abilities are confined to the conferring of interests, for infants and married women are capable of receiving gifts of land or other property. Married women, acting under and in conformity to powers, since the 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74, by deed executed under the provisions of that statute, may convey lands. Infants, lunatics, and idiots, being trustees, and having no beneficial interest in the property vested in them, are by various statutes enabled to do the necessary legal acts as to such property under the direction of the Court of Chancery. Particular disabilities also are created by some statutes; as, for instance, Roman Catholics, by the 10 Geo. IV. c. 7 (the Emancipation Act), are disabled from presenting to a benefice; and foreigners (although naturalized) cannot hold offices or take grants of land under the crown. (Cowel's Interp.; Termes de la Ley.) DISCOUNT, a sum of money deducted from a debt in consideration of its being paid before the usual or stipulated time. The circumstance on which its fairness is founded is, that the creditor, by receiving his money before it comes due, has the interest of the money during the interval. Consequently he should only receive so much as, put out to interest during the period in question, will realize the amount of his debt at the time when it would have become due. For instance, 1007. is to be paid at the end of three years; what should be paid now, interest being 4 per cent.? Here it is evident that if we divide the whole debt into 112 (or 100+3X4) parts, 100 of these parts will make the other 12 in three years (at simple interest), whence the payment now due is the 112th part of 10,000l., or 891. 58. 9d. The rule is, n being the number of years (a fraction or number and fraction), r the rate per cent., and D the sum due, where e is the rate per pound (not per cent. thus it is 04 for 4 per cent.). But recourse is usually had to the tables of present values which accompany all works on annuities or compound interest. The name of discount is also applied to certain trade allowances upon the nominal prices of goods. In some branches of trade these allowances vary according to the circumstances which affect the markets, and what is called discount is in fact occasioned by fluctuations in prices which it is thought convenient to maintain nominally at unvarying rates. This system is practised in some branches of wholesale haberdashery business, and we have now before us a list of prices furnished to his customers by a manufacturer of tools at Sheffield, in which the nominal price of each article is continued the same at which it has stood for many years, while to every different species of tool there is applied a different and a fluctuating rate of discount, this fluctuation constituting in fact a difference of price between one period and another: the rates of discount in this list vary from of the different articles. 5 to 40 per cent. upon the nominal prices The term discount is also employed to signify other mercantile allowances, such for example as the abatement of 12 per cent. made upon the balances which underwriters, or insurers of sea risks, receive at the end of the year from the brokers by whom the insurances have been effected. The word discount is further used, in contradistinction to premium, to denote the diminution in value of securities which are sold according to a fixed nominal value, or according to the price they may have originally cost. If, for example, a share in a canal company upon which 100l. has been paid is sold in the market for 981., the value of the share is stated to be at 2 per cent. discount. DISCOUNT BROKER. [BROKER.] 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, nehmen, to take a verb common to the Anglo-Saxon, German, and other cognate languages. The modern distress is the "naam," restricted in 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 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. The subject of distress is one of great extent, and in the English law involves a great number of particular cases. Under the head of Distress for Omissions, the most important among the feudal duties for which a distress may be taken is Rent Rent, in its original and still most usual form, is a payment agreed to be made by the tenant to his landlord as an equivalent or a compensation for the occupation of land or a house. Such rent is denominated rent-service. 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 may be no agreement between the parties as to distress. But a rent reserved upon a grant or demise ceases to be a rent-service if it be separated from the ultimate property in the land, generally called the reversion. 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 rentseck, to which the common law annexed no power of distress. In like manner, 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 Geo. II. c. 28, § 5, the like remedy by distress is given in cases of rent-seck, as in the case of rent reserved upon lease. 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, and there may now be a distress 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. There may also be distress for Heriots and Tolls. There is also Distress for Damage done, which is called Distress for Damagefeasant. Cattle or dead chattels may be taken and be 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 is allowed not only to defend himself from damage by driving out or removing the cattle, but also to detain the thing which did the injury till compensation be made for 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 who have 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 cattle, &c. of a stranger found upon the common, it would seem that he cannot, unless authorized by a special custom, distrain the cattle, &c. of the person who has 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, i. e. 