Usuras (DCH) (Usuries (DCH))

No. 2020-01

Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, in the Catholic sphere usury was defined, in the strict sense, as the profit that was received by the loan of money (mutuum), but in a broader sense, usury could be present in any credit or financial operation. This article discusses how the concept of usury evolved. It examines the condemnation of usury for canon law, moral theology and civil law, the discussions that took place in the New World about the lawfulness of some business and finance practices and concludes with a brief historiographic balance on usury throughout the Early Modern Age.

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