Editing Debt bondage (section)

====Ancient Rome====
{{Main|Nexum}}

''[[Nexum]]'' was a debt bondage contract in the early [[Roman Republic]]. Within the [[Roman law|Roman legal system]], it was a form of ''[[mancipatio]]''. Though the terms of the contract would vary, essentially a free man pledged himself as a bond slave (''nexus'') as surety for a loan. He might also hand over his son as collateral. Although the bondsman might be subjected to humiliation and abuse, as a [[Roman citizenship|legal citizen]] he was supposed to be exempt from [[corporal punishment]]. ''Nexum'' was abolished by the ''[[Lex Poetelia Papiria]]'' in 326 BC, in part to prevent abuses to the physical integrity of citizens who had fallen into debt bondage.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Slavery and economy in ancient Rome|last=McKrause|first=Stanford|publisher=Brainy Bookstore Mckrause}}</ref>

[[Roman historiography|Roman historians]] illuminated the abolition of ''nexum'' with a traditional story that varied in its particulars; basically, a ''nexus'' who was a handsome but upstanding youth suffered [[sexual harassment]] by the holder of the debt. In one version, the youth had gone into debt to pay for his father's funeral; in others, he had been handed over by his father. In all versions, he is presented as a model of virtue. Historical or not, the cautionary tale highlighted the incongruities of subjecting one free citizen to another's use, and the legal response was aimed at establishing the citizen's right to liberty ''(libertas)'', as distinguished from the [[Slavery in ancient Rome|slave]] or [[infamia|social outcast]].<ref name="Roman Republic 1971 pp. 56-57">{{cite book | last=Brunt | first=P.A. |author-link=Peter Brunt | title=Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic | publisher=Chatto and Windus | series=Ancient culture and society | year=1971 | isbn=978-0-7011-1630-9 | pages=56–57}}</ref>

[[Cicero]] considered the abolition of ''nexum'' primarily a political maneuver to appease the common people ''([[plebs]])'': the law was passed during the [[Conflict of the Orders]], when plebeians were struggling to establish their rights in relation to the hereditary privileges of the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]]. Although ''nexum'' was abolished as a way to secure a loan, debt bondage might still result after a debtor defaulted.<ref name="Roman Republic 1971 pp. 56-57"/>