The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1854-11-15
The Usury Laws.

| III N'eo' olitaih HAS oeen accomplished
at the recent session of Parliament. The
act by which this was effected is known
as ch. 80, II and l8 Victoria, and is now
In operation. 1t is now lawful in Great
Britain to loan money at any rate of in.
terest and on any description of property
either real estate or otherwise.
The bill passed the House of Lords on
the 9th OF July: was immediately
brought forward in the House of Com
mons, and finally passed that body on
the 9Th OF August last and then became
the law of the land. AS this is one of
the important commercial measures OF
the year, we may say of the age, we give
the remarks made on the occasion of the
second reading of the bill in the House
OF Lords, on the oath Of July last:
The Marquis of Lansdowne moved the
second reading Of this bill. The incon-
veniences which had been found to result
from the operation Of the laws against
Usuiy had been so many and so great
that notwithstanding strong preiudices on
the subject of usury and usurers, il had
been found necessary to relax those law,
from time to time. At the time of the
commercial failures in the years 1886 and
1887, it was found that the greatest re-
iief which was experienced was the re-
suit OF provision which had been intro
duced not long previously into the act for
the renewal of the Bank Charter, ena-
bling the Bank of Eng,an to dispense
with the usury laws. In consequence of
this he (the Marquis of Lansdowne) had
been induced to take charge of OH in
that house, by which, will, respect TO bills
OF exchange, and other securities of that
description, the rate Of interest was to be
indefinitely extended. Considerable ap-
prehension however, WAS expressed as to
the probable effect of such law /; and it
was only passed at that time rs a tenn.
porary measure. Nor were those appre-
tensions altogether removed for manv
years, although the difficulties and incon-
veniences which had been antiejpated
were not found to result from il. People
4 could not he brought tn believe that
money was as much a co,npodity No ,ny
ordinary article Of produce-that its
value must be regulated, like the value
of any other commodity, by the ordinary
principles of demand and supply-and
that 1t was as impossible to fix the rate
OF Interes. at which it should be lent us
to fix the price at which corn AMI butter
should be sold.
This prejudice, however, had gradually
disappeared, and the object OF this biil
was, as the same considerations applied
10 land and other property as applied to
bills OF exchange, to apply to them the
same legislation. People were not deter
red from raising money upon such sccuri.
ties at higher rate Of intere,t than five
per cent. by the present state of the law
but they had recourse to col!u<ive prac.
tices and fraudulent proceedings in order
to evade its operation. The inconvenien.
ees to which this lei were very seriously
felt in England, but they were much more
seriously felt in ireland, where the circum
stances OF many estates were such that
it was impossible TO borrow money upon
them within the limits which the usurv
laws present. The result was that an.
nuities were granted, AM various sub,er
fuges and contrivancrS were rcSortcd 10
and, in the end, mach higher rate was
paid than il the money could have been
had, at its market valIe, upon n mort.
gagein the usual way. The usury laws,
in fact, did no good whatever, but they
produced great Inconvenience they az
tected to dr. what all the powers of the
Legislature could not do-to apply a diff.
ferent principle to one description of COM
modify from that which was applied to
every other, and they interfered With the
principle of supply and demand. Hav-
ing referred to Calvin as among the dis
tinguished men who had doubted their
policy, and to Jeremy Bentham as having
dealt the first great blow against them,
the noble marquis concluded 10y express
ing an earnest hope that their Iordships
would consent to tho second reading of
the BILL " Nv
Lord Campbell expressed his great sat
isiaction that til, Usury Laws were abont
to be entirely swept away. From bis
long experience in Courts of Justice, he
could bear testimony to the mischievous
effects which they produced. They had
been practically swept away in all cases
except whore real security was given
but in the cases in which they were re-
tanned they led TO good deal o! Iitiea.
ton, and proved most disastrous and even
ruinous to those whom they were avowed.
ly intended TO protect. They had given
great deal Of employment to tho En-
numbered Estates Court in Ireland, and
he believed that many estates in Ireland
which might otherwise have been olsen.
numbered bad been brought to the ham,
ner through the operation of those laws.
Lord Brougham supported the bill,
both on mercantile and moral grounds.
The Lord Chancellor also supported tho
bill. The usuy laws could always be de.
feated by a person who was willing to re-
sort 70 something which bordercd upon
fraud. Building societies had been ex.
smPted nom their operation in order to
encourages the industrious classes TO make
sni"li weekly or riioathly inyestments eat
lot their eesRinss. But the exemption