Note 191-9 — Chapter IV

A Prussian law allowing interest even without a contract of rent-purchase as far back as 1385. (Voigt, Geschich. von Preussen, V, 467.) In Marseilles, in 1406, a rate of interest of ten per cent. allowed. (Anderson, Origin of Commerce, s. a.) Likewise in England, 37 Henry VIII., c. 9. In Brandenburg, 1565, 6 per cent. (Mylius, C. C., March, II, 1, 11.) A retrograde step by 5 and 6 Edward VI., c. 20; by which all interest was again prohibited. These laws had, practically, the effect of increasing interest to 14 per cent., and were therefore repealed in 1571. How unnatural the prohibition was is apparent from the fact that by 4 and 5 Philip and Mary, c. 2, the possessor of 1,000 marks was estimated equal to a person with £200 annual income. In Denmark, the taking of interest at 5 per cent. was allowed in 1554, since "although it is contrary to God's command, yet [according to an opinion given by Melanchthon] this commerce cannot be entirely abolished." (Kolderup-Rosenvinge's Dänische R. G., in Homeyer, § 142.) Similar views of the elector Augustus, 1583. (Cod. August 1, 139 ff.)

The German Empire, in 1600, allowed the debtor to contract that, in case of delay, the contract might be declared annulled. In France, on the other hand, even during the 18th century, nearly all loans were made in the form of rent-purchase (Law, Trade and Money, 127), and the creditor could declare the contract void only in case the debtor did not pay him the rent. (Warnkönig, Franz. R. G., II, 585 ff.) For strictly Catholic countries, the prohibition relating to the taking of interest still really remains. However, Leo X.'s bull, Inter multiplices, exempts the so-called monti di pietà, and by this means put obstacles in the way of saving, and promoted real usury. Of this last, Niebuhr, Briefe, II, 399, adduces very striking instances from the Pope's own temporal dominion. In the case of pledge, even 12 per cent. per annum is required. (Rom im Jahr, 1833, 163.) Yet, in 1830, the Poenitentiaria Romana instructed the clergy, without, however, deciding the chief question, not to disquiet people any longer in the confessional who had taken interest. (Guillaumin, Dictionnaire de l'Economie politique, art. usure.) On the Russian Sect, Staroverzen, which still condemns the taking of interest, see Storch, Handbuch, II, 19. By the Russian government it was permitted very early. Ewers, Ältestes Recht der R., 323 seq.