Crossword-Solution: NEXUM 5 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 14

What then was involved in this nexum or bond? A definition which has descended to us from one of the Latin antiquarians describes _nexum_ as _omne quod geritur per æs et libram_, "every transaction with the copper and the balance," and these words have occasioned a good deal of perplexity.

The ancient Nexum still designates the same ceremony, but only when it is employed for the special purpose of solemnising a contract.

Though I have said that Patriarchal Power was not at first distinguished according to the objects over which it was exercised, I feel sure that Power over Children was the root of the old conception of Power; and I cannot doubt that the earliest use of the Nexum, and the one primarily regarded by those who resorted to it, was to give proper solemnity to the alienation of property.

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.

Nexum, therefore, which originally signified a Conveyance of property, came insensibly to denote a Contract also, and ultimately so constant became the association between this word and the notion of a Contract, that a special term, Mancipium or Mancipatio, had to be used for the purpose of designating the true nexum or transaction in which the property was really transferred.