Usury

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Usury \U"su*ry\, n. [OE. usurie, usure, F. usure, L. usura use,
     usury, interest, fr. uti, p. p. usus, to use. See {Use}, v.
     t.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. A premium or increase paid, or stipulated to be paid, for
        a loan, as of money; interest. [Obs. or Archaic]


        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury
              of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that
              is lent upon usury.                   --Deut. xxiii.
                                                    19.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the
              exchanges, and then at my coming I should have
              received mine own with usury.         --Matt. xxv.
                                                    27.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              What he borrows from the ancients, he repays with
              usury of ??is own.                    --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The practice of taking interest. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Usury . . . bringeth the treasure of a realm or
              state into a few ??nds.               --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Law) Interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a
        borrower for the use of money.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The practice of requiring in repayment of money lent
           anything more than the amount lent, was formerly
           thought to be a great moral wrong, and the greater, the
           more was taken. Now it is not deemed more wrong to take
           pay for the use of money than for the use of a house,
           or a horse, or any other property. But the lingering
           influence of the former opinion, together with the fact
           that the nature of money makes it easier for the lender
           to oppress the borrower, has caused nearly all
           Christian nations to fix by law the rate of
           compensation for the use of money. Of late years,
           however, the opinion that money should be borrowed and
           repaid, or bought and sold, upon whatever terms the
           parties should agree to, like any other property, has
           gained ground everywhere. --Am. Cyc.
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  usury
       n 1: an exorbitant or unlawful rate of interest [syn: {vigorish}]
       2: the act of lending money at an exorbitant rate of interest

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  56 Moby Thesaurus words for "usury":
     Cosa Nostra, Mafia, advance, advancement, advancing, bank rate,
     black market, bootlegging, compensatory interest,
     compound interest, discount rate, exorbitant interest,
     exploitation, extortion, gambling, gray market, gross interest,
     highway robbery, holdup, illegal commerce, illegal operations,
     illegitimate business, illicit business, interest, interest rate,
     lend-lease, lending, lending at interest, loan-sharking, loaning,
     lucrative interest, moneylending, moonshining, mortgage points,
     narcotics traffic, net interest, organized crime, overassessment,
     overcharge, penal interest, premium, price, price of money,
     prostitution, protection racket, racket, rate, rate of interest,
     shady dealings, shylocking, simple interest, surcharge,
     the rackets, the syndicate, traffic in women, white slavery
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Usury
     the sum paid for the use of money, hence interest; not, as in
     the modern sense, exorbitant interest. The Jews were forbidden
     to exact usury (Lev. 25:36, 37), only, however, in their
     dealings with each other (Deut. 23:19, 20). The violation of
     this law was viewed as a great crime (Ps. 15:5; Prov. 28:8; Jer.
     15:10). After the Return, and later, this law was much neglected
     (Neh. 5:7, 10).
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  USURY, contracts. The illegal profit which is required and received by the 
  lender of a sum of money from the borrower for its use. In a more extended 
  and improper sense, it is the receipt of any profit whatever for the use of 
  money: it is only in the first of these senses that usury will be here 
  considered. 
       2. To constitute a usurious contract the following are the requisites: 
  1. A loan express or implied. 2. An agreement that the money lent shall be 
  returned at all events. 3. Not only that the money lent shall be returned, 
  but that for such loan a greater interest than that fixed by law shall be 
  paid. 
       3.-1. There must be a loan in contemplation of the parties; 7 Pet. S. 
  C. Rep. 109, 1 Clarke R. 252; and if there be a loan, however disguised, the 
  contract will be usurious, if it be so in other respects. Where a loan was 
  made of depreciated bank notes to be repaid in sound funds, to enable the 
  borrower to pay a debt he owed dollar for dollar, it was considered as not 
  being usurious. 1 Meigs, R. 585. The bona fide sale of a note, bond or other 
  security at a greater discount than would amount to legal interest, is not 
  per se, a loan, although the note may be endorsed by the seller, and he 
  remains responsible. 9 Pet. S. C. Rep. 103; 1 Clarke, R. 30. But, if a note, 
  bond; or other security be made with a view to evade the laws of usury, and 
  afterwards sold for a less amount than the interest, the transaction will be 
  considered a loan; 2 Johns. Cas. 60; 3 Johns. Cas. 66; 15 Johns. R. 44 2 
  Dall. 92; 12 Serg. & Rawle, 46 and a sale of a man's own note, endorsed by 
  himself, will, be considered a loan. lt is a general rule that a contract, 
  which, in its inception, is unaffected by usury, can never be invalidated by 
  any subsequent usurious transaction. 7 Pet. S. C. Rep. 109. On the contrary, 
  when the contract was originally usurious, and there is a substitution by a 
  new contract, the latter will generally be considered usurious. 15 Mass. R. 
  96. 
       4.-2. There must be a contract for the return of the money at all 
  events; for if the return of the principal with interest, or of the 
  principal only, depend upon a contingency, there can be no usury; but if the 
  contingency extend only to interest, and the principal be beyond the reach 
  of hazard, the lender will be guilty of usury, if he received interest 
  beyond the amount allowed by law. As the principal is put to hazard in 
  insurances, annuities and bottomry, the parties may charge and receive 
  greater interest than is allowed by law in common cases, and the transaction 
  will not be usurious. 
       5.-3. To constitute usury the borrower must not only be obliged to 
  return the principal at all events, but more than lawful interest: this part 
  of the agreement must be made with full consent and knowledge of the 
  contracting parties. 3 Bos. & Pull, 154. When the contract is made in a 
  foreign country the rate of interest allowed by the laws of that country may 
  be charged, and it will not be usurious, although greater than the amount 
  fixed by law in this. Story, Confl. of Laws, Sec. 292. Vide, generally, Com. 
  Dig. h.t.; Bac. Ab. h.t.; 8 Com. Dig. h.t.; Lilly's Reg. h.t.; Dane's Ab. 
  h.t.; Petersdorff's Ab. h.t.; Vin. Ab. h.t.; 2 Bl. Com. 454; Comyn on Usury, 
  passim; 1 Pt. S. C Rep. Index, h.t.; 1 Supp. to Yes. jr. 307, 337; Yelv. 47; 
  1 Ves. jr. 527; 1 Saund 295, note 1; Poth. h.t.; and the article Anatocism; 
  Interest.