Also known as: esnes · servant · slave · laborer
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A hireling of servile condition employed to perform service in a master's affairs whose physical conduct is controlled or subject to the master's right of control.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Emma Erickson directed Eric Espinoza's every movement while planting crops on her land, specifying the exact depth and spacing for each row. Eric received instructions on the physical sequence of tasks and was corrected immediately for any deviation. Because Emma controlled the details of his physical conduct, Eric qualified as her esne.
Elliot Edmonds, acting as Eva Espinosa's esne, entered a contract on her behalf that exceeded his express instructions. A third party relied on the transaction and suffered loss when it failed. The agency relation alone supplied the power that bound Eva to protect the third party.
Emily Ellis hired Edgar Evers as an esne to harvest timber under detailed daily instructions. When a diversity suit arose over injury caused during the work, the court applied state rules to determine whether the control test established servant status.
Eric Espinoza worked as an esne under a contract that imposed perpetual service. A challenge to enforcement of the arrangement invoked constitutional protections against involuntary servitude arising from the master-servant relation.
Elysium Media retained an esne through a university program that supplied workers for campus projects. The arrangement raised questions whether public resources could support the control relationship without violating speech or establishment principles.
Emma Erickson claimed that state law treated her worker as an esne because of the right to control physical tasks. In federal court the classification turned on whether the state rule was substantive for diversity purposes.
An esne is subject to the master's right to control the physical details of the work performed. An independent contractor retains discretion over the manner of performance and is not subject to that control.
Yes. Inherent agency power arises solely from the master-servant relation and protects third parties harmed by or dealing with the esne even when authority or apparent authority is absent.
The test examines whether the master directs the physical conduct of the service or possesses the right to do so. Detailed instructions on the manner and sequence of tasks satisfy the test and establish the relation.
…the office of President, Art. II, § 1, cl. 5; in the Extradition provisions, Art. IV, § 2, cl. 2, and the superseded Fugitive Slave Clause 3; and in the Fifth, Twelfth, and Twenty-second Amendments, as well as in §§ 2 and 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. But in nearly all these instances, the use of the word is such that…