serf. Hist. A person in a condition of feudal servitude, bound to labor at the will of a lord; a villein. • Serfs differed from slaves in that they were bound to the native soil rather than being the absolute property of a master. “As the categories became indistinct, the more abject varieties of slavery […]
enfranchise, vb. 1. To grant voting rights or other rights of citizenship to (a person or class). 2. To set free, as from slavery.
Emancipation Proclamation. An executive proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declaring that all persons held in slavery in designated states and districts were freed.
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emancipate, vb. 1. To set free from legal, social, or political restraint; esp., to free from slavery or bondage. [Cases: Slaves 23.] 2. To release (a child) from the control, support, and responsibility of a parent or guardian. [Cases: Child Support 386–392; Parent and Child 16. C.J.S. Parent and Child §§ 13–37, 158, 180, 183–184,
enfranchisement (en-fran-chiz-m[schwa]nt or -chIz-m[schwa]nt), n. 1. The granting of voting rights or other rights of citizenship to a class of persons. [Cases: Elections 59. C.J.S. Elections § 16.] 2. The act of making free, as from slavery.
abolition. 1. The act of abolishing. 2. The state of being annulled or abrogated. 3. (usu. cap.) The legal termination of slavery in the United States. [Cases: Slaves 24. C.J.S. Peonage §§ 3–5.] 4. Civil law. Withdrawal of a criminal accusation; a sovereign’s remission of punishment for a crime. 5. Hist. Permission granted to the
nexum (nek-s[schwa]m), n. [Latin] Roman law. A transaction or practice of early Roman law under which a debtor, upon a failure to repay the debt, could be seized and held in bondage until the debt was repaid. • This practice was allowed in very early Roman law. “Nexum. This highly controversial matter will be briefly
liberate (lib-[schwa]-ray-tee), n. [Law Latin] Hist. 1. A chancery writ to the Exchequer ordering the payment of an annual pension or other sum. 2. A writ to the sheriff authorizing delivery of any property given as bond and then taken when a defendant forfeited a recognizance. 3. A writ to a jailer ordering delivery of
The employment of workers under the age of majority. • This term typically focuses on abusive practices such as exploitative factory work; slavery, sale, and trafficking in children; forced or compulsory labor such as debt bondage and serfdom; and the use of children in prostitution, pornography, drug-trafficking, or anything else that might jeopardize their health,
Thirteenth Amendment. The constitutional amendment, ratified in 1865, that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. [Cases: Constitutional Law 83(2). C.J.S. Constitutional Law §§ 482–486.] “The thirteenth amendment is fairly unique in two respects. First, it contains an absolute bar to the existence of slavery or involuntary servitude; there is no requirement of ‘state action.’ Thus it
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