness of the pelvis, with inward or outward curvature and disproportionate shortness of the lower limbs. This sudden check to the development of the skeleton, constantly observed in rickety children, with the distortion arising from the unnatural softness of the bones, is the most usual cause of the short stature, as well as the proverbial ugliness, of dwarfs. In extreme cases of this complaint the head is generally small and pointed: no longer supported by the yielding and shortened neck, it sinks down between the shoulders; the occiput is thrown back and almost touches the hump formed by the incurvated spine behind the chest: the chin is thrust forward, giving an expression to the features very characteristic of the dwarf, and rests upon the breast bone, which is very prominent on each side the ribs are flattened, and bulge in upon the lungs. The shoulders, losing the support of the wreathed and twisted clavicles, approach towards each other in front, drawing with them the scapula, which stick out laterally, and add considerably to the deformity as seen from behind; the arins, though bent and in reality shortened, seem of disproportionate length; the lumbar spine is thrust inwards; the pelvis is small and flattened; the thighs are bowed forward; the knees with their patella at the side instead of in front of the joint, touch or overlap each other; while the feet are set wide apart, a sudden twist above the ankle still permitting the soles to be set to the ground. Such are some of the varied changes which exhibit a melancholy proof of the prevalence of the disease in every part of the bony frame, and almost defy description. Of course such extreme cases of rickety distortion are comparatively rare; yet almost daily instances are seen by those whose duty calls them into the unwholesome courts and alleys of the metropolis, and slighter examples of the affection are extremely common. Recovery, even from considerable degrees of this affection, is more frequent and rapid than might be imagined; but the pelvis and lower limbs, which as above-mentioned, are the most commonly and extensively implicated, seldom completely regain their natural proportions. This fact, as it regards the female pelvis, is worthy of notice, being the cause of by far the most dangerous kind of difficult parturition. It is in extreme cases of this sort that the Cæsarean section has been practised. Independently of rickety distortion, there are two other kinds of curvature of the spinal column which demand a brief notice. The first, which has frequently been mistaken for rachitis, is usually called lateral curvature, to distinguish it from the more serious kind of distortion next to be considered, which is called angular curvature. 2. Unlike rickets, which almost always commence in infancy or early childhood, lateral curvature of the spine seldom appears before the tenth year. The external deformity consists in the prominence of one hip (generally the right), and elevation of the corresponding shoulder, the blade of which sticks out in unsightly protuberance behind. The opposite hip and shoulder are respectively flattened and depressed; and the symmetry of the chest is destroyed, one side being larger than the other, and both twisted and misshapen. On examination the spine is found to have a double curvature sideways, so as to resemble the letter S, but generally turned the other way, the concavity of the lower curve being on the right, and the upper on the left side. It arises from weakness in the spinal muscles and local elongations of the ligaments of the vertebræ, from the habit of resting the weight in sitting or standing more on one side than the other; and that side is usually the right. The position is more easy than the upright one, and when not corrected by fitting exercise and change in the nature of the employment, it becomes habitual, and the twist of the person permanent and increasing. The subjects of this kind of distortion are chiefly slender and delicate girls in the middle and upper classes, the poor being comparatively exempt. It comes on insidiously, the attention not being awakened by any particular derangement of the health beyond a certain degree of languor and susceptibility of fatigue, and perhaps a sluggish state of the digestion. The first symptom that betrays its presence is usually a tendency of the dress to slip off the left shoulder. It is much promoted by means often used to prevent it, such as confinement and restraint of the person and posture by stays, backboards, high-backed chairs, reclining on a board, and other contrivances to improve the figure, and restrain the development of the natural form; as well as by the sedentary habits and inappropriate exercises of the academy or school-room. Nature is not to be coerced with impunity by fantastic caprices and contrivances: a good figure as well as good health must be found, if anywhere, in the open air of the frelds, in loose and easy clothing, and in unrestrained exercise of the limbs, such as children will always adopt, if left to choose for themselves, in ways much better suited to their age and strength than any that can be invented for them. 3. Angular curvature