Presenting a long and elaborate theory of "mental, usury" he
arrives at the conclusion that, if the borrower pay interest of
his own free will, the lender may keep it. In answer to the
question whether the lender may keep what the borrower paid, not
out of gratitude but out of fear--fear that otherwise loans might
be refused him in future--Liguori says, "To be usury it must be
paid by reason of a contract, or as justly due; payment by reason
of such a fear does not cause interest to be paid as an actual
price." Again Liguori tells us, "It is not usury to exact
something in return for the danger and expense of regaining the
principal." The old subterfuges of "_Damnum emergens_" and "_Lucrum
cessans_" are made to do full duty. A remarkable quibble is found in
the answer to the question whether he sins who furnishes money to
a man whom he knows to intend employing it in usury. After citing
affirmative opinions from many writers, Liguori says,
"Notwithstanding these opinions, the better opinion seems to me to
be that the man thus putting out his money is not bound to make
restitution, for his action is not injurious to the borrower, but
rather favourable to him," and this reasoning the saint develops at
great length.
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