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Beggar Thy Neighbor
The practice of charging interest on loans has been controversial since it was first mentioned in early recorded history. Lending is a powerful economic tool, vital to the development of society but it can also lead to disaster if left unregulated. Prohibitions against excessive interest, or usury, have been found in almost all societies since antiquity. Whether loans were made in kind or in cash, creditors often were accused of beggar-thy-neighbor exploitation when their lending terms put borrowers at risk of ruin. While the concept of usury reflects transcendent notions of fairness, its definition has varied over time and place: Roman law distinguished between simple and compound interest, the medieval church banned interest altogether, and even Adam Smith favored a ceiling on interest. But in spite of these limits, the advantages and temptations of lending prompted financial innovations from margin investing and adjustable-rate mortgages to credit cards and microlending.In Beggar Thy Neighbor, financial historian Charles R. Geisst tracks the changing perceptions of usury and debt from the time of Cicero to the most recent financial crises. This comprehensive economic history looks at humanity's attempts to curb the abuse of debt while reaping the benefits of credit. Beggar Thy Neighbor examines the major debt revolutions of the past, demonstrating that extensive leverage and debt were behind most financial market crashes from the Renaissance to the present day. Geisst argues that usury prohibitions, as part of the natural law tradition in Western and Islamic societies, continue to play a key role in banking regulation despite modern advances in finance. From the Roman Empire to the recent Dodd-Frank financial reforms, usury ceilings still occupy a central place in notions of free markets and economic justice.
eBook
Justification of the Usury Contract in the Law of the Republic of Serbia: Advantages and Disadvantages
A usury contract is a null and void contract whereby someone, using the condition of another’s misfortune or material hardship, lack of experience, recklessness, or dependency, obtains for himself or for a third party a benefit that is clearly disproportionate to what he or she has given or done in return or committed to give or do. The usury contract violates one of the basic principles of the law of obligations, which is the principle of equality of obligations, in other words, the equality of the value of mutual benefits of the contracting parties. Although the legal definition of the usury contracts (Law on Contracts and Torts, Article 141, paragraph 1) is comprehensive enough, it is not easy for the courts to decide whether one contract is usury or not, i.e. null and void. The subject of this paper is the analysis of the usury contracts through the current case law in the context of the justification of the existence of this institute in the legislation of Serbia, having in mind the division of opinions, and because as much as a party using a person’s difficult material situation is presented in a negative context, the contract of this type is nonetheless a product of the willing action of both parties. The topic of this paper is very sensitive and requires a reasoned methodological approach and analysis. The aim of the paper is also to encourage the affected party in the usury contract to enter into litigation to protect their rights.
Journal Article
Ponzi Schemes as Africa's Twenty-First-Century Shylocks: Complicities in Femi Osofisan's Love's Unlike Lading: A Comedy from Shakespeare and Fires Burn and Die Hard
This article equates the antics of Shakespeare's Shylock with Ponzi schemes in contemporary Africa. Given the paucity of literary works on Ponzi schemes, it focuses on Nigeria to invoke a correspondence between usury and Ponzi schemes, using the former as a metaphor philosophically to account for the latter. Its discoveries afford an intertextual critique of Nigerian author Femi Osofisan's Love's Unlike Lading , its prototype, Merchant of Venice , and Fires Burn and Die Hard . With the background of New Historicism and intertextual theories, this study reconceptualizes Shakespeare's Shylock as Ponzi schemes, which are economic wolves in the dress of a humanitarian lamb, as they take more than a pound of flesh from investors who are effectively complicit in their own predicaments. It signals a place for literature in the quest for authorities and cybersecurity professionals to rid Africa and cyberspace of get-rich-quick schemes.
Journal Article
The Cajun cowboy
Talk about a bad hair day. Louisiana beauty salon owner Charmaine LeDeux has a loan shark on her tail, and Raoul Lanier, the six-foot-three hunk of testosterone she thought she divorced, has just delivered a bombshell: They're still married! At least the rundown ranch they've inherited together is the perfect hideout. It's hard enough for Raoul to play cowboy to a bunch of scrawny steer, let alone suffer the exquisite torture of living with the delectable Charmaine, who's declared herself a born-again virgin. What's a man crazy with desire to do? With the moon shining over the bayou, this Cajun cowboy must sweet-talk his way into his wife's arms again...before she unties the knot for good!
Book
Usury During the Buyid Era
This study addresses the topic of usury during the Buyid period, focusing on the historical and social context surrounding its practice and its impact on local communities. The study delves into the analysis of historical and religious texts that discussed usury, shedding light on the jurisprudential and ethical debates it sparked among various religious and social groups. Additionally, it examines the laws and regulations that sought to organize financial practices during this era and the innovative methods developed to circumvent restrictions on usury, including alternative financing tools. The study concludes with a discussion of the impact of these policies on the economic and social structure and offers recommendations for a deeper understanding of the role of usury in the evolution of ancient financial systems.
Journal Article
Galveston : a novel
After being diagnosed with lung cancer, Roy Cady kills the men hired by his loan shark boss to kill him, and flees to Galveston, Texas, with a prostitute and her young sister, where they face more problems.
Book