of the spine is a deformity very different in its nature and appearance from the last described. It arises for the most part from ulceration of a scrofulous kind in the bodies of the vertebra. The support in front being thus lost, the spine is sharply bent forwards so that one or more of the spinous processes project behind, indicating the position of the diseased vertebra. This complaint is attended with incomplete paralysis of the lower extremities, and is not unfrequently fatal. In case of recovery the bodies of the contiguous vertebræ are approximated and consolidated with what remains of those which were diseased by the deposition of bony matter. It is in this species of spinal complaint only that rest and the recumbent posture are expedient. The observance of these essential precautions, concurrently with other means, frequently brings about a cure; the distortion however is permanent. Diseases of a similar kind frequently occur in the bones and joints of other parts of the body; they require similar treatment, and are followed by analogous consolidations and distortions. 4. Rheumatism and other disorders, and even common inflammations, occurring in a high degree within the joints or in their neighbourhood, occasionally produce like effects. III. Distortions are sometimes occasioned by the contraction of other parts than those which are concerned in motion. 1. Such are those of the fingers, which arise from chronic inflammation and permanent contraction of the palmar aponeurosis, or fascia, a strong inelastic and fibrous membrane attached to the projecting points of bone, and stretched beneath the skin of the palm for the protection of the nerves and other soft parts during the act of forcible grasping. There is a similar aponeurosis in the sole of the foot, which is subject, but not so frequently, to the same shortening. Under this division may be also classed those distortions which arise from burns and other extensive destructions and ulcerations of the skin, in consequence of the contraction of the scar in the process of healing. When these injuries take place in front of the neck and face, the resulting deformity is sometimes frightful. The space between the chin and the breast is filled up by a tense discoloured and corrugated cicatrix, which bows the head forward and draws down the features so as to expose the inner surface of the lower eyelid and keep the mouth constantly open. When they occur in the flexures of the joints, as in front of the elbow, the cicatrix extends in the form of a hard and rigid web between the humerus and fore-arm, the joint being permanently Such deformities may sometimes be partly removed by an operation; but it is extremely painful, and often unsuccessful. 2. A slight injury of the face below the eye, or the simple contraction from some other cause of the skin of that part may produce bent. the deformity called ectropium, or eversion of the lower lid; and the opposite state of inversion (entropium or trichiasis) may result from a similar contraction of the edge of the eyelid itself. Severe inflammation, and even blindness, may be the consequence of the latter affection from the friction of the lashes against the globe. Both of these deformities may be remedied by a slight operation. IV. Another class of distortions may arise from external pressure; as of the bones and cartilages of the chest from tight stays; or of the phalanges of the toes from ill-made shoes. Instances of this kind of distortion must be familiar to all; and call for no particular explanation or remark. DISTRESS, districtio in the jurisprudence of the middle ages, denotes legal compulsion generally, whether ecclesiastical or civil. One mode of compulsion extensively adopted among the nations of Teutonic origin was the taking possession of the whole or a part of the property of the offender or defaulter, and withholding it from him until the requirements of the law had been complied with. This species of distress was called "naam," from nyman, nehman, to takea verb common to the Anglo-Saxon, German, and other cognate languages. The modern distress is the "naam," restricted to the taking of personal chattels; and in its most simple form it may be stated to be-the taking of personal chattels out of the possession of an alleged defaulter or wrong-doer, for the purpose of compelling him, through the inconvenience resulting from the withholding of such personal chattels, to perform the act in respect of which he is a defaulter, or to make compensation for the wrong which he has committed. Some rights to which the law annexes the remedy by distress, have been considered as too important to be left to the protection afforded by the mere detention of the distress (by which term the thing taken is also designated), and more efficacious means of dealing with it have been introduced; and in certain cases a sale of the property taken by way of distress is allowed, if, after a certain interval, the party distrained upon continues to be unwilling or unable to do the act required. Distresses are either for some duty omitted, some default or nonfeasance, or they are in respect of some wrongful act done by the distrainee; that is, the person whose goods are distrained upon. I. As to distresses for omissions, defaults, or nonfeasance.