usury
Sign in to savethumb|Of Usury, from Sebastian Brant|Brant's Stultifera Navis (Ship of Fools), 1494; [[woodcut attributed to Albrecht Dürer]]
AI overview
Usury historically refers to the practice of lending money and charging interest on it, which was often viewed as morally wrong or exploitative. It matters because attitudes toward usury shaped financial practices, religious teachings, and laws across centuries, influencing how societies regulated lending and protected borrowers from excessive debt.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Key facts
- UK legislation.short_title
- Usury Act 1545
- UK legislation.type
- Act
- UK legislation.parliament
- Parliament of England
- UK legislation.long_title
- An Act Against Usurie.
- UK legislation.year
- 1545
- UK legislation.citation
- 37 Hen. 8. c. 9
- UK legislation.royal_assent
- 24 December 1545
- UK legislation.commencement
- 14 October 1495
- UK legislation.repeal_date
- 14 October 1459
- UK legislation.repealing_legislation
- Usury Laws Repeal Act 1854
- UK legislation.status
- Repealed
- UK legislation.original_text
- https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000017915533&seq=1060
Article
32 sectionsContents
- History
- Roman Empire
- England{{anchor|Usury Act 1487|Usury Act 1495|Usury Act 1545}}
- Religion
- Judaism
- Christianity
- Bible
- Church councils
- Medieval theology <span class="anchor" id="Scholastic theology"></span>
- 15th through 19th century
- 20th century
- Modern era
- Islam
- In literature
- Usury law
- England
- Canada
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- United States
- Federal regulation
- Texas
- Avoidance mechanisms and interest-free lending
- Demurrage currency
- Islamic banking
- Interest-free micro-lending
- Non-recourse mortgages
- Zinskauf
- See also
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Of Usury, from Sebastian Brant|Brant's Stultifera Navis (Ship of Fools), 1494; [[woodcut attributed to Albrecht Dürer]]
Usury () is the practice of making loans that are seen as unfairly enriching the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in excess of the maximum rate that is allowed by law. A loan may be considered usurious because of excessive or abusive interest rates or other factors defined by the laws of a state. Someone who practises usury can be called a usurer, but in modern colloquial English may be called a loan shark.