Slavery and Servitude

Comprehending laws and contracts is impossible, unless we first learn the meaning of the words and phrases they contain.

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notmartha
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Slavery and Servitude

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Easton's Bible Dictionary, Matthew George Easton, 1897:
Slave
Jer 2:14 (A.V.), but not there found in the original. In Rev 18:13 the word "slaves" is the rendering of a Greek word meaning "bodies." The Hebrew and Greek words for slave are usually rendered simply "servant," "bondman," or "bondservant." Slavery as it existed under the Mosaic law has no modern parallel. That law did not originate but only regulated the already existing custom of slavery (Ex 21:20, 21, 26, 27; Lev 25:44-46; Jos 9:6-27). The gospel in its spirit and genius is hostile to slavery in every form, which under its influence is gradually disappearing from among men.

From Anti-Thought-Control Dictionary
SLAVERY

CONTROLLED MEANING: The institution of buying and selling humans (as property), divesting them of all personal rights and freedoms, and using them as forced laborers.

CORRECT MEANING: The above definition (controlled meaning) is partially correct. However, slavery comes by degree as well. One does not have to be a total slave to be a victim of slavery. Each facet of one's life which falls under coercion or forced-performance qualifies as "slavery" ... to that degree. Slavery is any condition wherein an accountable adult is routinely forced or coerced to perform without his consent.

Freedom means not having to perform against your will. When one man forces another to perform to avoid punishment it is slavery. When Black slavery was practiced, they were controlled by threat of beatings and/or killing. Today, most slaves are White and they are controlled by threat of punishment, violence, prison, property confiscation, fines, etc. Thus, in order to avoid these damages, Whites perform and pay fees ... against their will.

The ideal slavery, from the masters' view point, is when the majority of the slaves think they are free, and they ridicule, demonize, coerce and inform the police of the few who don't willingly perform.

"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free." — Von Goethe
13th Amendment of U.S. Constitution:
Section 1 -- Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, EXCEPT as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly CONVICTED, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2 --- Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
In Webster’s 1828, “slave” and “slavery” are defined as:
SLAVE, noun

1. A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no will of his own, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another. In the early state of the world, and to this day among some barbarous nations, prisoners of war are considered and treated as slaves. The slaves of modern times are more generally purchased, like horses and oxen.

2. One who has lost the power of resistance; or one who surrenders himself to any power whatever; as a slave to passion, to lust, to ambition.

3. A mean person; one in the lowest state of life.

4. A drudge; one who labors like a slave

SLA'VERY, noun

1. Bondage; the state of entire subjection of one person to the will of another. Slavery is the obligation to labor for the benefit of the master, without the contract of consent of the servant. Slavery may proceed from crimes, from captivity or from debt. Slavery is also voluntary or involuntary; voluntary, when a person sells or yields his own person to the absolute command of another; involuntary, when he is placed under the absolute power of another without his own consent. Slavery no longer exists in Great Britain, nor in the northern states of America.

2. The offices of a slave; drudgery.
In Bouvier’s Dictionary of Law, 1856, “slave” and “slavery” are defined as:
SLAVE.

1. A man who is by law deprived of his liberty for life, and becomes the property of another.

2. A slave has no political rights, and generally has no civil rights. He can enter into no contract unless specially authorized by law; what he acquires generally, belongs to his master. The children of female slaves follow the condition of their mothers, and are themselves slaves.

3. In Maryland, Missouri and Virginia slaves are declared by statute to be personal estate, or treated as such. In Kentucky, the rule is different, and they are considered real estate.

4. In general a slave is considered a thing and not a person; but sometimes he is considered as a person; as when he commits a crime; for example, two white persons and a slave can commit a riot. See Person.

5. A slave may acquire his freedom in various ways:

By manumission, by deed or writing, which must be made according to the laws of the state where the master then acts. The deed may be absolute which gives immediate freedom to the slave, or conditional giving him immediate freedom, and reserving a right of service for a time to come; or giving him his freedom as soon as a certain condition shall have been fulfilled.

By manumission by will. When there is an express emancipation by will, the slave will be free, and the testator's real estate shall be charged with the payment of his debts, if there be not enough personal property without the sale of the slaves. The manumission by will may be implied, as, where the master devises property real or personal to his slave.

By the removal of the slave with the consent of the master, animo morandi, into one of the United States where slavery is forbidden by law; or when he sojourns there longer than is allowed by the law of the state.

SLAVERY.

1. The state or condition of a slave.

2. Slavery exists in most of the southern states. In Pennsylvania, by the act of March, 1780, for the gradual abolition of slavery, it has been almost entirely removed in Massachusetts it was held, soon after the Revolution, that slavery had been abolished by their constitution; in Connecticut, slavery has been totally extinguished by legislative provisions; the states north of Delaware, Maryland and the river Ohio, may be considered as free States, where slavery is not tolerated.
In Webster’s 1828, “servitude” is defined as:
SERV'ITUDE, noun

1. The condition of a slave; the state of involuntary subjection to a master; slavery; bondage. Such is the state of slaves in America. A large portion of the human race is in servitude.

2. The state of a servant. [Less common and less proper.]

3. The condition of a conquered country.

4. A state of slavish dependence. Some persons may be in love with splendid servitude.

5. Servants, collectively. [Not in use.]
In Bouvier’s Dictionary of Law, 1856, “servitude” is defined as:
SERVITUDE, civil law.

1. A term which indicates the subjection of one person to another person, or of a person to a thing, or of a thing to a person, or of a thing to a thing.

2. Hence servitudes are divided into real, personal, and mixed.

Real Servitude - a charge laid on an estate for the use and utility of another estate belonging to another proprietor. When used without any adjunct, the word servitude means a real servitude.

Personal Servitude - the subjection of one person to another. If it exists in the right of property which a person exercises over another, it is slavery. When the subjection of one person to another is not slavery, it consists simply in the right of requiring of another what he is bound to do, or not to do; this right arises from all kinds of contracts or quasi contracts.

Mixed Servitudes - The subjection of persons to things or of things to persons, are mixed servitudes.
Black's Law Dictionary, 1st Edition
SERVITUDE.

1. The condition of being bound to service; the state of a person who is subjected, voluntarily or otherwise, to an
other person as his servant.
2. A charge upon one estate for the benefit of another. A species of incorporeal right derived from the civil law, resembling and answering to the easement of the common law. 3 Kent, Comm. 434.
SLAVE.

A person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one who has no freedom of action, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another.

One who is under the power of a master, and who belongs to him; so that the master may sell and dispose of his person, of his industry, and of his labor, without his being able to do anything, have anything, or acquire anything, but what must belong to his master. Civil Code La. art. 35.
SLAVE-TRADE.

The traffic in slaves, or the buying and selling of slaves for profit.
SLAVERY.

The condition of a slave; that civil relation in which one man has absolute power over the life, fortune, and liberty of another.
Refer to this thread re purported 13th amendment.
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notmartha
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Re: Slavery and Servitude

Post by notmartha »

Good article about Slaves and Servants from His Holy Church can be downloaded here:
http://www.hisholychurch.org/study/bklt ... vantss.pdf
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