Editing Distraint (section)

{{Short description|Seizure of property to obtain payments}}
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{{original research|date=May 2018}}
{{primary sources|date=May 2018}}
{{Globalize|date=December 2010}}
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[[File:Schwingen Pfändung.jpg|thumb|275px|A distraint in progress, depicted in an 1846 painting by [[Peter Schwingen]]]]

'''Distraint''' or '''distress''' is "the seizure of someone’s property in order to obtain payment of [[renting|rent]] or other money owed",<ref>[https://jade.io/citation/1418273 ''Walsh v Lonsdale'' (1882<nowiki>)</nowiki> 21 Ch 9]</ref> especially in [[common law]] countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/distraint?view=uk|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120721224748/http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/distraint?view=uk|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 21, 2012|title=Oxford Dictionaries}}</ref> Distraint is the act or process "whereby a person (the ''distrainor''), traditionally even without prior court approval, seizes the personal property of another located upon the distrainor's land in satisfaction of a claim, as a pledge for performance of a duty, or in reparation of an injury."<ref>Steven H. Gifis, ''Barron's Law Dictionary'', p. 139 (2d ed. 1984).</ref> Distraint typically involves the seizure of goods ([[Personal property|chattels]]) belonging to the tenant by the landlord to sell the goods for the payment of the rent. In the past, distraint was often carried out without court approval. Today, some kind of court action is usually required,<ref>"Distress", Britannica CD 2000</ref> the main exception being certain tax authorities – such as [[HM Revenue and Customs]] in the United Kingdom and the [[Internal Revenue Service]] in the United States – and other agencies that retain the legal power to levy assets (by either seizure or distraint) without a court order.<ref>See ''United States v. Rodgers'', 461 U.S. 677, 103 S. Ct. 2132, 83-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 9374 (1983) (''dicta'') and ''Brian v. Gugin'', 853 F. Supp. 358, 94-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,278 (D. Idaho 1994), ''aff’d'', 95-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH)  paragr. 50,067 (9th Cir. 1995).</ref>