Definition of Impressment

A power possessed by the English crown of taking persons or property to aid in the defense of the country, with of without the consent of the persons concerned. It is usually exercised to obtain hands for the royal ships in time of war, , by inking 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.