DISTRACTIO

Lat. In the civil law. A separation or division into parts; also an alienation or sale. Sometimes applied to the act of a guardian in appropriating the property of his ward. Distraetio bonorum. The sale at retail of the property of an insolvent estate, under the management of a curator appointed in the interest of the creditors, and for the purpose of realizing as much as possible for the satisfaction of their claim. Mackeld. Rom. Law, 5 524. Distraetio pignoris. The sale of a thing pledged or hypothecated, by the creditor or pledgee, to obtain satisfaction of his claim on the debtor’s failure to pay or redeem. Idem. I 348.