The Minor Law Books (SBE33): First Title: The Law of Debt: 6. Lending Money at Interest
6. Lending Money at Interest.
* 98. 98 A contract of delivery and receipt may be made with a view to the profit arising from Sthâna. It is called Kusîda (lending money at interest), and money-lenders make a living by it.
* 100. 100 Two, three, four, or five (in the hundred) is the legitimate (rate of interest). Let him take as much in the shape of interest, every month, in the direct order of the (four) castes.
* 101. 101 Or let him take two in the hundred, remembering the practice of the virtuous. By taking two in the hundred, he does not commit the crime of covetousness.
* 102. 102 Interest is declared fourfold in this law-book: periodical interest; stipulated interest; kâyikâ interest; and compound interest.
* 103. 103 That which runs by the month is termed
* 106. 106 In some countries the loan may grow till twice the amount of the principal has been reached. In other countries it may grow till it becomes three, or four, or eight times as large as the principal.
107. 107 The interest on gold, grain, and clothes may rise till it amounts to two, three, or four times the principal. On liquids, the interest may become octuple; of women and cattle, their offspring (is considered as the interest).
* 109. 109 A loan made from friendship can never yield any interest, without being reclaimed by the creditor. If the debtor refuses to restore it on demand, it shall yield interest at the rate of five per cent.
Footnotes
65:98 According to A., Sthâna, 'continued abode,' may be threefold: relating to the matter, as when profit arises from (the continuance of) victuals remaining well kept in a certain place; or relating to one's own abode, as when a dealer derives profit from business transactions in his own country; or relating to a different place, as when a dealer earns money through foreign trade.
66:99 Identical with Manu VIII, 140. This rule, which fixes the rate of interest at 1¼ per cent. by the month, or 15 per cent. per annum, is actually found in the Dharmasûtra of Vasishtha II, 51.
66:100 Identical with Manu VIII, 142. The meaning is that he shall take 2 per cent. from a Brahman, 3 per cent. from a Kshatriya, 4 per cent. from a Vaisya, and 5 per cent. from a Sûdra. A. It appears, from the commentaries on the code of Manu, that the present rule is applicable in those cases where no security has been given, whereas the preceding paragraph refers to loans secured by a pledge.
66:101 Identical with Manu VIII, 141. The meaning is that he shall take 2 per cent. only from honest men, to whatever caste they may belong. A. In the code of Manu, the present rule precedes par. 100, instead of following it. The author of the Nârada-smriti would seem to have erroneously inverted the original position of the two verses.
66:102 Manu VIII, 153; Gautama XII, 34, 35. See, too, Colebrooke's Digest I, XXXV-XLV.
66:103 103, 104. 'Periodical interest' means monthly interest, at the rate of from 2 to 5 per cent., according to the caste of the debtor. 'Stipulated interest' is interest at the rate of more than 10 per cent., which has been promised by the debtor himself in times of great distress. Kâya means principal. If a Pana, or quarter of a Pana, has to be
67:106 106, 107. Manu VIII, 151; Vishnu VI, 11-17; Yâgñavalkya II, 39; Gautama XII, 36.
67:107 Gold borrowed at whatsoever rate of interest shall grow till it becomes double; grain, till it becomes treble; cloth, till it becomes
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