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 few countries that has not found change desirable. France has reorganized her token coins (1864), entered into the Latin union (1865) and adopted the limping standard in 1874. Germany has completely transformed the monetary system hitherto existing in the German States (1873). The Scandinavian union has been set up (1875). Holland has changed her system more than once. Still later, Austria-Hungary (1892) and Russia (1897) have come over from the silver standard with the practical use of inconvertible paper to new currencies on the gold basis. In America the United States, after a series of monetary experiences, has made the gold dollar its standard unit, though the silver complication still exists. Mexico has succeeded in establishing a gold-exchange standard at such a ratio as to induce the import of gold. British India has had its rupee currency put into relation to the English gold unit, and has been followed by the Straits Settlements. Japan first abandoned its ancient currency (1871). It then adopted a double standard system which became in practice a silver one and later passed into inconvertible paper. Finally, it has (1897) established a composite legal tender system on the gold basis. The Dutch Indies have the gold-exchange standard on the same plan as British India.

 MONEY-LENDING, the lending of money on (q.v.). The business of the professional money-lender is one which, as

tyranny and abuse are likely to appear, all countries have at different times endeavoured to regulate. In England the lessons of experience have shown that the abuses of this business are best regulated by a system of registration coupled with relief to debtors against harsh and unconscionable bargains. Other countries however still appear to cling to the belief that it is wisest to fix a maximum rate of legal interest. Thus in Germany the commercial code fixes the legal rate of interest on commercial transactions at 5%. Moreover in that country traders can demand interest on commercial debts from the day on which the debts fall due. In France, again, the Code fixes the rate of interest on ordinary loans at 5%, and on commercial transactions at 6%. In the United States of America the law relating to the lending of money on usury varies in the different states. All the states have what is called a “legal rate” of interest; and when no rate of interest is specified in the contract between the parties, there is a presumption that the borrower has agreed to pay the legal rate. This legal rate varies from 5% in Louisiana to 8% in Wyoming; in the Eastern states it is generally 6%. Some of the states have usury laws giving relief to borrowers in cases where circumstances have compelled them to agree to extortionate rates; but other states have no such laws, except that a contract in writing is invariably required in all cases where the “legal rate” is exceeded.

Practically every form of investment in which a man is capable of indulging involves the lending and borrowing of money, the interest exacted being the profit which the lender receives for the use of his capital. The existence of the professional lender, as apart from the ordinary facilities for borrowing money on good security, is obviously due to the fact that it is not every borrower who is in a position to give good security for a loan. Where the security is bad the market is narrowed; the individuals who are prepared to lend the money on merely personal security require a high rate of interest.

The first people to practise the profession of money-lending in England regularly were the Jews, and the business has remained largely in their hands, though they are in the habit of trading under assumed names. The Norman and Angevin kings were fully alive to the advantages which accrued to the people through borrowing at usury from the Jews, but they were also alive to the advantages which they themselves were able to reap by extorting from the Jews the wealth which the latter had acquired from the people. The Jews were regarded as the king’s serfs, and squeezing them was but a popular form of taxing the people. Indeed in the reign of Henry II. the Scaccarium Judaeorum was established as a separate branch of the exchequer and used for the purpose of filling the royal coffers. The English people on the other hand were not so prone to foster the money-lending business. Sections 10 and 11 of Magna Carta provided that when a person died owing money to a Jew no interest should accrue during the minority of the heir, and further that the widow should be entitled to her dower, and any children who were minors should be provided with necessaries before the repayment of the loan. Then followed a large number of statutes known generally as the Usury Laws (see also ). The first of these was passed in 1235 (20 Hen. III. c. 5). The acts were directed to restrain the lending of money at usurious rates. The earlier ones in some cases prohibited the lending of money on usury at all, as in a statute of Jewry of the reign of Edward I.; but the later statutes were chiefly confined to limiting the rate of interest. Thus 21 Jac. I. c. 17 declared void all contracts where the interest was more than 8%. In 1818 a select committee of the House of Commons was appointed to consider the Usury Laws and in 1841 a similar committee of the House of Lords was appointed. As a result an act was passed in 1854 (17 & 18 Vict. c. 90) whereby all the existing laws against usury were repealed.

The question whether any interest is payable or not, and also the amount of such interest, depends on whether the parties to the transaction have expressly or impliedly agreed to the payment of interest by the borrower; for apart from such agreement no interest can lawfully be demanded on a loan.