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.

In Feudal Law. A term applied to a class of persons who were bound to perform very onerous duties towards others. Pothier, Des Personnes. The serf was something more than a slave, yet less than a free man. Except where the lord was concerned, criminal law made no difference between bond and free. In his relation to the state, it is highly probable that he could not act as a judge of free men, unless perhaps in the manorial courts; he could not be a juror in civil causes. He filled lower offices in the manorial courts; he paid taxes and was expected to have arms. Almost always the serf was a born serf; a person born free rarely became a serf. There were no degrees of personal freedom; there was no such thing as mere praedial serfage. The serf could be emancipated by the lord by a charter of manumission, or impliedly by a grant of land to be held freely by the serf and his heirs, for a serf can have no heir but his lord, or by certain acts which treat him as free. He becomes free by dwelling for a year and day on the king's demesne or in a privileged town; by being knighted (but the knighted serf can be degraded when his servility is proved); by entering religion or receiving holy orders. This is a bare outline of what is said (1 Poll. & Maitl. 395-415) to be the law of serfage in the 13th century. See Maitl. Domesday Book 26.

serfe, I fr.

In old English law. A slave.