u s u 



u s u 



cial trade, with condition to be repaid with extraordinary 

 intercil, in cafe fuch a voyage be fafely performed. Tliis 

 kind of agreement is fometimes called Janus nauticum. See 

 Bo'fTOMKY, and Respondentia. 



USURER, a perfon charged with a habit or aft of 

 ufury. 



The laws of our ancient Saxon and Norman kings are 

 very fevere upon ufurers, or letters-out of money upon in- 

 tereft. " Ufurarios quoque defendit rex Edvardus (Con- 

 feflbr), ne remaneret aliquis in toto regno fuo ; & fi quis 

 inde conviftus effet, quod focnus exegerat, omni fubftantia 

 propria careret, & pollea pro ex lege habeatur : quoniam 

 ufura radix omnium malorum." Leg. Edv. Confeff. 

 cap. 37. 



They were, indeed, allowed to difpofe of their goods be- 

 fore conviftion, and whilll they were living ; but after their 

 death they were confifcate, if it could be proved they lent 

 money to ufe within a year before their death. 



If a clergyman were an ufurer, his goods were not to be 

 confifcated, but to be diftributed to pious ufes. In thofe 

 days ufury was thus defined : 



" Eft ufura fuos quifquis tradit mihi nummos 

 Spe lucri, focnus duplex ufura vocatur." 



USURIOUS CorUrad is any bargain, or contraft, where 

 a man is obliged to pay more intereft for money than the 

 ftatute allows. 



It is enacled by ftatute 13 Eliz. cap. 8. that all brokers 

 (hall be guilty of a priemiimre, who tranfaft any ufurious 

 contraft wli"re more than ten per cent, intereft is taken. 



USURPATION, in I.aiv, an injurious ufing or enjoy- 

 ment of a thing for continuance of time, that belongs of 

 right to another. See Tyranny. 



Usurpation, in a more peculiar fenfe, denotes an abfo- 

 liite oufter or difpod'eftion of the patron of a church ; and 

 happens when a ftranger, that hath no right, prcfenteth a 

 clerk, and he is tliereupon admitted and inllituted. In 

 which cafe of ufurpation, the patron loft by the common 

 Jaw not only his turn of prefenting pro hac "vice, but alfo the 

 abfohite and perpetual inheritance of the advowfon, fo that 

 he could not prel^ent again upon the next avoidance, unlefs 

 in the mean time he recovered his right by a real aftiou, viz. 

 a writ ot right of advowfon. However, becaufe bifhops, 

 in ancient times, either by rareleffnefs or collulion, frequently 

 inftituted clerks upon the prefentalion of ufurpers, and 

 tliereby defrauded the real patrons of their right of pod'ef- 

 lion, it was in fubllanee enafted by the ftatute Weftni. 2. 

 13 Edw. I. cap. 5. feft. 2. that if a pofTcftory aftion be 

 brought within fix months after the avoidance, the patron 

 Ihall i notwithftamluig fuch ufurpation and inftitution) reco- 

 ver that very prefentation which gives back to him the feifin 

 of the advowfon. Yet ftill, if the true patron omitted to 

 bring his aftiou within lix months, the feilin was gained by 

 the ufurper, and the patron to recover it was driven to the 

 long and hazardous procefs of a writ of right. To remedy 

 which, it was further enafted by ftatute 7 Ann. cap. 18. 

 that no ulurpation (liall difplace the eftate or intereft of the 

 patron, or turn it to a mere right ; but that the true patron 

 may prefciit upon the next avoidance, as if no fuch ufurpation 

 had happened. So that the title of ufurpation is now much 

 narrowed, and the law ftands upon this reafonable founda- 

 tion, that if a ftranger ufurps my prefentation, and I do not 

 purfue my right within fix months, 1 (hall lofe that turn 

 without remedy, for the peace of the churcii, and as a pii- 

 nilhment for my own negligence ; but that turn is the only 

 one I (hall lofe thereby. Ufurpation now gains no right to 

 the ufurper, with regard to any future avoidance, but only 



to the prefenti vacancy : it cannot indeed be remedied after 

 fix months are paft ; but, during thofe fix months, it is only 

 a fpecies of difturbance. Blackll. Comm. book iii. 