-These may be grounded upon non-compliance with some judicial requirements, or they may be made by private individuals in vindication of certain rights, for the withholding of which the law has entrusted them with this remedy. The process out of courts of record ordering such distresses to be made, is called a writ of distringas, which, when legal proceedings were in Latin, was the word used to direct the sheriff or other officer to make the distress. Another class of judicial distresses is where, upon refusal or omission to pay a sum in which a party is convicted upon a summary proceeding before justices of the peace, such justices are empowered to grant a warrant authorising and directing the levying of the amount by distress and sale of the goods of the offender. Another species of judicial distress is that awarded and issued upon a judgment recovered in an inferior court, not of record. In these cases the execution or remedy for obtaining payment of the sum recovered is by distress. A precept issues to the officer of the court, commanding him to take the goods of the party, and to impound them until he satisfies the debt. Such process issues at the command of the sheriff, or of the lord of the manor, &c., in whose name and by whose authority the courts are holden. So a distress lies, subject to certain restrictions, for fines and amercements imposed in the sheriff's tourn and in a court-leet. [LEET; TOURN.] A penalty inflicted for the breach of a bye-law [BYE-LAW] may be levied by distress, in cases where that remedy is appointed at the time of the making of the particular bye-law. But a bye-law establishing a distress cannot authorise the sale of the distress. Another species of judicial distress is a distress taken for various rates and legal assessments. In the foregoing cases the right or duty withheld has been ascertained by some judicial determination before a distress can be resorted to. But many payments and duties having their origin in feudal rights may be enforced by distresses taken by the sole authority of the parties claiming such payments or duties. The rights, of which the vindication is thus in the first instance entrusted to the parties themselves, are connected immediately or mediately with feudal superiority; and it is observable, that to feudal superiority, jurisdiction and magisterial authority were always incident. Among the feudal duties which may be enforced by distress, at the mere will of the party claiming to be entitled to such duties, one, which though seldom exacted, is still of the most extensive obligation, is fealty. Fealty is a promise, confirmed by an oath, to be faithful in the performance of those engagements into which the party doing the fealty (as the act of taking the oath is termed) has expressly or impliedly entered upon becoming tenant to the party receiving the fealty. A distress also lies for suit of court, secta ad curiam, or the attendance which freehold tenants owe to their lord's court-baron, or freeholders'-court, and which tenants in villenage or copyholders owe to the lord's customary court; and it is not unusual for lessees for years to covenant to attend the lord's courts, though, unless they also fill the situation of freeholders of the manor, they are not qualified to sit as suitors and judges in the court-baron; and unless they are copyholders, they cannot be sworn upon the homage or jury in the customary court. This suit is sometimes called suit-service, to distinguish it from suit real, which is that suit of court which the resiants, or those who dwell within a hundred or a leet, owe to the sheriff's tourn or to the court-leet. [LEET; SUIT.] A distress lies for suit of mill (secta ad molendinum), an obligation, still existing in some manors, to grind at the lord's mill. So for frankfoldage, or a right in the lord to require his tenants to fold their sheep upon his lands. So, if land be holden by the tenure of repairing a bridge, or a highway, or of doing suit to a leet, or filling some office within the leet, a distress will be for non-performance of the service, although no fine or amercement may have been imposed in the court leet. The most important feudal duty for which a distress may be taken is rent. Rent, in its original and still most usual form, is a payment rendered by the tenant to his landlord as an equivalent or a compensation for the occupation of land, &c. Such rent is denominated rentservice. It comes in lieu of, and represents the profits of the land granted or demised, and is therefore said to issue out of the land. To rent-service the law annexes the power of distress, although there be no agreement between the parties creating that remedy. But a rent reserved upon a grant or demise ceases to be a rent-service if it be disannexed from the ultimate property in the land, called in some cases the reversion, in others, the right of reverter. Thus, if the owner of land in fee demises it for a term of years, reserving rent, and afterwards assigns the rent to a stranger, retaining the reversion, or grants the reversion, retaining the