House-Elves yet again

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 181078

 > a_svirn:
> > Oh yes, we do. Kreacher was inherited legally, wasn't he? Of 
course 
> > we don't know exactly what sorts of laws regulate wizarding 
> > inheritance, we are not treated to the equity versus common law 
legal 
> > rigmarole, thank Merlin, but we know the essentials.
> 
> Random832:
> But we don't. That there is legal recognition that they are 
property 
> does not mean that it was laws that made them property - that is, 
there 
> is no indication that laws were passed making them property, in the 
same 
> way as, say, laws were passed forbidding Goblins to use wands. For 
an 
> analogy, say I own an X-Box 360. It is legally recognized that an X-
Box 
> 360 is property, it can be inherited, etc. But this is not a law 
that 
> has been passed by a particular legislature, there is no "X-Boxes 
are 
> considered property act of 1986"; rather, the fact that movable 
> inanimate objects are considered property is something that has 
existed 
> in human society for a hundred thousand years.

a_svirn:
I don't see what it matters. You mean that they did not pass an act 
No. so and so, that proclaims elves chattel property? May be they 
didn't. Then again, maybe they did. It doesn't matter: so long as 
elves are legally recognized as chattel property, they are property 
by law. Law does not necessarily mean acts of Wizengamot, you know. 
Especially if wizards favour Common Law, which I rather think they 
do. 

> >> Carol:
> > Somehow, in the distant past, House-Elves started
> >> serving Wizards, whether voluntarily or otherwise, and somehow 
they
> >> became magically associated with those old families and houses,
> > 
> > a_svirn:
> > We know how. They were enslaved. That's how it is called in 
canon. By 
> > an elf. 
> 
> Random832:
> That doesn't answer the fundamental question of *HOW* they were 
> enslaved. Whether it was their own choice or something forced by 
wizards.

a_svirn:
I have even more fundamental question: why on earth should it have 
been their choice? We know they want to serve wizards and probably 
always have. How does it follow that elves wanted to be bound to 
them? And even if they did want it (from the lack of sophistication 
or for the reasons of security) would it not mean taking advantage of 
them? 

a_svirn.