Nexum
idea · 2 works · 8 mentions · 12 anchored passages
Roman Nexum · nexi
in the texts
Institutes of Roman Law
An archaic Roman legal form for debt bondage, listed alongside Sponsio as evidence of dual customary law systems.
Throughout Roman law there is a curious persistence of dual forms for the attainment of the same end which may be a survival of two distinct systems of customary law possessed by different peoples, the conquerors and the conquered.
The formal obligation of Nexum is confined to money loans.
As a form giving rise to an obligation Nexum was apparently a contract for a money loan (certa pecunia credita);
Ancient Law
The archaic Roman transaction 'with the copper and the balance' that originally covered both conveyance and contract.
There seems to have been one solemn ceremonial at first for all solemn transactions, and its name at Rome appears to have been nexum.
The old Nexum has now bequeathed to maturer jurisprudence first of all the conception of a chain uniting the contracting parties, and this has become the Obligation.
When once we understand that the nexum was artificially prolonged to give time to the debtor, we can better comprehend his position in the eye of the public and of the law.