rent, the rent being disconnected from the reversion is considered as a branch severed from the trunk, and is called a dry rent or rent-seck, to which the common law annexed no power of distress. So, if the owner of the land, without parting with the land, grants to another a rent out of the land, the grantee having no reversion had only a rent-seck, unless the grant expressly created a power of distress, in which case the rent would be a rent-charge. But now, by statute 4 George II. c. 28, s. 5, the like remedy by distress is given in cases of rent-seck, as in the case of rent reserved upon lease. And as all rents, though distinguished by a variety of names derived from some particular circumstance attached to them, are resolvable into rent-service, rent-seck, or rent-charge, a distress lies at this day for every species of rent, though a practical difference still subsists as to the mode of dealing with distresses taken for the one or for the other. As to the several species of rent, and as to the creation, transfer, apportionment, suspension, and extinction of rents, and as to the estate or interest of the party necessary to support a distress for rent, and the cases in which this remedy may be exercised by the personal representatives of such parties, see RENT. A heriot appears to have been originally a voluntary gift by the dying vassal to his chieftain or lord (herr, herus) of his best horse or armour. It has now become a legal liability to deliver the best animal of the deceased tenant to be selected by the lord, or sometimes a dead chattel or a commutation in money. Where heriot is due by usage within a particular district, in respect of all tenants dying within that district, without reference to the property held, it is heriot-custom; and as there is no particular land charged with the heriot, the lord cannot distrain, but may seize the heriot as his own property, his election being determined by the bare act of seizure. But heriot due in respect of the estate of the tenant in the land is heriot-service; and for this the lord may either distrain upon the land to compel the tenant to deliver or procure the delivery of the heriot due upon the death of his predecessor, or he may choose for himself, and seize the heriot as his own property (the right of property vesting here also upon the election exercised and signified by the seizure). As heriot is something rendered upon the death of a tenant, so relief is a payment made by the heir upon the taking up (relevatio) by him of the inheritance. Strictly speaking, relief was payable in those cases only where the tenure was by knight's service. But the name was afterwards extended to a payment in the nature of a relief made by the heir in socage, by doubling the rent for the first year after the descent of the land,-in other words by paying one year's additional rent. For this latter payment a distress still lies. Toll is a charge or impost upon goods in respect of some benefit conferred or right forborne with relation to those goods, by the party claiming such toll. Tolls of fairs or markets are a duty payable to the owners of the fair or market as a compensation for the mischief done to the soil by the holding of such fair or market. Toll-traverse is a compensation paid in some cases to the owner of the soil in respect of the transit or passage of goods. Toll-thorough is a toll for the transit of goods along a street or highway repaired by the party claiming the toll. Port-tolls, more commonly called port-duties, are tolls payable in respect of vessels coming to or sailing from a port or a wharf of which the parties claiming the tolls, or those from whom they derive their title to such tolls, are the owners. In all these cases, if the toll be withheld, any part of the property chargeable therewith may be seized and detained as a pledge for the payment of such toll. II. Distress because damage-feasant.-Besides distresses for omissions, defaults, or nonfeasance, this remedy is given in certain cases as a mode of obtaining reparation for some wrong done by the distrainee. Cattle or dead chattels may be taken and detained to compel the payment of a reasonable sum of money by way of satisfaction for the injury sustained from such cattle or dead chattels being wrongfully upon property in the occupation of the party taking them, and doing damage there, either by acts of spoliation or merely by incumbering such property. This is called a distress of things taken damage-feasant (doing damage). The occupier of land, &c., is allowed not only to defend himself from injury by driving out or removing the cattle, &c., but also to detain the thing which did the injury till compensation be made for the trespass; for otherwise he might never find the person who had occasioned the trespass. Upon referring to Spelman and Ducange, it will be seen that a similar practice obtained on the continent amongst the Angli, Werini, Ripuarii, and Burgundians. The right to distrain damage-feasant is given to all persons having an immediate possessory interest in the soil or in its produce, and whose rights are therefore invaded by such wrongful intrusion. Thus, not only the occupier of the land trespassed