Definition
A Latin term for a class of original writs directed at servants and masters who violated statutory regulations governing the servant-master relationship. The term derives from the Latin *servientes* (servants) and denominated writs issued in response to abuses within that relationship as regulated by English statute law. These writs were not a single writ but a recognized category of process — writs *de servientibus* — available in the English common law courts to address violations of the labor statutes, particularly those enacted in the aftermath of the Black Death to control wages, terms of service, and the movement of laborers.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers will encounter this term almost exclusively in older English procedural sources and in treatises on writ practice. Its appearance in Bouvier traces directly to the *Registrum Omnium Brevium* (Register of Writs), the foundational catalog of original writs in the English common law tradition, and that lineage is important context.
The significance of writs *de servientibus* lies in their connection to the Statute of Laborers (1351) and its successor legislation, which imposed strict controls on servant wages and mobility following the demographic collapse of the mid-fourteenth century. These writs were the procedural mechanism by which that statutory scheme was enforced in the common law courts. Researchers working in labor history, legal history, or the history of the master-servant relationship will find references to this writ category in discussions of that statutory framework.
A key navigational trap: the term appears infrequently and almost never in American legal sources. It is a term of English procedural law with no direct American counterpart. American dictionaries that include it (Bouvier being the primary example) do so as part of their inheritance of English writ terminology, not because the writs had any American application. Researchers should not expect to find this term in American cases or statutes.
Because the entry is drawn from writ registers rather than doctrinal sources, it carries minimal definitional elaboration in any of the standard historical dictionaries. Bouvier's entry is essentially a one-line gloss pointing back to the *Registrum Orig.* at folio 189 — a reference that presupposes access to the manuscript writ register tradition. Researchers seeking fuller treatment should consult Fitzherbert's *Natura Brevium* or Rastell's discussions of writ categories, where servant-related writs receive more procedural context.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier is the only major American law dictionary to include this term, and his entry is minimal: a brief identification of the writ category as touching servants and masters violating the relevant statutes, with a citation to the *Registrum Originale* at page 189. There is no substantive elaboration, no discussion of procedure, and no American doctrinal context. This reflects the term's status as essentially a relic of English writ pleading practice included in Bouvier for completeness rather than practical American utility.
Earlier English dictionaries of law — Cowell, Blount, Termes de la Ley — give somewhat more context to the labor statutes and their enforcement mechanisms, though none treats the writ category at length. The term belongs to the taxonomy of original writs rather than to substantive doctrine, which explains its thin treatment across the historical dictionary shelf. What the historical sources collectively make clear is that these were enforcement writs tied to specific statutory violations, not general-purpose process for any servant-master dispute.
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Jurisdictional Note
This term has no recognized application in American law. It is a term of English common law writ practice. Researchers encountering it in American sources are reading English procedural inheritance, not operative American doctrine.
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