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 must get satisfaction for the damage by action. Things necessary for the carrying on of trade, as tools and utensils,-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 distress 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, 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; and also 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, by 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. 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. 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. 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 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 27). 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 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 authorized. The 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. Under 8 Ann. c. 14, and 11 Geo. II. c. 19, where a lessee fraudulently 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 con sideration. 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 is fraudulent and the provisions of these statutes may be resorted to. These provisions apply to the goods of the tenant only. The goods of a stranger or of an undertenant may be removed at any time before they are actually distrained upon, and cannot be followed. The landlord may enter a house to distrain if the outer door be open, although there be other sufficient goods out of the house. It is not lawful to break open outer doors or gates; but if the outer door be open, an inner door may be forced. If the landlord, having distrained, is | training shall and may, with the sheriff forcibly expelled, he may break open or under-sheriff, or with the constable of outer doors or gates in order to retake the place, cause the goods to be appraised the distress. If a window be open, a dis- by two sworn appraisers, and after such tress within reach may be taken out at appraisement may sell the goods distrained towards satisfaction of the rent, and of the charges of distress, appraise it. the hands of the sheriff, under-sheriff, or constable, for the owner's use." At common law a distress might be taken for rent in a street or other high-ment, and sale, leaving any surplus in way being within the land demised. But now, by the statute of Marlbridge, private persons are forbidden to take distresses in the highway. This statute applies only to distresses for rent or for services, and not to toll. Nor does the statute make the distress absolutely void; for though the tenant may lawfully rescue cattle distrained in the highway, or may bring his action on the case upon the statute, yet if he brings trespass or replevin, it seems to be no answer to a justification or an avowry made in respect of the rent. A distress may be made either by the party himself or his agent, and as distresses in manors were commonly made by the bailiff of the manor, any agent authorized to distrain is called a bailiff. The authority given to the bailiff is usually in writing, and is then called a warrant of distress; but a verbal authority, and even the subsequent adoption of the act by the party on whose behalf the distress is made, is sufficient. In order that the distrainee may know what is included in the distress, an inventory of the goods should be delivered, accompanied, in the case of a distress for rent, by a notice stating the object of the distress, and informing the tenant that unless the rent and charges be paid within five days, the goods and chattels will be sold according to law. This notice is required by 2 W. & M. sess. i. c. 5, § 2, which enacts, "where any goods shall be distrained for rent due upon any demise, lease, or contract, and the tenant or owner of the goods shall not, within five days next after such distress taken, and notice thereof with the cause of such taking, left at the chief mansion house, or other most notorious place on the premises, replevy the same, with sufficient security to be given to the sheriff,-that after such distress and notice and expiration of the five days, the person dis At common law, goods distrained were, within a reasonable time, to be removed to and confined in an enclosure called a pound, which is either a pound covert, i. e. a complete enclosure, or a pound overt, an enclosure sufficiently open to enable the owner to see, and if necessary, to feed the distress, the former being proper for goods easily removed or injured, the latter for cattle; and by 5 & 6 Will. IV. c. 59, § 4, persons impounding cattle or animals in a common open or close pound, or in enclosed ground, are to supply them with food, &c., the value of which they may recover from the owner. By 11 Geo. II. c. 19, § 10, goods distrained for any kind of rent may be impounded on any part of the tenant's ground, to remain there five days, at the expiration of which time they are to be sold, unless sooner replevied. The landlord is not however bound to remove the goods immediately after the expiration of the five days; he is allowed a reasonable time for selling. After the lapse of a reasonable time he is a trespasser if he retain the goods on the premises without the express assent of the tenant, which assent is generally given in writing. The 1 & 2 Ph. & M. c. 12, requires that no distress of cattle be removed out of the hundred, except to a pound overt in the same county, not above three miles from the place where such distress is taken, and that no cattle or other goods distrained at one time be impounded in several places, whereby the owner would be obliged to sue out several replevins. The 2 Will. & Mary, sess. 1, c. 5, § 3, directs that corn, grain, or hay distrained be not removed, to the damage of the owner, out of the place where the same shall be found or seized, but be kept there until replevied or sold; and 11 |