Serf

In feudal law. A term applied to a class of persons who were bound to perform very onerous duties towards others. Poth. des Personnes, pt.

1, tit. 1, a. 6, § 4.

There is this essential difference between a "serf" and a "slave:" The serf was bound simply to labor on the soil where he was born, without any right to go elsewhere without the consent of his lord, but he was free to act as he pleased in his daily action; the slave, on the contrary, is the property of his master, who may require him to act as he pleases in every respect, and who may sell him as a chattel. Lepage, c.

3, art. 2, §2.