King s Peace and Eiiglish Peace-Magistracy. 27 



aggrieved to seize the cliattels or other belongings of a delin- 

 quent as a pledge or means for compelling the performance 

 of a duty, the payment of a debt, or the reparation of a wrong, 

 is everywhere recognized in primitive jurisprudence. And as 

 an expedient for facilitating the peaceable settlement of dis- 

 putes instead of a resort to battle, it is only second in interest 

 to the wergeld itself. In modern legal systems private dis- 

 tress either holds a very insignificant place, or else it has 

 entirely ceased to exist. But, stated broadly, the further we 

 ascend the stream of development, the greater does its rela- 

 tive importance become. Thus the Roman pignoris capio, 

 already mentioned, could be employed, as Gains informs us, 

 only in a few specified cases where there seemed to be urgent 

 necessity for speedy action. ^ Here distress appears as a mere 

 survival ; for Roman law is remarkable for its early maturity. 

 On the other hand, in the East, self-redress occupies a much 

 broader field. The code of Manu as interpreted by Brihaspiti 

 prescribes five different modes of private execution in en- 

 forcing the payment of a debt. Violence is sanctioned by 

 the law. The creditor may seize the delinquent debtor, carry 

 him to his own house, and force him by threats and blows, to 

 satisfy the obligation ; or he may compel him to pay "by con- 

 fining his wife, his son, or his cattle, or watching constantly 

 at his door." Only when the obligation ceases to be "mani- 

 fest " and may be contested by the defendant, does private 

 execution cease and the intervention of the courts begin. ^ 



Connected with the custom of " watching constantly at 

 the door" is the form of distress called "sitting dharna," or 

 "sitting in arrest," still practised among Brahminical families 

 of India. This extraordinary " hunger-duel," as it is charac- 



1 "By custom," the soldier could distrain upon his paymaster for his pay; for 

 money to buy a horse; or to buy barley to feed the latter. "The Twelve Tables 

 rendered liable to distress on default of payment the buyer of a victim and the 

 hirer of a beast of burden lent to raise money for a sacrifice " : Gaius, IV, §§ 27-8; 

 Poste, pp. 510-11. Cf. Maine, Early Hist, of Inst., 257 ff. 



2 See the enumeration and a discussion of the modes of procedure authorized 

 by Manu, in Leist, Alt-Arisches Jus Gentium, 473-83; and compare Maine, 

 Early Hist, of Inst., 297-8. 



261 