Usurpation of Franchlfts and Liberties, is when a fubjeft 

 unjullly ufes any royal franchifes, &c. And this is faid to 

 be an ufurpation upon the king, who (hall have the writ of 

 quo warranto againft the ufurpers. 



USURY, UsL-RA, in the general, denotes a gain or pro- 

 fit wliich a perfon makes of his money, by lending the fame; 

 or it is an increafe of the principal exafted for the loan 

 thereof ; or the price a borrower gives for the ufe of a fum 

 credited to him by the lender : called alfo interejl, and in 

 fome ancient ftatutes, dry exchange. For lawful intereft, fee 

 Interest. 



The word ufury is ufually taken in an evil fenfe ; viz. for 

 an unlawful profit whicii a p'-rfon makes of his money ; ui 

 which fenfe it is, that ufury is forbidden by the civil and ec- 

 clefiaftical law, and even by the law of nature. In this 

 fenfe it alfo is, that it is held ufury to lend money on pawns, 

 to exaft intereft for money, witliout furrendering the prin- 

 cipal, and to ftipulate intereft for money which is not em- 

 ployed in trade, nor brings any profit to the perfon who re- 

 ceives it : but, as the Latin word ufura, at leaft the plural 

 of it, ufura, may be underftood of a lawful intereft, ufury, in 

 Englilh, might alfo be ufed in the fame harmlefs fenfe. 



Ufe or intcrelt, by the civil law, is divided into Igcrativc 

 and compenfatory. Lucrative is, when it is paid where 

 there hath been no advantage made by the debtor, and no 

 delay or deceit in him : and this is condemned by the civil 

 law. Compenfatory is, when it is given, where the thing 

 lent hath been advantageous to the debtor, and difadvan- 

 tageous to the creditor that he was not fooner paid : and 

 this is permitted by that law. Wood. Civ. L. 213. 



And by the civil law (Swinburn tells us), a manifeft ufurer 

 cannot make a teftament ; and tlio\igh he make one, it is 

 void in law concerning goods and chattels, unlefs he fatisfy 

 for the ufury, or put in caution for fatisfaftion to be made. 

 Swinb. lol. 



And as manifeft ufurers are forbidden to make teftamenls 

 themfelves, or to difpofe of their goods fey their laft wills ; 

 fi) are tliey forbidden to reap any benefit by the teftament of 

 others, or to be capable of any legacy of goods. Swinb. 



37f'; 



Thefe are the anathemas of the popes, and not the re- 

 fcripts of the emperors. (See Cod. 5. 5.) The punifhment 

 by the civil law was once a quadruple penalty, (L. 2. Cod. 

 Tiieod. do Llfuris,) but tiiis fecius to have been mitigated by 

 .hiftinian, who contents himfelf with declaring that whatever 

 is paid more than the legal intereft, (hall "be accounted part 

 of the principal. Cod. 4. 32. 26. Noodt, de Fccn. ct Uf. 

 lib. 2. cap. 16. 



By a conftitution of Edmund archbi(hop of Canterbury ; 

 " We forbid any man to detain a pledge, after he hath re- 

 ceived the principal out of the profits, after deduftion of 

 the expencea, for this is ufury." Lind. 160. The pledge 

 in this cafe mnft be fuppofed to be lands, cattle, or fuch like, 

 out of which a profit arifeth. Johnf. 



And by Can. 109. If any oficud their brcdiren by 



ufury ; the churchwardens or queftmen and fidenun, in the 

 next prefentments to their ordinaries, ihall faitlifuUy prefent 

 every fuch oflender, to the intent that he may be punifhed 

 by the feverity of the laws, according to his deferts ; and 

 fuch notorious offenders (hall not be admitted to the holy 

 communion, till they be reformed. 



And in general, it is faid, that by the ccclefiaftical laws, 



if a man l)c a manifeft ufurer, not only his teftament is void 



(as hath been faid) ; but his body, after he is dead, is not 



4 £ 2 ta 



