Legal Term: DOMESTICS

Definition: Those who reside in the same house with the master they serve the term does not extend to workmen or laborers employed out of doors. 5 Binn. R. 167, Merl. Rep. h. t. The Act of Congress of April 30, 1790, s. 25, uses the word domestic in this sense. 2. Formerly, this word was used to designate those who resided in the house of another, however exalted their station, andwho performed services for him. Voltaire, in writing to the French queen, in 1748, says) " Deign to consider, madam, that I am one of the domestics of the king, and consequently yours, lily companions, the gentlemen of the king," &c. 3. Librarians, secretaries, and persons in such honorable employments, would not probably be considered domestics, although they might reside in the house of their respective employers. 4. Pothier, to point out the distinction between a domestic and a servant, gives the following example: A literary man who lives and lodges with you, solely to be your companion, that you may profit by his conversation and learning, is your domestic, for all who live in the same house and eat at the same table with the owner of the house, are his domestics, but they are not servants. On the contrary, your Valet de, chambre, to whom you pay wages, and who sleeps out of your house, is not, properly speaking, your domestic, but your servant. Poth. Proc. Cr. sect. 2, art. 5, 5, Poth. Ob. 710, 828, 9 Toull. n. 314, H. De Pansey, Des Justices de Paix, c. 30, n. 1. Vide Operative, Servant.

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