[Y_Y]

There absolutely are laws. England has had laws about paying people in "the coin of the realm" since the 1400s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_Acts

As for revoking children's right to toil, it took a lot longer.

[musicale]

"I owe my soul to the company store."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixteen_Tons