Usury

1 When you hear somebody mention the word "usury" what comes to your mind?

2 Many Americans say that the Bible condemns usury therefore usury is inherently evil.

3 According to many of these citizens, the inherent evil of usury is proved by the fact that most States of the United States have passed laws against usury.

4 Many of these citizens tell us that usury and usurious interest rates are destroying the nation.

5 Do you agree with these statements?

6 What would you think if someone suggested that all of these statement are false?

7 Regardless of what you may believe right now, there is much to be learned from a close examination of usury, interest, and usury law.

8 When you finish reading this book we think you will understand that not only are most Americans wrong in their beliefs about usury, but that they are dead wrong!

9 The average American today might define usury as “a rate of interest which is so high it is prohibited by law.”

10 This is the definition of usury taught in most schools, it is also the definition given in most newer dictionaries, and it is the definition implied by the context in which usury is used in today’s books, magazines, and media broadcasts.

11 But in spite of its widespread acceptance, this definition is harmfully incorrect.

12 The noun, "usury" is derived from the Latin word "usura", an extension of two other Latin nouns, "usu", or "us" (rhymes with juice) and" uti".

13 In today’s English we find stems from these Latin roots in "utilize", "utility", which are verb and noun forms of use, "useful", and "usual'.

14 When the borrower of a thing pays the lender of that thing for the using up of the thing borrowed, the borrower is paying usury (use-ery) and the lender is receiving usury.

15 Usufrucht — "usu" combined with "frucht", meaning fruit — denotes “the fruit derived from usage” meaning the benefit gained by engaging in an activity.

16 In its modern spelling, "frucht" is seen in expressions like “the fruits of crime must be returned to their rightful owners” and “we are entitled to keep the fruits of our labors.”

17 In general, usury means “the using-up of a thing.”

18 In law or economics, usury is the name for the payment made for an opportunity to derive benefit or fruit from using-up a thing.

19 The following hypothetical transactions are good illustrations of usury in practical settings.

20 Suppose a little boy loans his favorite rock to a schoolmate, and at the end of the loan period, after returning the rock to its owner, the schoolmate pays him a fee in the amount and substance of one marble.

21 The correct name for this fee — the compensation given to the lender by the borrower for the borrower’s possession and use of the rock — is usury.

22 The amount and substance of the usury in this example, one marble, is the profit derived from the transaction by the rock’s owner.

23 Suppose a man loans one of his horses to a neighbor for three years, and at the end of the loan period, per agreement, the borrower gives the lender the following things: (a) the borrowed horse, (b) three more horses each five years old, and (c) four pigs.

24 In (a) the borrower is returning the main or principal thing, the capital item, less whatever of its original utility was used-up during the loan period, to the lender.

25 In (b) since a horse’s productive life is about six years, and since the borrower used-up about half of the utility of the horse that he borrowed, three additional horses — each with about one more year of utility left in them — are given to the lender, restoring the three horse-years of utility used-up from the borrowed horse.

26 In (c) the borrower pays a fee in the amount and substance of four pigs for the opportunity he had to derive fruit or benefit from his possession and use of the borrowed horse.

27 In this example, in legal and economic construction, (a) and (b) combined are a return of the capital, or repayment of the principal, of the loan.

28 The four pigs — the profit derived from the transaction by the lender — is the usury.