A Defence of Usury
Shewing the Impolicy of the Present Legal Restraints on the Terms of Pecuniary Bargains, in a Series of Letters to a Friend

Originally published in 1787, this collection of letters argues against government control of the rate of interest.

Jeremy Bentham (Author)

9781108066945, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 March 2014

246 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.4 cm, 0.32 kg

The utilitarian philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) argues in this collection of letters for the cessation of government control of the rate of interest. The work first appeared in 1787 and is reissued here in the version published in Dublin in 1788. The final letter, addressed to Adam Smith, is a response to Smith's Wealth of Nations (1776), arguing against the limits to inventive industry forced by the restriction on rates. Throughout the work is Bentham's emphasis on the value, both ethical and practical, of allowing private citizens to regulate their own financial dealings. Bentham offers a sophisticated philosophical, economic and political analysis of 'usury' and in so doing provides a template for a wider liberal view. Influential at the time of publication, the work still retains its significance in making a case for the proper relationship between the individual and the state.

Letters: 1. Introduction
Letter 2. Reasons for restraint – prevention of usury
Letter 3. Reasons for restraint – prevention of prodigality
Letter 4. Reasons for restraint – prevention of indigence
Letter 5. Reasons for restraint – protection of simplicity
Letter 6. Mischiefs of the anti-usurious laws
Letter 7. Efficacy of anti-usurious laws
Letter 8. Virtual usury allowed
Letter 9. Blackstone considered
Letter 10. Grounds of the prejudices against usury
Letter 11. Compound interest
Letter 12. Maintenance and champerty
Letter 13. To Dr Smith, on projects in arts, &c.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]