Impressment

A power possessed by the English crown of taking persons or property to aid in the defense of the country, with or without the consent of the persons concerned. It is usually exercised to obtain hands for the queen's ships in time of war, by taking seamen engaged in merchant vessels, (1 Bl. Comm. 420; Maud & P. Shipp. 123;) but in former times impressment of merchant ships was also practiced. The admiralty issues protections against impressment in certain cases, either under statutes passed in favor of certain callings (e. g., persons employed in the Greenland fisheries) or voluntarily.

Sweet.