An Essay on Mediæval Economic TeachingO'Brien, George
History
An Essay on Mediæval Economic Teaching
O'Brien, George
Economics -- History -- To 1800; Property -- History -- To 1500
All the writers who treated of exchange divided it into three kinds;
ordinary exchange of the moneys of different currencies (_cambium
minutum_), exchange of moneys of different currencies between
different places, the justification for which rested on remuneration
for an imaginary transport (_cambium per litteras_), and usurious
exchange of moneys of the same currency (_cambium siccum_). The
former two species of cambium were justifiable, whereas the last was
condemned.[1]
[Footnote 1: Laurentius de Rodulfis, _De Usuris_, pt. iii. Nos. 1 to
5.]
The most complete treatise on the subject of money exchange is that
of Thomas da Vio, written in 1499. The author of this treatise divides
money-changing into three kinds, just, unjust, and doubtful. There
were three kinds of just change; _cambium minutum_, in which the
campsor was entitled to a reasonable remuneration for his labour;
_cambium per litteras_, in which the campsor was held entitled to a
wage (_merces_) for an imaginary transportation; and thirdly, when
the campsor carried money from one place to another, where it was of
higher value. The unjust change was when the contract was a usurious
transaction veiled in the guise of a genuine exchange. Under the
doubtful changes, the author discusses various special points which
need not detain us here.
Thomas da Vio then goes on to discuss whether the justifiable exchange
can be said to be a species of loan, and concludes that it can not,
because all that the campsor receives is an indemnity against loss
and a remuneration for his labour, trouble, outlay, and risk, which
is always justifiable. He then goes on to state the very important
principle, that in _cambium_ money is not to be considered a measure
of value, but a vendible commodity,[1] a distinction which Endemann
thinks was productive of very important results in the later teaching
on the subject.[2] The last question treated in the treatise is the
measure of the campsor's profit, and here the contract of exchange
is shown to be on all fours with every other contract, because the
essential principle laid down for determining its justice is the
observance of the equivalence between both parties.[1]
[Footnote 1: 'Numisma quamvis sit mensura et instrumentum in
permutationibus; tamen per se aliquid esse potest.' It is this
principle that justifies the treatment of _cambium_ in this section
rather than the next.]
[Footnote 2: _Studien_, vol. ii. p. 212.]
SECTION 2.--THE SALE OF THE USE OF MONEY
§ 1. _Usury in Greece and Rome_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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