DOMESTICS. Those who reside in the same house with the master they serve. The term does not extend to workmen or laborers employed out-of-doors. Ex parte Meason, 5 Binn. (Pa.) 167 ; Cook v. Dodge, 6 La. Ann. 276 ; Richardson v. State, 43 Tex. 456 ; Mer lin, ltdpert. The act of congress of April 30, 1790, s. 25, used the word domestic in this sense. This term does not extend to a serv ant whose employment is out of doors and not in the house ; Wakefield v. State, 41 Tex. 556.
Formerly this word was used to designate those who resided In the house of another, however ex alted their station, who performed services for him. Voltaire, in writing to the French queen, in 1748, Says, "Deign to consider, madam, that I am one of the domestics of the king, and consequently yours, my companions, the gentlemen of the king," etc.; but librarians, secretaries, and persons in such honorable employments would not probably be con sidered domestics, although they might reside In the houses of their respective employers.
Pothier, to point out the distinction between a domestic and a servant, gives the following exam pla;--A literary man who lives and lodges with you, solely to be your companion, that you may profit by his conversation and learning, is your do mestic ; for all who live in the same house and eat at the same table with the owner of the house are his domestics ; but they are not servants. On the contrary, your valet-de-chambre, to whom you pay wages, and who sleeps out of your house, is not, properly speaking, your domestic, but your servant.. Pothier, Proc. Cr. sect. 2, art. 5, § 5; Pothier, Obl. 710, 838 ; 9 Toullier, n. 314; H. de Paneey, Des Jus tices de Paix, c. 30, n. 1.