The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-05-01
service Contracts "a. Viewed in Ma.sn-
Cslu-cIi-.

Mr.. EDITOR The closing paragraph of Justice
in your last weeks paper, that ga contract that
permits the service of one hundred or more men to
be put up at auction and sold" Sc, g after the
death of the employer" &c, "is an outrage not
sanctioned by civilization or Hawaiian law, is
worthy of consideration.
As a Hawaiian l propose to examine the question
whether the Courts of my country would be likely to
hold a contract valid, under which such acts are
possible.
The only case which seems to be directly in point,
is n decision OF the Supreme Court of Massachusetts,,
pronounced in November, 1886. in the case of
:. Parsons vs.. Trask.'' 1t was action for damages
for enticing away a servant. The contract for service
was made by Elizabeth Lyka, in Sweden, by which
she, beng u years OF age, - hath bound and put
herself servant unto the said I. Parsons, Jr., to serve
him., his executors and assigns, from the day of the
date hereof, for and during the full term of five
years thence next ensuing, during all which term of
five years the said servant her said master, his exc
cutors or assigns, faithfully shall serve, and that
honestly and obediently in all things, as u good and
dutiful servant ought to do &c.
1t was argued for the plaintiff that the law did not
prohibit an engagement to render personal services
to one wholly unascertained at the time of contract
ing the Obligation, and who is to be ascertained
wholly independent OF the servant ; NlL,-aS III the
case of seamcn, innkeepers, common carriers and
public oficers,-in which cases the service is neither
involuntary nor compulsory because of the prior
consent of the servant.
The Court remark that the Courts of Nassachu-
sets might afford a remedy on an eresuted contract,
lawful in the place of its inception and execution,
though the contract Is against the policy of our laws;
= : but they will not permit parties to execute or
enforce such contract upon our soil, and decide
that the action could not be sustained because the
contract was - uncertain and indefinite as to the
nature and extent of the service to be performed, the
place Of performance and the person to whom it was
to be rendered. &c, being lin substance and
effect a contract for servitude, and with no limitation
but that of time, leaving the master TO determine
what the service should be, and the place where,
and the person to whom it should be rendered"
The Court remark, further "Such a contract, it
Is scarcely necessary TO say, is against the policy of
our institutions and laws. If such a sale of service
could be lawfully made for FIVE years, it might for
the same reasons for ten, and so for the term of ones
life. The door would thus be opened for a species of
seryitude, inconsistent with the first and fundamental
article Of our Declaration of Rights, which, proprio
riggre, not only abolished every vestige of slavery
then existing in the Commonwealth, but rendered
every form Of it thereafter legally impossible
Now to apply this Massachusetts, law to Hawaii
nei \ Chinaman in Hongkong contracts to serve
\. b. - his executors or assigns" for five years.
Both master aud servant come TO Honolulu, and