Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/435

* DOMESTIC RELATIONS. 373 DOMESTIC SERVICE. between the members of a family or household; and the law of domestic relations is the group of rules which define and regulate the rights and duties of these members. The separate grouping of these rules is a matter of conveni- ence, rather than the result of an attempt at logical classification. Indeed, every treatise on this topic contains a large aniounb of material that is taken bodily from the law of agency, of contract, and of tort. In other words, the law of the domestic relations is not in all its parts a distinct and independent branch of the law, but is made up in large part of legal rules from several branches of the law. As thus conceived, it forms a part of the law of persons, in which the ordinary legal relations are varied by the ab- normal status of persons under the various de- grees of disability or of legal privilege to which the members of a family are sut)ject. But it also includes the rights arising out of the status of the various family relations, as marriage and divorce, tha rights of children against their par- ents, and the like. The topics ordinarily dis- cussed under this general heading, are those of husband and wife, parent and child, guardian and ward, master and servant. It is admitted that the last of these topics carries the discus- sion far beyond the limits of the modern family or household. For this reason some recent writers on domestic relations have dropped this topic entirely, or limited their consideration of it to the rights and duties of domestic servants. The attempt has been made in some States to codify the rules applicable to this subject. This has been done in New York by a statute known as the Domestic Relations Law. Its scope is fairly indicated by the headings of its various divisions, viz.: Unlawful ilarri.iges; Solemniza- tion. Proof, and Effect of Marriage; Rights and Liabilities of Husband and Wife; The Custody and Wages of Children; Guardians; The .dop- tion of Children; Apprentices and Servants. See Gilbert, Domestic Relations (Albany, 1898) ; Rodgers, Domestic Relations (Chicago, 1899) ; Schouler, Domestic Relations (Boston, 1897) ; Tiffanv, On Persons and Domestic Relations (Saint Paul, 1896) ; Laws of Xew York, c. 272 of 1896. See also the articles Gi akdiax : Hu.s- BAxn AND Wife; ilASXER and Servant: Parent AND Child, and the authorities mentioned under these titles. DOMESTIC SERVICE. By domestic service is meant the work done in and about the house to provide for the physical comfort of its occu- pants. It includes the labor of housekeepers, eooks, laundresses, chambermaids, waitresses, nurses, butlers, coachmen, footmen, gardeners, choremen and charwomen, and personal attend- ants. The condition of household sen-ice in diflTerent countries varies according to the roniotoness of the countries from the feudal state of sncietv and industrv. Where the social organization remains aristocratic, there is a class bred more or less definitely to senMce. at least as to mental atti- tude. Where democratic conditions prevail, there is no such class. Yet the relation between cm- plover and employed in domestic labor, even in democratic countries, has not resolved itself as it has in other industries. The personal element remains as between the feudal baron and his re- tainers. The work is done with all the waste of ener^ and material attendant upon individual effort as opposed to cooperation. The industry is altogether in an involved transition state. In ancient times the work of the household was done bv slaves. In modern times it has been very largely done by the women of the house- hold, and by women employed by them as help- ers. To the former fact is largely due the stigma of social inferiority attaching to domestic ser- vice, and to the latter its uncertain standing as an industry. The social status of the household servant is ever.vwhcre about the same; but as the demo- cratic form of government is approached the social inferiority which service involves becomes more and more dreaded and despised, and the marks of it more abhorrent to the servant. For instance, it is often difficult to persuade a maid or a nurse in the United States to wear a cap, and English women servants arc beginning to protest against that badge: while German and French ones seem, on the contrary, rather proud of their uniforms. Except where there is a contract specifying other terms, domestic sen-ants in England are hired bv the year. Their wages are payable quarterly. Their master is bound to find them suitable lodging and board. The contract, once entered upon, can be terminated only by a month's notice on the part of the .ser-ant or the payment of a month's wages on the part of the employer. Immediate dismissal may follow the discovery of immorality, theft, disobedience, ex- treme inefficiency, or permanent disabilit.v. The emplo.ver may not legally keep back money from the servant's wages for any breakage, damage, or loss on the part of the servant. In Germany a two weeks' notice is suflicient to end the service. The emplo.ver there is obliged, at the termination of a servant's emplojinent in his house, to register with the police authorities a letter defining the record of the emplo.vee while in his service. This is filed in the police book ; and as premiums are paid by masters and mis- tresses for the sen-ants having the best police- book records, it becomes a matter of moment to the senants to maintain good ones. The objec- tion to this system is that the records are not al- ways entirely accurate, although great care is exercised in the matter bv the authorities and strict rules are made to govern it. Most of the German sen-ants are drawn from the peasant class, coming from the country to the provincial towns, and thence to the large cities. In France and Italy conditions do not greatly differ from those of Germany, except that the police-book system is not used. In France more men are employed for household work, and there is less waste than in any other country. Ital.y and Spain approach more nearly to the feudal system of domestic service. In Russia, in the country regions, the feudal system prevails. For a piece of Innd — about two acres — out of the estate, one cow, and the priv- ilege of raising as many pigs and chickens as the serving famil.v desires, a landed proprietor ma.v obtain whole villages of retainers, the senices of all of whom are his at his need. In Saint Petersburg most of the household servants are Finns. Here also enough of the feudal .s.vstem re- mains to make it no uncommon thing for a serv- ant to remain twenty years in one family's em- ploy. In the United States, the earliest white serv-