The servant, who was not allowed to serve more than one master at a time, should pay the master loyalty, obedience and respect. He should willingly and sedulously carry out the tasks that were “reasonably” (Sw. skäligen) ordered or that “belonged to the position” in question.The duty of obedience was limited by references to morality and fairness and by the customs of the professional category to which the worker belonged.Thus, a servant who had been employed to drive carriage horses could reasonably refuse to clean the barn, and a milkmaid could refuse to scrub rooms outside the dairy. The master had to instruct the servant about his tasks, keep him busy with reasonable work and treat him with kindness, as well as set a good example. He should see to it that the servant attended the state church’s services at least every third Sunday. Under no circumstances was a sick servant to be left without treatment and the master should take care of every worker who had served loyally, and continuously since his 30th year.380 In the following year, 1901, a draft was worked out which also limited its scope to manual workers and thus did not concern such “free” professions as physicians, artists, teachers, etc.According to the drafters, the labour service agreement (Sw. tjänsteavtalet) was a private law contract, which, more than other contracts, was aimed at bringing the parties closer to each other. However, in the case of downing tools the most important sanction linked to private law contracts, namely damages, was not effective, since the workers could not pay a suffcient amount to compensate the employer’s losses. Thus, in this relationship the employer’s interest in controlling the worker’s labour during the contract period appeared more sharply than otherwise and so did the need to prevent the worker from breaking the contract. It was considered as necessary that the legislation expressly p a r t i v, c h a p t e r 8 184 380 Förslag till lag om tjensteaftal mellan husbönder och tjenare afgifvet af dertill i nåder utsedde komitérade (Draft on a Master-Servant Act), Afgifvet 31 oktober 1900. Stockholm1900; Sv. Kom. Bet. 656, pp. 90-91, 110-111.
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