voluntary peonage

An antithetical expression. Peonage is sometimes classed as voluntary or involuntary, but this implies simply a difference in the mode of origin, none in the character of the servitude. The one exists where the debtor voluntarily contracts to enter the service of his creditor. The other is forced upon the &btor by some provision of law. But peonage, however created, is compulsory service,-involuntary servitude. The peon can release himself therefrom, it is true, by the payment of the debt, but otherwise the service is enforced. A clear distinction exists between peonage and the voluntary performance of labor or rendering of services in payment of a debt. In the latter case the debtor, though contracting to pay his indebtedness by labor or service, and subject like any other contractor to an action for damages for a breach of that contract, can elect at any time to break it, and no law or force compels performance or a continuance of the service. Ex parte Hollman, 79 SC 9, 60 SE 19.