upon, but other persons entitled to share in the present use of the land or of the produce, as commoners, &c., may distrain. But though a commoner may always distrain the cattle, &c., of a stranger found upon the common, it would seem that he cannot, unless authorised by a special custom, distrain the cattle, &c., of the person having the actual possession of the soil. Nor can he distrain the cattle of another commoner who has stocked beyond his proportion, unless the common be stinted, that is, unless the proportion be limited to a certain number. In the more ordinary case of rights of common in respect of all the cattle which the commoner's enclosed land can support during the winter, cattle exceeding the proportion cannot be distrained. Cattle found trespassing may be distrained damage-feasant, although they have come upon the land without the knowledge of their owner and even through the wrongful act of a stranger. But if they are there by the default of the occupier of the land, as by his neglecting to repair his fences, or to shut his gates against a road or a close in which the cattle lawfully were, such negligent occupier cannot distrain unless the owner of the cattle suffer them to remain on the land after notice and time given to him to remove them; and if cattle trespass on one day and go off before they are distrained, and are taken trespassing on the same land on another day, they can be detained only for the damage done upon the second day. Cattle, if once off the land upon which they have trespassed, though driven off for the purpose of eluding a distress, cannot be taken even upon immediate pursuit. The occupier is left to his remedy by action. III. What may be distrained.—In distresses for rent and other duties, that which is taken must be something in which a valuable property may exist. But animals of a wild nature, if reclaimed and become valuable (as deer kept in a private park), may be distrained. Fixtures, not being personal chattels, are not subject to distress. Nor were growing crops subject to distress by the common law; but now, by 11 Geo. II. c. 19, s. 8, distress for rent-service may be made of all sorts of corn and grass, hops, roots, fruit, pulse, or other product whatsoever growing in any part of the land demised. By the common law nothing could be distrained upon for rent or other duty that could not be restored in as good plight as at the time of the distress being taken; and therefore fruit, milk, and other matters of a perishable nature could not be distrained, nor money unless in a bag, because the identical pieces could not be known so as to be restored to the distrainee; nor could grain or flour be taken if out of the sack, or hay not being in a barn, or corn in the sheaf, because the quantity could not be easily ascertained, and they might be scattered or injured by the removal. None of these could be taken as a distress except for damage-feasant, though the same articles when contained in bags, boxes, carts, or buildings might be distrained upon for rent. But now by 2 Will. & Mary, sess. 1, c. 5, s. 3, distress may be made of sheaves or cocks of corn, or corn loose or in the straw, or hay lying or being in any barn or granary, or upon any hovel, stack, or rick, or otherwise, upon any part of the land. Where a stranger's cattle are found upon the tenant's land they may be distrained upon for rent-service, provided they are there by the act or default of the owner of such cattle. If they come upon the land with the knowledge of their owner, or by breaking fences which are in repair, or which neither the landlord nor the tenant is bound to repair, they are immediately distrainable; but if they come in through defect of fences which the lord or tenant is bound to repair, the lord cannot take them for rent reserved upon a lease until they have lain for a night upon the land, nor until after notice given to the owner, if he can be discovered, to remove them. But in the case of a lord not bound to repair the fences distraining for an ancient rent or service, and also in the case of a rent-charge, the cattle may be taken, atter they have lain a night upon the land, without notice to their owner. Things necessary for the carrying on of trade, as tools and utensils, When different portions of rent are in arrear, the landlord may distrain for one or more of those portions, without losing his right to take a subsequent distress for the residue; so, although the first distress be for the rent last due. But if there be a sufficient disdistress to be found upon the premises, the landlord cannot divide a rent accruing at one time into parts, and distrain first for a part and afterwards for the residue. If, however, he distrain for the entire rent, but from mistaking the value of the goods takes an insufficient distress, it seems that a second distress for the deficiency will be lawful, although there were sufficient goods on the premises to have answered the whole demand at the time of the first taking; and it is clear that he may take such second distress upon goods which have come upon the premises subsequently to the first taking, if in the first instance he distrain all the goods then