THE ROOTS OF THE USURY PROHIBITION IN THE MEDIEVAL ECONOMIC HISTORY OF EUROPE

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The scholastic definition of usury was very clearly, whatever exceeds the principal or the sum loaned is usury. All scholastic writers agreed that usury was both a sin and a crime, punishable not only by canon law but also by the secular law of many countries. The basic scholastic thesis rested on a fundamental belief that ultimately all forms of human activity must be judged by natural law. Usury was not acceptable because it was unjust. The Aristotelian argument was subsidiary and when it was rejected in the fifteenth century the scholastic position was not thereby undermined. Aquinas clearly states Aristotelian view that usury was theft and contrary to justice.

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Usury , Interest , Just Price , Medieval Economic Thought

dokuz eylul university the journal of graduate school of social sciences

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dokuz eylul university the journal of graduate school of social sciences