rack rent (rakrent)

n.] A rent raised to the highest po ible limit; a rent greater than any tenant can reasonably be expected to pay: used especially of land rents in Ireland. Some you sand families are. preparing to go from hence and settle themselves in America,... the farmers, whose beneficial bargains are now become a rack rent too hard to be borne, and those who have any ready money, or can purchase any by the sale of their goods or leases, because they find their fortunes hourly decaying. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 19. Rack-rent. is the highest annual rent that can be obtained by the competition of those who desire to become tenants. It is not a strictly legal term, though sometimes used in Acts of Parliament; in legal documents it is represented by "the best rent that can be obtained without a F. Pollock , Land Laws, p. 152. fine."