Editing Distraint (section)

==History==
Article 61 of [[Magna Carta]] extended the law of distraint to the monarch's properties, including "our castles, lands, possessions, or anything else saving only our own person and those of the queen and our children".<ref>{{cite wikisource|Magna Carta (trans. Davis)|at=Article 61}}</ref>

In England in 1267 the [[Statute of Marlborough]] was passed making distraint unlawful without a court order.<ref name="UKMJ1">{{cite web|title=The Statute of Marlborough 1267 [Distress]|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Hen3cc1415/52/1/contents|publisher=The National Archives|location=United Kingdom|at=Section I|date=1267|access-date=21 June 2020 }}</ref><ref name="LCUK1">{{Cite book|last=Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission|title=Statute Law Repeals: Consultation Paper Civil and Criminal Justice|url=http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/docs/slr_civil_and_criminal_justice.pdf|format=PDF|publisher=Law Commission|location=United Kingdom|section=GROUP 3 - DISTRESS|pages=12–13|date=March 2010|access-date=6 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006114954/http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/docs/slr_civil_and_criminal_justice.pdf|archive-date=2014-10-06|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{Quote|Chapter 1 [of the Statute of Marlborough 1267] provided that all persons "as well of high as of low estate" were to receive justice in the King's court. No individual was to be entitled to seek "revenge or distress of his own authority" against his neighbour for any damage or injury suffered without first obtaining an award from the court.<ref name="LCUK1" />}}

Distress in this context was (and still is) a summary remedy designed to secure performance of an obligation or settlement of an outstanding debt.<ref name="LCUK1" /> First, it was the bedrock of the notion that all citizens, irrespective of rank, were entitled to seek civil justice through the king's court or courts. Secondly, it laid down a prohibition on individuals taking the law into their own hands and seeking remedies (revenge or distraint) without the court's sanction.<ref name="LCUK1" /> That prohibition was reinforced with criminal penalties.<ref name="LCUK1" />