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''Nexum'' was a debt bondage contract in the early Roman Republic. The debtor pledged his person as collateral should he default on his loan. ''Nexum'' was abolished by the ''Lex Poetelia Papiria'' in 326 BC. == The contract == Nexum was a form of ''mancipatio'', a symbolic transfer of rights that involved a set of scales, copper weights, and a formulaic oath.〔Speake, Graham. ''A Dictionary of Ancient History.'' Basil Blackwell Ltd. Cambridge, Mass: 1994. pp. 392, 436〕 Under the ''nexum'' contract, a free man became a bond slave, or ''nexus'', until he could pay off his debt to the creditor, or ''obaeratus''. Varro derives the word ''nexum'' from ''nec suum'', "not one's own," and although this etymology is incorrect in light of modern scientific linguistics, it illuminates how the Roman understood the term.〔Varro. ''On the Latin Language: Book VII''. Trans. Roland G. Kent. ''On the Latin Language I: Books V-VII''. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1938. pp 359-361〕 It remains unclear whether debtors entered into a ''nexum'' contract initially with their loan or if they entered voluntarily after they could not pay off an existing debt, though the former seems more likely to be the case.〔''The Cambridge Ancient History 2nd Ed. Vol. VII Vol. II: The Rise of Rome to 220 BC.'' Cambridge University Press. Great Britain: 1990. p 215〕 Additionally, there is no single formal ''nexum'' contract that all ''nexi'' entered – it is possible that there were many variations of the ''nexum'' contract, and that the details of ''nexum'' contracts were worked out on a case-by-case basis.〔''The Cambridge Ancient History 2nd Ed. Vol. VII Vol. II: The Rise of Rome to 220 BC.'' Cambridge University Press. Great Britain: 1990. p 330〕 Debt-bondage existed in the early Republic largely as a result of increasing control over the ''ager publicus'', or public land, by individuals who acquired disproportionate wealth and power and distorted the republican ideal of a commonwealth. As farmers and laborers lost access to the land that theoretically was held in common by the Roman people (''populus Romanus''), they were unable to earn a living, and ''nexum'' was resorted to as security for debts.〔''The Cambridge Ancient History 2nd Ed. Vol. VII Vol. II: The Rise of Rome to 220 BC.'' Cambridge University Press. Great Britain: 1990. p 331〕 Despite constraining a free person's liberty (''libertas''), ''nexum'' contracts were a preferable alternative to slavery for debtors, since slaves could be sold or killed by their masters at will. Though ''nexi'' were often beaten and abused by their ''obaerati'', they maintained (if sometimes only in theory) their Roman citizenship and rights.〔''The Cambridge Ancient History 2nd Ed. Vol. VII Vol. II: The Rise of Rome to 220 BC.'' Cambridge University Press. Great Britain: 1990. p 209〕 Creditors might profit more from a ''nexum'' contract, as they received a motivated contractual worker instead of a slave. An indebted ''paterfamilias'', or legal head of the Roman household, might offer his own son for ''nexum'' instead of himself.〔Watson, Alan. ''Rome of the XII Tables: Person and Property.'' Princeton University Press. Princeton, N.J: 1975. p 115.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「nexum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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