klXLCXT PROVISIONS AS TO AGklCUI/nivAI. CKKDIT 39 



tution, the latter may demand that the contract be determined according 

 to the terras of Article 11O5 of the civil code. This simple reference to com- 

 mon law is one of the causes of the meagre results produced by the statute 

 in question. It was justly observed that in the cases contem|)Jated by this 

 provision the debtor in fault should at least have been denied the benefit 

 of the delay authorized by the aforesaid Article 1165. A notable improve- 

 ment on earlier conditions should therefore be considered to have been in- 

 troduced by the provision of the decree we are examining, according to 

 which a debtor who depreciates or withdraws the property subject to the 

 privilege, or wholly or partially employs' the sum lent to him for objects 

 other than that for which it is lent, is punished by the penalty established 

 by Article 203 of the Italian penal code, that is to say by imprisonment 

 or a line. 



Another useful innovation concerns the simplification of the executive 

 procedure. If the debtor does not entireW restore the amount of the loan 

 when it falls due, the praetor may, at the instance of the lending institu- 

 tion and after he has obtained summary information, order the sequestra- 

 tion and sale of the property subject to the privilege. Such sale may take 

 place without legal formalities. 



Finally, agreements relative to the loans in question are exempt from 

 ever}- sort of stamp and registration duty ; and legal acts and bills of 

 exchange depending on these loans are subject to taxation in normal con- 

 ditions. 



Two other decrees were promulgated to extend and to apjih- that we 

 have examined. 



The first, dated 28 June 1917, No. 1035, was made to render the loans 

 of which we have spoken more fitted to encourage the cultivation of corn and 

 other cereals. It allows the concession to institutions of agricultural credit, 

 authorized by special laws, of advances up to an amount of 20,000,000 liras 

 at 3 per cent, interest (i). The sums thus advanced will be lent by the insti- 

 tutions to agriculturists by means ot intermediary bodies, or directly when 

 no recourse to intermediary bodies is possible. If the loan is required for the 

 provision of seeds the institution of credit will give the landowner, when 

 issuing a bill, a bond allowing him to withdraw at cost price a quantity of 

 seeds equivalent to its amount from the provincial grain consortium. The 

 State will provide the provincial grain consortium with seeds for distribu- 

 tion. 



The loans which institutions of agricultural credit are authorized to 

 make and the sums they receive as advances will bear interest at- a rate 

 not higher than 4 per cent, if the loans are made to agriculturists directly, 

 or 5 per cent, if they are made through intermediary institutions. 



The second decree in question (ministerial decree of 30 June 1917) 

 aims at extending in the farming year 1917-1918 the cultivation of com, 

 other cereals and edible root crops in the southern mainland and the islands, 



(i) This fund was aitt>niented by 10,000,000 liras l>y the lii.utenancy decree of 1 1 Xo\ ember 

 1917, No. 1831. See Guzzetla Ufficialc del Regno d' Italia for 13 No\ ember 191 7, No. 269. 