found thereon and for the entire rent, the amount of which exceeds the value of the goods first taken. A distress for rent or other duties or services can be taken only between sunrise and sunset; but cattle or goods found damage-feasant may be distrained at any time of the day or night. or for the maintenance of tillage, as implements of husbandry, beasts of the plough, and sheep as requisite to manure the land, are privileged from distress whilst other sufficient distress can be found. But this rule does not extend to a distress for a toll or duty arising in respect of the thing taken as a distress, or of things connected with it; as a tress of two sheep for market-toll claimed in respect of the whole flock, or of the anchor of a ship for port-duty due in respect of such ship. For the protection of tradesmen and their employers in the necessary transactions of society, property of which the distrainee has obtained the possession with a view to some service to be performed upon it by him in the way of his trade, is absolutely privileged from distress; as a horse standing in a smith's shop to be shod, or put up at an inn, or cloth sent to a tailor's shop to be made into clothes, or corn sent to a mill or market to be ground or sold. The goods of a guest at an inn are privileged from distress; but this exemption does not extend to the case of a chariot standing in the coach-house of a livery stable keeper; nor does it protect goods on other premises belonging to the inn but at a distance from it; and even within the inn itself the exemption does not extend to the goods of a person dwelling there as a tenant rather than a guest. Goods in the hands of a factor for sale are privileged from distress; so goods consigned for sale, landed at a wharf, and placed in the wharfinger's warehouse. Beasts of the plough may be distrained where no other distress can be found. And it is sufficient if the distrainor use diligence to find some other distress. A distress is not said to be found unless it be accessible to the party entitled to distrain, the doors of the house being open, or the gates of the fields unlocked. Beasts of the plough may be distrained upon where the only other sufficient distress consists of growing crops, which though now subjected to distress, are not, as they cannot be sold until ripe, immediately available to the landlord. A temporary privilege from distress arises when the chattel is in actual use, as an axe with which a man is cutting wood, or a horse on which a man is riding. Implements in trade, as frames for knitting, weaving, &c., are absolutely privileged from distress whilst they are in actual use, otherwise they may be distrained upon if no other sufficient distress can be found. By 7 Ann. c. 12, s. 3, process whereby the goods of any ambassador or other public minister of any foreign prince or state, or of their domestic servants, may be distrained, seized, or attached, is declared to be null and void. But the privilege of a domestic servant of an ambassador does not invalidate a distress for the rent, rate, or taxes of a house occupied for purposes unconnected with the service. By the Bankrupt Law Consolidation Act, 12 & 13 Vict. c. 106, s. 129, no distress for rent made and levied after an act of bankruptcy upon the goods of any bankrupt shall be available for more than one year's rent accrued prior to the date of the filing the petition; but the party to whom the rent is due shall be allowed to come in as a creditor for the overplus of the rent due, and for which the distress shall not be available. Where a tenancy for life or at will is determined by death, or by the act of the landlord, the tenant, or his personal representatives, may reap the corn sown before such determination, and therefore such corn though sold to a third person, cannot be distrained upon for rent due from a subsequent tenant. [EMBLEMENTS.] By the common law the remedy by distress was in general lost upon the death of the party to whom it accrued. But the king and corporations aggregate never die; and as the law authorises a surviving joint tenant to act as if he had been originally the sole owner, he may distrain for rent or other services accruing in the lifetime of his companion. The statutes of 32 Hen. VIII. c. 37, and 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 42, have extended the remedy by distress to husbands and executors in respect of rent accruing due to their deceased wives or testators. [RENT.] No distress can be taken for more than six years' arrears of rent; nor can any rent be claimed where non-payment has been acquiesced in for twenty years, 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 27. V. In what place a distress can be made.