Exploitation is undefined in law. Thus, it is vital that the necessary and sufficient conditions that govern its application in law are identified. In addressing this need, Hill's normative stance and primary motivation of his exploration of the legal applicability of exploitation theory is used as a starting point:

An exploration of the tenets of exploitation theory is proposed as a way to close this conceptual gap and improve the understanding of the material scope of labour exploitation in law. Indeed, in addition to Hill, legal scholars such as Allain, Jovanovic and Rijken and have already begun this exploration. As noted in the Introduction, the present book complements this research by exploring the implementation of the law in practice, by assessing the judicial handling of exploitation in national criminal cases.

The exploration of exploitation theory in Part I is twofold. Chapter 1 presents a typology of exploitation theories that will then be operationalised as part of the identification of the conditions of exploitation in Chapter 2. These conditions constitute the normative basis of an ‘assessment tool’ that, as Sample posits, can be used to ascertain whether or not certain situations amount to exploitation. This assessment tool will be utilised in the domestic case law analysis in Part III. The findings from which will lead to a final refinement of the necessary and sufficient conditions of exploitation as reflected in the proposal for a conceptualisation of labour exploitation in Part IV. The difficulties of such an endeavour are recognised, particularly due to the normative value and differing moral standards of exploitation. Indeed, others have stopped short of a comprehensive conceptualisation due to the difficulties in the application of definitive and uniform approach when confronted by diverse national practices. As Wolffnotes, any conceptual clarification may well not result in a clearly articulated ‘technical definition’ of exploitation.