It is lawful for a comburgess personally (if there is no bailiff at hand) to attach the goods of a debtor who is trying to avoid him. He must not retain the attachment in his own possession, but immediately bring it to the bailiffs, and attach himself to prosecute the debtor. If he retains the attachment in his possession and the debtor satisfies him for the debt, upon which the attachment is returned to the debtor, all without the involvement of a bailiff, the citizen is to be heavily amerced for taking the law into his own hands.

["Attachment" is used here in two different contexts, although the senses are related; only in the title of the chapter is the more precise "distraint" used, in reference to the seizure of the debtor's goods.]