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1. Perk. § 57.
2. See 3 Rep. 82.
3. Jenk. 109.
4. Co. Litt. 214.
5. Dyer. 30. Bro. Abr. tit. chose in action. 1 & 4.
6. 3 P. Wms. 199.
7. Inst. 3. 14. 2.
8. In omnibus contractibus, sive nominates sive innominatis, permutatio continetur. [In all contracts, there must be something given in exchange, something that is mutual or reciprocal.] Gravin. l. 2. § 12.
9. pag. 297.
10. 3 Rep. 83.
11. Ff. 19. 5. 5.
12. D. & t. d. 2. c. 24.
13. Bro. Abr. tit. uette. 79. Salk. 129.
14. Cod. 2. 3. 10 & 5. 14. 1.
15. Plowd. 308, 309.
16. Hardr 200.
17. 1 Ch. Rep. 157.
18. Noy's Max. c. 42.
19. Gen. 23:16.
20. 29 Car. II. c. 3.
21. 8 Rep. 171. 1 Mod. 188.
22. Comb. 33. 12 Mod. 5. 7 Mod. 95.
23. Hob 41. Ney's Max. c. 42.
24. Inst. 3. tit. 24.
25. Noy. ibid.
26. Stiernhook de jure Gotl. l. 2. c. 5.
27. Hob. 41.
28. Noy, c. 42.
29. 2 Inst. 713.
30. c. 1. § 3.
31. LL. Ethel. 10, 12. LL. Eadg. Wilk. 80.
32. Cro. Jac. 68.
33. Godb. 131.
34. 5 Rep. 83. 12 Mod. 521.
35. Bacon's use of the law. 158.
36. 2 Inst. 713, 714.
37. Perk. § 93.
38. 2 Inst. 713.
39. Ibid. 714.
40. 2 Inst. 719.
41. Ff. 21. 2. 1.
42. Cro. Jac. 474. 1 Roll. Abr. 90.
43. F. N. B. 94.
44. 2 Roll. Rep. 5.
45. 1 Vern. 268.
46. 12 Mod. 482.
47. Cro. Eliz. 622.
48. Cro. Car. 271.
49. Cro. Jac. 245. Yelv. 178.
50. Co. Litt. 89.
51. 4 Rep. 84.
52. Lord Raym. 909. 12 Mod. 487.
53. By the laws of Sweden, the depositary or bailee of goods is not bound to restitution, in case of accident by fire or theft; provided his own goods perished in the same manner: "Jura enim nostra dolum praesumunt si una non pereunt." [For our laws presume guile if they do not perish together.] (De jure Sueon. l. 2. c. 5.)
54. 13 Rep. 69.
55. Yelv. 172. Cro. Jac. 236.
56. Polit. l. 1. c. 10.
57. Decretal. l. 5. tit. 19.
58. "Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury." Deut. 23:20.
59. de j. b. & p. l. 2. c. 12. § 22.
60. Moll. de jur. mar. 361. Malyne lex mercat. b. 1. c. 31. Cro. Jac. 208. Bynkersh. quaest. jur. privat. l. 3. c. 16.
61. 1 Sid. 27.
62. Molloy ibid. Malyne ibid.
63. Cod. 4. 32. 26. Nov. 33, 34, 35.
64. A short explication of these terms, and of the division of the Roman as, will be useful to the student, not only for understanding the civilians, but also the more classical writers, who perpetually refer to this distribution. Thus Horace, ad Pisones. 325.
| Romani pueri longis rationibus assem Discunt in partes centum diducere. Dicat Filius Albini, si de quincunce remota est Uncia, quid superet? poterat dixisse, triens: eu Rem poteris servare tuam! redit uncia, quid fit? Semis.––––––– |
[But as for us, our Roman youths are bred To trades, to cast accounts, to write and read: Come hither, child, (suppose 'tis Albine's son) Hold up thy head; take five from forty-one; And what remains? Just thirty-six: Well done. Add seven, what makes it then? Just forty-eight: Ah, thou must be a man of an estate!] Creech's Horace, p. 325.1. 487. |
It is therefore to be observed, that, in calculating the rate of interest, the Romans divided the principal sum into an hundred parts; one of which they allowed to be taken monthly: and this, which was the highest rate of interest permitted, they called usurae centesimae, amounting yearly to twelve per cent. Now as the as, or Roman pound, was commonly used to express any integral sum, and was divisible into twelve parts or unciae, therefore these twelve monthly payments or unciae were held to amount annually to one pound, or as usurarius; and so the usurae asses were synonymous to the usurae centesimae. And all lower rates of interest were denominated according to the relation they bore to this centesimal usury, or usurae asses: for the several multiples of the unciae, or duodecimal parts of the as, were known by different names according to their different combinations; sextans, quadrans, triens, quincunx, semis, septunx, bes, dodrans, dextrans, deunx, containing respectively 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, unciae or duodecimal parts of an as. (Ff. 28. 5. 50. § 2. Gravin. orig. jur. civ. l. 2. § 47.) This being premised, the following table will clearly exhibit at once the subdivisions of the as, and the denominations of the rate of interest.
| USURAE | PARTES ASSIS. | PER ANNUM. |
| Asses, sive centesimae | integer | 12 per cent. |
| Deunces | 11/12 | 11 |
| Dextances, vel decunces | 5/6 | 10 |
| Dodrantes | 3/4 | 9 |
| Besses | 2/3 | 8 |
| Septunces | 7/12 | 7 |
| Semisses | 1/2 | 6 |
| Quincunces | 5/12 | 5 |
| Trientes | 1/3 | 4 |
| Quandrantes | 1/4 | 3 |
| Sextances | 1/6 | 2 |
| Unciae | 1/12 | 1 |
65. de jur. b. & p. 2. 12. 22.
66. 1 Equ. Cas. abr. 289. 1 P. Wms. 395.
67. F. N. B. 119.
68. 2 Carte. 203. 206.
69. Mod. Un. Hist. iv. 499.
70. 1 Roll. Abr. 6.
71. Stra. 1212.
72. 2 Show. 235. Grant v. Vaughan. T. 4 Geo. III. B. R.
73. Stra. 1000.
74. Lord Raym. 993.
75. Salk. 127.