—The remedy being given in respect of property, not of the person, a distress for rent or other service could at common law be taken only upon the land charged therewith, and out of which such rent or services were said to issue. But this restriction did not apply to the king, who might distrain upon any lands which were in the actual occupation of his tenant, either at the time of the distress or when the rent became due. The The assumption of a similar power by other lords was considered oppressive, and it was ordained by the statute of Marlbridge, that no one should make distress for any cause out of his fee, except the king and his ministers thereunto specially authorised. privilege of distraining in all lands occupied by the party chargeable, is communicated by 22 Car. II. c. 6; 26 Geo. III. c. 87; 30 Geo. III. c. 50; and 34 Geo. III. c. 75, to the purchasers of certain crown rents. At common law if the tenant or any other person seeing the lord or his bailiff come to distrain for rent or other service, drove the cattle away from the land holden, they might be distrained off the land. Not so when the cattle without being driven went off before they were actually taken, though the lord or bailiff saw the cattle upon the land (which for some purposes is a constructive possession). Nor if after the view the cattle were removed for any other purpose than that of preventing a distress. On the other hand, cattle of which the lord or bailiff has no view whilst they are on the land, although the tenant drove them off purposely to avoid a distress, could not be distrained. Under 8 Ann. c. 14, and 11 Geo. II. c. 19, where a lessee fraududis-lently or clandestinely carries off his goods in order to prevent a distress, the landlord may within five days afterwards distrain them as if they had still continued on the demised premises; provided they have not been (bonâ fide) sold for a valuable consideration. Neither the goods of the tenant nor those of a stranger can be trained upon for rent if they are already in the custody of the law, as if they have been taken damage-feasant, or under process of execution. But although the landlord cannot distrain, yet by 8 Ann. c. 14, he has a lien or privilege upon the goods of his tenant taken in execution for one year's rent. [EXECUTION.] IV. Time of making a distress.-Rent is not due until the last moment of the day on which it is made payable. No distress therefore can be taken for it until the following day. And as a continuing relation of landlord and tenant is necessary to support a distress for rent-service, there could at common law be no distress for rent becoming due on the last day of the term. But now, by 8 Ann. c. 14, ss. 6 and 7, any persons having rent in arrear upon leases for lives, for years, or at will, may, after the determination of such lease, distrain for the arrears, provided that such distress be made within six calendar months after the determination of the lease and during the continuance of the landlord's title or interest, and the possession of the tenant from whom such arrears are due. If the possession of the tenant continue in fact, it is immaterial whether that possession be wrongful and adverse, or whether it continues by the permission of the landlord; and if a part only of the land remain in the possession of the tenant, or of any person deriving his possession from the tenant, a distress for the whole of the arrears may be taken in such part during the six months. Where a tenant is entitled by the terms of his lease, or by the custom of the country, to hold over part of the land or buildings for a period extending beyond the nominal term, the original tenancy will be considered as continuing with reference to the land, &c., so retained, and the landlord may distrain at common law for the arrears during such extended period in the lands, &c., so held over, and he may distrain under the statute during six months after such partial right of possession has entirely ceased. And by the 7th section of the latter statute, where any goods fraudulently and clandestinely carried away by any tenant or lessee, or any person aiding therein, shall be put in any house or other place, locked up or otherwise secured, so as to prevent such goods from being distrained for rent, the landlord or his bailiff may, in the day time, with the assistance of the constable or peace officer (and in case of a dwelling-house, oath being also first made of a reasonable ground to suspect that such goods are therein), break open and enter into such house or place, and take such goods for the arrears of rent, as he or they might have done if such goods had been put in an open field or place. To entitle the landlord to follow the goods, the removal must have taken place after the rent became due, and for the purpose of eluding a distress. It is not however necessary that a distress should be in progress, or even contemplated. Nor need the removal be clandestine. Although the goods be removed openly, yet if goods sufficient to satisfy the arrears are not left upon the premises, and the landlord is turned over to the barren remedy by action, the removal may be by a jury deemed fraudulent, and the provisions of these statutes will then apply. The goods of a stranger or of an under-tenant may be removed at any time before they are actually distrained upon, and cannot be followed. Where two closes are let by separate demises and separate rents, though such demises be made at the same time, and are even contained in the same deed, a distress cannot be taken in one close for both rents. If a rent-charge or rent-service also issue out of land which is in |