Pufendorf: On the Duty of Man and Citizen according to Natural Law

1. After the human race had begun to multiply, and the advantage had been realized of having one's domestic affairs looked after by the service of others, the custom was early introduced of admitting slaves [servus] to one's household to perform the required labours. In the beginning slaves probably offered themselves of their own free will; their motive was poverty, or a sense of their own lack of intelligence. They committed their Services to the master in perpetuity, stipulating for a perennial provision to themselves of food and other necessities. Subsequently, as wars everywhere became more frequent, most peoples adopted the custom that prisoners of war in return for their lives be taken into servitude together with any offspring they might subsequently have. However, many peoples have no servitude of this kind in current use, but have all their household tasks performed by wage-earners hired for a period.

2. As there are different degrees of servitude, so the power of masters and the condition of the servants vary.

A temporary wage-earner is owed an agreed wage by his master, and owes him in return an agreed service. In this contract the master has the superior Standing; and so an assistant of this kind is obliged to show respect to the master in proportion to the latter's dignity; he is liable to punishment when he does his work badly or negligently, but it should not go so far as to inflict serious physical injury and much less death on the master's own authority.

3. The kind of servant who has bound himself to someone of his own free will for perpetual servitude is owed by his master food and the other necessities of life for ever. In return he has to do whatever Services the master requires and faithfully account to the master for whatever profits he makes. In all this, however, the master will have a humane regard for the slave's strength and skill and will not brutally insist on labour that exceeds his strength. He is subject also to the master's correction, in the sense not only of putting an end to negligence in doing his work, but also of conforming his manners to the dignity and tranquillity of the household.