Evolution of Servant Laws in the Habsburg Empire

Abstract:

The evolution of the legal status of servants in Europe is a sparsely researched field. Concentrating on the case of the Habsburg Empire since the sixteenth century, this article emphasizes the importance of considering the evolution of servant laws in discussions about protective legislation for servants. This article argues that the issue of granting rights and protections to servants has always pivoted on the definition of their status in society. Since servants occupied an intermediary position on the freedom scale, the control of people who occupied this position—not slave, yet not entirely free—has been a point of concern for several centuries. Research on how servant laws have historically contributed to the survival of paternalistic attitudes that cripple the rights and freedoms of servants is essential to understanding the more complex parameters of race, gender, and class that govern the lives of this category of predominantly migrant, minority, and female labor.