SEQUESTRATOR. One to whom a sequestration is made.

2. A depositary of this kind cannot exonerate¹ himself from the care of the thing sequestered² in his hands, unless for some cause rendering³ it indispens-able that he should resign his trust. Louis. Code, art. 2947. See Stakeholder. Sequestrators are also officers appointed by a court of chancery, and named in a writ⁴ of sequestration. As to their powers and duties, see 2 Madd. Ch. Pr. 205, 6; Blake's Ch. Pr. 103; Newl. Ch. Pr. 18, 19; 1 Harr. Ch. 191.

SERF. During the feudal⁵ times certain persons who were bound to perform very onerous⁶ duties towards others, were so called. Poth. Des Personnes, p. 1, t. 1, a. 6, s. 4. There is this essential difference between a serf and a slave; the serf was bound simply to labor⁷ on the soil where he was born, without any right to go elsewhere without the consent of his lord; but he was free to act as he pleased in his daily action: the slave on the contrary is the property of his master, who may require him to act as he pleases in every respect, and who may sell him as a chattel⁸. Lepage, Science du Droit, c. 3, art. 2, §2.

SERGEANT⁹ or SERJEANT, Engl. law. An officer in the courts of the highest grade among the practitioners¹⁰ of the law.

SERGEANT or SERJEANT, in the army. An inferior officer of a company of foot, or troop of dragoons appointed to see discipline observed, to teach the soldiers the exercise of their arms, and to order, straighten and form ranks, files, &c.

SERGEANT AT ARMS, An officer appointed by a legislative¹¹ body, whose duties are to enforce the orders given by such bodies, generally under the warrant of its presiding officer.

SERIATIM. In a series, severally; as, the judges delivered their opinions seriatim.

SERJEANTY, Eng. law. A species of service which cannot be due or performed from a tenant¹² to any lord but the king; and is either grand or petit serjeanty.

SERVANTS, (negro or mulatto,) Pennsylvania. By the fourth section of the act for the gradual abolition¹³ of slavery, passed the first day of March, 1780, 1 Smith's Laws of Penn. 492, it is "provided that every negro or mulatto child, born within this state after the passing of this act, (who would in case this act had not been made, have been a servant for years, or life, or a slave) shall be by virtue¹⁴ of this act the servant of such person, or his assigns who would in such case have been entitled to the service of such child, until such child attain¹⁵ unto the age of twenty-eight years, in the manner and on the conditions, whereon servants bound by indenture¹⁶ for four years are or may be retained or holden; and shall be liable to like correction and punishment, and entitled to like relief, in case he be evilly treated by his master, and to like freedom dues and privileges, as servants bound by indenture for four years are entitled, unless the person to whom such services belong shall abandon his claim to the same; in which case the overseers of the poor where such child shall be abandoned shall by indenture bind¹⁷ out every such child so abandoned as an apprentice¹⁸ for a time not exceeding the age hereinbefore limited for the service of such children." And by the thirteenth section it is enac-ted, "that no covenant¹⁹ of personal servitude or apprenticeship²⁰ whatsoever²¹ shall be valid²² or binding²³ on a negro or mulatto for a longer time than seven years, unless such servant or apprentice were at the commencement of such servitude or apprenticeship, under the age of twenty-one years, in which case such negro or mulatto may be holden as a servant or apprentice, respectively, according to the covenant, as the case shall be, until he shall attain the age of twenty-eight years, but no longer." See 6 Binn. 204; 1 Browne's R. 369, n.

2. The act requires that a register of such children as would have been slaves shall be kept by a public officer therein designated. The want of registry entitles such child to freedom.