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A subject of interest: usurers on trial in early nineteenth-century France
Financial History Review Pub Date : 2017-04-06 , DOI: 10.1017/s0968565017000063
Erika Vause

This article examines perceptions and practices of habitual usury, a crime consisting of lending above the legal rate of interest on multiple occasions, in early nineteenth-century France using descriptions of usury trials found in the popular legal periodical the Gazette des Tribunaux. Following the French Revolution, French law legitimized lending at interest in principle, but punished ‘habitual usurers’ who ‘made a profession’ from lending above the legal limit. The decades that followed witnessed striking growth in banking, joint-stock companies and other financial institutions. Highlighting the connections between cultural constructions of the usurer and the actual processes deemed usurious, this article seeks to understand a paradox: that usury was deemed omnipresent in French society yet it was rarely prosecuted. By examining how habitual usury was defined and prosecuted in French courtrooms, this article shows how habitual usurers both validated and undermined stereotypical notions of predatory lending behavior found in popular culture of the time. Habitual usury trials also reveal the actual practices that allowed those excluded from formal financial networks to participate in the growth of capitalist relations. This article argues that the nineteenth-century obsession with the usurer can be explained by the crucial role played by usurious practices in the credit economy of the period. As such, prosecution of usury tended to focus on the character of the usury rather than the actual practice of illegal lending. This article suggests that by occasionally prosecuting particularly egregious ‘immoral’ moneylenders, the legal system and journals like the Gazette des Tribunaux worked to keep credit accessible to the ‘underbanked’.

中文翻译:

感兴趣的主题:19 世纪早期法国受审的高利贷者

本文使用流行的法律期刊《The法庭公报. 在法国大革命之后,法国法律原则上将有息借贷合法化,但惩罚“以高利贷为职业”的“习惯性高利贷者”不得超出法定限额。随后的几十年见证了银行、股份公司和其他金融机构的惊人增长。本文强调了高利贷者的文化建构与被视为高利贷的实际过程之间的联系,试图理解一个悖论:高利贷在法国社会被认为无处不在,但很少被起诉。通过研究法国法庭如何定义和起诉习惯性高利贷,本文展示了习惯性高利贷者如何验证和破坏当时流行文化中对掠夺性借贷行为的刻板印象。习惯性的高利贷审判也揭示了允许那些被排除在正式金融网络之外的人参与资本主义关系发展的实际做法。本文认为,19 世纪对高利贷者的痴迷可以用高利贷行为在这一时期的信贷经济中发挥的关键作用来解释。因此,对高利贷的起诉往往侧重于高利贷的性质,而不是非法借贷的实际行为。这篇文章表明,通过偶尔起诉特别令人震惊的“不道德”放债人,法律制度和期刊,如 本文认为,19 世纪对高利贷者的痴迷可以用高利贷行为在这一时期的信贷经济中发挥的关键作用来解释。因此,对高利贷的起诉往往侧重于高利贷的性质,而不是非法借贷的实际行为。这篇文章表明,通过偶尔起诉特别令人震惊的“不道德”放债人,法律制度和期刊,如 本文认为,19 世纪对高利贷者的痴迷可以用高利贷行为在这一时期的信贷经济中发挥的关键作用来解释。因此,对高利贷的起诉往往侧重于高利贷的性质,而不是非法借贷的实际行为。这篇文章表明,通过偶尔起诉特别令人震惊的“不道德”放债人,法律制度和期刊,如法庭公报努力使“银行不足”的人能够获得信贷。
更新日期:2017-04-06
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