INT 



INT 



claimed by the priests with a loud voice. 

 See BISSEXTILE. 



INTERCEPTED axis, in conic sec- 

 tions, the same with abscisse. See AB- 



SCISSE. 



INTERDICT, an ecclesiastical cen- 

 sure, by which the Church of Rome for- 

 bids the performance of divine service in 

 a kingdom, province, town, &c. This 

 censure has been frequently executed in 

 France, Italy, and Germany ; and in the 

 year 1170, Pope Alexander III. put all 

 England under an interdict, forbidding 

 the clergy to perform any part of divine 

 service, except baptizing of infants, tak- 

 ing confessions, and giving absolution to 

 dying penitents. But this censure being 

 liable to the ill consequences of promot- 

 ing libertinism and a neglect of religion, 

 the succeeding popes have very seldom 

 made use of it. 



INTEREST, an allowance or compen- 

 sation for the loan or use of a sum of mo- 

 ney for a certain time, according to a fix- 

 ed rate or proportion. The rate of inter- 

 est raries in different countries, and at 

 different times, according to the scarcity 

 or plenty of money, and the security of 

 lending ; in most commercial states, it has 

 been thought necessary to establish by 

 law a fixed rate of interest for the use of 

 money : this restriction, however, must 

 nearly correspond with the current rate 

 of interest, that is, the rate at which mo- 

 ney can be readily borrowed on good se- 

 curity; for if it be attempted to reduce 

 by law the common rate of interest be- 

 low the lowest ordinary market rate, the 

 , restriction will be generally evaded, as 

 under all such attempts it has hitherto in- 

 variably been. 



By 37th Henry VIII. cap. 9, all inter- 

 est above 10 per cent, was declared un- 

 lawful : before that time higher rates had 

 usually been taken. In the reign of Ed- 

 ward VI. religious zeal prohibited all in- 

 terest for money; but the prohibition, 

 like all others of the same kind, is said 

 to have produced no effect, and probably 

 rather increased than diminished the evil 

 of usury. The statute of Henry VIII. was 

 revived by the 13th Elizabeth, cap. 8, 

 and 10 per cent, continued to be the le- 

 gal rate of interest till the 21st of James 

 I. when it was restricted to 8 per cent. 

 In 1651, the rate of interest in several 

 other countries being lower than in Eng- 

 land, the parliament reduced the legal 

 rate to 6 per cent, which, soon after the 

 restoration, was confirmed by 12th 

 Charles II. c. 13. The last act of parlia- 

 ment for regulating the interest of money 

 was 12th Anne, st. 2. c. 16, by which it 



was fixed at five per cent, per annum. 

 These different statutory regulations seem 

 to have been made with great propriety, 

 as they followed the market rate of inter- 

 est ; and since the time of Queen Anne, 

 5 per cent, appears to have been rather 

 above than below the market rate. Be- 

 fore the American war, government bor- 

 rowed at little more than 3 per cent. ; 

 and about the year 1792, good bills were 

 readily discounted at 4 per cent. 



The legal rate of interest in France was 

 not always regulated by the market rate. 

 In 1601, Henry IV. issued an edict for re- 

 ducing the interest of money in that king- 

 dom to 6 per cent. ; "but the current 

 rate afterwards rose above this limit. In 

 1720, interest was reduced from the twen- 

 tieth to the fiftieth penny, or from 5 to 2 

 per cent. In 1724, it was raised to the 

 thirtieth penny; or to 3* per cent. In 

 1725, it was again raised to the twentieth 

 penny, or to 5 per cent. In 1766, it was 

 reduced to the twenty -fifth penny, or to 

 4 per cent ;, but a few years after, it was 

 raised again 'to the old rate of 5 per cent. 

 The supposed purpose of many of these 

 violent reductions of interest was, to pre- 

 pare the way for reducing that of the pub- 

 lic debts; a measure which, when it is 

 not justified by a previous fall in the cur- 

 rent rate of interest, is nothing better 

 than defrauding the public creditors. 



In Holland, previously to the revolu- 

 tion, the government frequently borrow- 

 ed at 2 per cent, and private persons of 

 good credit at 3 per cent. This lowness 

 of interest induced many of the Dutch to 

 invest their property in the French and 

 English funds, in the United States of 

 America, the lawful rate of interest is 6 

 per cent, in most of the states ; in a few 

 it is 7 per cent. ; and in one it is only 5 

 per cent. In Greece, the mean rate of 

 interest is 20 per cent, and in the other 

 parts of Turkey nearly the same; in 

 Persia, 25 per cent ; and in the Mogul 

 empire, 30 per cent. In Bengal, and the 

 other British possessions in India, the in- 

 terest is generally from 8 to 12 per cent, 

 on government security, but individuals 

 are frequently obliged to pay a much 

 higher rate. In these countries there is 

 no fixed rate of interest, and the usual 

 high rate arises chiefly from the insecu- 

 rity of lending. 



Interest is generally payable yearty, 

 half-yearly, or quarterly, and is distin- 

 guished into simple interest and compound 

 interest,- the former being merely the 

 compensation paid for the use of a capi- 

 tal at a certain fixed rate for a year, and a 

 proportionately greater or less sum for a 



