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Webster 1913 Edition


Servitude

Serv′i-tude

,
Noun.
[L.
servitudo
: cf. F.
servitude
.]
1.
The state of voluntary or compulsory subjection to a master; the condition of being bound to service; the condition of a slave; slavery; bondage; hence, a state of slavish dependence.
You would have sold your king to slaughter,
His princes and his peers to
servitude
.
Shakespeare
A splendid
servitude
; . . . for he that rises up early, and goes to bed late, only to receive addresses, is really as much abridged in his freedom as he that waits to present one.
South.
2.
Servants, collectively.
[Obs.]
After him a cumbrous train
Of herds and flocks, and numerous
servitude
.
Milton.
3.
(Law)
A right whereby one thing is subject to another thing or person for use or convenience, contrary to the common right.
☞ The object of a servitude is either to suffer something to be done by another, or to omit to do something, with respect to a thing. The easements of the English correspond in some respects with the servitudes of the Roman law. Both terms are used by common law writers, and often indiscriminately. The former, however, rather indicates the right enjoyed, and the latter the burden imposed.
Ayliffe. Erskine. E. Washburn.
Penal servitude
.
See under
Penal
.
Personal servitude
(Law)
,
that which arises when the use of a thing is granted as a real right to a particular individual other than the proprietor.
Predial servitude
(Law)
,
that which one estate owes to another estate. When it related to lands, vineyards, gardens, or the like, it is called rural; when it related to houses and buildings, it is called urban.

Webster 1828 Edition


Servitude

SERV'ITUDE

,
Noun.
[L. servitudo or servitus. See Serve.]
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.]

Definition 2024


servitude

servitude

English

Noun

servitude (plural servitudes)

  1. The state of being a slave; slavery.
  2. (law) A qualified beneficial interest severed or fragmented from the ownership of an inferior property and attached to a superior property or to some person other than the owner.

Translations

See also


French

Noun

servitude f (plural servitudes)

  1. servitude, thralldom

Portuguese

Noun

servitude f (plural servitudes)

  1. servitude (the state of being a serf or slave)

Synonyms