its name from the particular form which it had suited
them to adopt. The exceptions to this practice will be noticed
presently.

I have enumerated the four Contracts in their historical order, which
order, however, the Roman Institutional writers did not invariably
follow. There can be no doubt that the Verbal Contract was the most
ancient of the four, and that it is the eldest known descendant of the
primitive Nexum. Several species of Verbal Contract were anciently in
use, but the most important of all, and the only one treated of by our
authorities, was effected by means of a _stipulation_, that is, a
Question and Answer; a question addressed by the person who exacted
the promise, and an answer given by the person who made it. This
question and answer constituted the additional ingredient which, as I
have just explained, was demanded by the primitive notion over and
above the mere agreement of the persons interested. They formed the
agency by which the Obligation was annexed. 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. It has further transmitted the notion of a ceremonial
accompanying and consecrating the engagement, and this ceremonial has
been transmuted into the Stipulation. The conversion of the solemn
conveyance, which was the prominent feature of the original Nexum,
into a mere question and answer, would be more of a mystery than it is
if we had not the analogous history of Roman Testaments to enlighten
us. Looking to that history, we can understand how the formal
Conveyance was first separated from the part of the proceeding which
had immediate reference to the business in hand, and how afterwards it
was omitted altogether. As then the question and answer of the
Stipulation were unquestionably the Nexum in a simplified shape, we
are prepared to find that they long partook of the nature of a
technical form. It would be a mistake to consider them as exclusively
recommending themselves to the older Roman lawyers through their
usefulness in furnishing persons meditating an agreement with an
opportunity for consideration and reflection. It is not to be disputed
that they had a value of this kind, which was gradually recognised;
but there is proof that their function in respect to Contracts was at
first formal and ceremonial in the statement of our authorities, that
not every question and answe