House-Elves yet again

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181292

a_svirn wrote in
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/181113>:
> 
> << Yes I can. If I make the binding enchantment illegal, wizards
will have to undo the bondage. (big snip) why should anyone bother to
find and use the countercharm if things are perfectly legal and
convenient (for wizards) as they are. >>
> 
Catlady:
> I feel compelled to nitpick. Just because something is illegal
doesn't stop all people from doing it. <snip> I'm not sure whether you
and I mean the same thing by "find the countercharm". I believe that
the countercharm is not known to wizards and therefore cannot be found
by even the most extensive library research; it must be found by
experimental research, like Muggles finding a new drug for bipolar
disorder or something. 
> 
> If the bondage enchantment on House Elves was illegal while the
countercharm was still unknown, then even the most law-biding wizard,
eager to obey all laws, could not lift the enchantment by
countercharm. His only option for obeying the law would be to give
clothes to the Elf. <snip>

Carol responds:

What if the enchantment can't be made illegal because it's part of the
nature of Elves? I think we already know the counterenchantment:
giving an Elf clothes. And, of course, requiring all Elf owners to
give their Elves would wreak havoc in the WW without some
extraordinary preparations being made first. And suppose that the
countercharm can be undone all over again if an Elf who has been given
clothes agrees to bind himself to another Wizard, voluntarily trading
his clothes for a nice, clean tea towel? All the legislation in the
world can't undo magic.

Carol, not sure why she's back on a thread she's really tired of