ABSTRACT
The regulation of labour conditions in the Portuguese Colonies has been so largely a matter for the home government that it may well be dealt with as a whole, special reference being made, where necessary, to individual colonies. Portuguese legislation to regulate the status of slaves and mitigate their condition, makes its appearance in the eighteenth century, and a long series of laws culminated in that of April 29, 1858, enacting the freeing of all slaves within twenty years from that date. Subsequent legislation has been directed towards the regulation of free or forced labour. The administration is instructed to encourage recruiting by all legitimate means for agricultural or commercial enterprises; officials are also entitled to recruit directly all natives who show themselves refractory to the moral and legal obligation to work. Officials are also permitted to resort to compulsion for labour for public purposes.
