Tlie Agricultural Holdings {England) Act, 1883. 51 
regulating it was passed in the year 1267, but distress had existed 
long before. It was the method employed under the feudal 
system for compelling tenants to pay the rent or perform the 
services agreed upon. The statutes passed seem to have been 
chiefly designed to mitigate its rigour under the common law, as, 
e.g., that distresses should be reasonable ;* that things taken 
in distress should not be removed from the county ; that cattle 
distrained should not be driven out of the hundred, &c. :t that 
no man should be distrained for more service in respect of any 
freehold than was due.j: The lord's remedy was limited to 
the seizure of goods which were held as pledges until payment 
made or service rendered, and could then be returned to the tenant 
without deterioration. In 1689 this remedy was extended to 
sheaves of corn and hay, which at common law could not be 
distrained, but were then allowed to be so taken for rent.§ In 
1737 live-stock, grass, hops, and other produce were included 
among the subjects of distraint. || The origin of a modern rule 
may be found in a statute of the year 1300, that distress should 
not be made on beasts of the plough, nor on sheep, so long as 
there was any other subject of distress.lT 
The abolition in 1880 of the law of hypothec in Scotland 
added to the strength of the feeling that some modification 
should be made in the English law, limiting the six years 
rent for which a landlord could distrain, and also his power 
over agisted cattle and hired machinery. In Scotland, however, 
as the Lord Advocate informed the Committee, a landlord still 
enjoys special protection, notwithstanding the legislation of 1880, 
for, when six months' rent remains unpaid, he may sue for it 
before the Judge Ordinary and obtain a decree of removal 
against the tenant, unless the tenant finds security not only for 
the rent due but for the rent of the next five years. Under the 
law of hypothec, too, a landlord in Scotland might prevent his 
tenants from disposing of their crops before the rent became 
due, a power never possessed by landlords in England. 
From the evidence taken by the Committee it appeared that, 
on the whole, farm-tenants did not favour the total abolition of 
a landlord's right to distrain, but thought it should be retained 
with modifications, on grounds set forth in the Report, the 
most important of which may be thus summarised : — 
1. That if it were abolished, some law or conditions in the 
creation of tenancies more objectionable, and possibly injurious, 
would of necessity be introduced, such as rent paid in advance ; 
* 52 Henry 3, c. 4. 
t 1 Philip and Mary, c. 12, s. 1. 
t 25 Edward 1 (Magna Carta), c. 10. 
§ 2 Williana and Mary, c. 5, s. 3. 
II 11 Geo. 2, c. 19, ss. 8, 9. 
1[ 28 Edward 1, c. 12. 
£ 2 
