Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Mancipium

The right of possession obtained through mancipatio (q. v.), and the possession itself, which none but the head of the family has a right to dispose of. Homines liberi in mancipio are free men, whom their father has given into the power of another man by maneipatio—e. g. in compensation for some damage they have done to the latter. Their position differed from that of slaves in this, that they retained the right of personality, could complain if their masters treated them badly, and regained all the rights of a free-born man on leaving their position of dependence. This was effected in the same way as the liberation of slaves vindicta, censu, and testamento. (See Libertus.) After the repeal of the severe laws making imprisonment the penalty of convicted debtors, the same relation as that mentioned above existed between debtor and creditor until the money was paid. See Nexum.