Districtus

I. I.

In old English law. A distress; a distraint; a district; the place within which the power of distraining might be exercised; a person distrained on.

In feudal law. The power of coercion or distress; the jurisdiction of a magistrate or feudal lord; a place within which such^ower or jurisdiction might be exercised.

I. A distress; a district.

Lat. [from distringere, to bind; L. Fr. destresse,'j In old English law. A distress; a distramt; a district. The place or locality within which the power of distraining might be exercised; {quicquid lod in quo distringendi potestatem 49 quis hahet.) Spelman. Hence the English district, (q. v.) The phrase, '* out of his fee," (Fr. hors de son fee,) was otherwise expressed, "out of his district," {extra districtum suum.) Spelman. ' In feudal law. The power of coercion or distress; the jurisdiction of a magistrate or feudal lord. Lib. Feud. 1, tit. 5, § 4. A place or territory within which such power or jurisdiction might be exercised. Calvin Lex. Jurid. Id. de Verb. Feudal. DISffRINGAS. L.Lat. (You distrain.)

In English practice. A writ directed to the sheriff of the county in which a defendant resides, or has any goods or chattels, commanding him to distrain, (Prascipimus tibi quod distringas —, We command you that you distrain;) upon the goods and chattels of the defendant for forty shillings, in order to compel his appearance. 3 Steph. Com. 667. This writ issues in cases where it is found impracticable to get at the defendant personally, so as to serve a summons upon him. Id. A distringas is also used in equity, as the first process to compel the appearance of a corporation aggregate. Stat. II Geo, IV. and 1 Will. IV. c. 36. Wharton's Lex.