tered into. LAWS. 1793. c. 52, § 154. Before granting (19) Provided also, and be it enacted and declared, writs of certio- that before the granting of any such writ, the like rari, recognizance to be en- recognizances shall be entered into, and the party or 93 Geo. 3, parties applying for such writ shall be put under the same terms and conditions, in all respects, as are by law directed and provided in the cases of writs of certiorari awarded or granted for the removal of any conviction, judgment, order, or other proceeding, had or made by or before any justice or justices of the peace in England, into the said Court of King's Bench, or as by the usage and practice of the same court hath been accustomed. Justices of the peace may sit in May sit in Council to hear Appeals. (20) And be it further enacted, that it shall and may the council of the be lawful for the governor-general in council of Fort Wilpresidency to liam, or the governors of Fort St. George and Bombay, hear appeals. by any order to be made in their councils respectively, to call any of the justices of the peace authorized in and by any such commission or commissions as aforesaid, to sit and associate with the said governor-general in council or governor in council, for the more speedy hearing and determining of causes appealed; and that the said justices shall, and they are hereby authorized and required, when so called upon, to act as justices in the Court of Appeals accordingly, and to have and use deliberative voice in all proceedings upon such appeals. Presidencies may appoint coroners, who may exercise the same powers as coro Coroners. (21) And whereas it is expedient that coroners should be appointed for the settlements in India, for taking inquests upon view of the bodies of persons coming, or supposed to have come to an untimely end: ners in England. be it enacted, that the governor-general in council at Fort William, and the governors in council at Fort St. George and Bombay, within their several presidencies and governments respectively, shall have full power and authority, by orders in council, from time to time, to nominate and appoint so many coroners, being British subjects, as they shall respectively think fit, or as shall be limited by the Court of Directors of the said Company, and by like orders to supersede and remove the persons so appointed, as occasion may appear to require; and that the persons so nominated, and taking and subscribing, before one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature, or one of the Mayor's Courts, the like oaths as are directed to be taken by the coroners of counties in England, shall and may, by force of this act, have, do, execute, perform, and exercise the like powers, authorities, and jurisdictions, within the presidency or settlement for which they shall be so respectively nominated and appointed, as by law may be had, done, executed, performed, or exer $155. $157. LAWS. cised by coroners elected for any county or place in England, and not otherwise, or in any other manner; and that such coroners shall have and be entitled unto such reasonable fees and allowances, for the performance of the duty of their said office, as shall be limited or prescribed by the said respective governments in that behalf. 1793. 33 Geo. 3, c. 52, § 157. LOANS AND INTEREST THEREON IN THE rate of interest on loans of money in Great Britain became the subject of legislative enactment in the thirty-seventh year of the reign of Henry VIII, when, by cap. 9, the rate of interest was confined to ten per cent., which was confirmed by the 13th of Elizabeth, cap. 8. By the 21st of James I, cap. 17, it was reduced to eight per cent.; and by the statute of Charles II, cap. 13, to six; and lastly, by the 12th of Anne, cap. 16, to five per cent. per annum, which is now the extremity of legal interest that can be taken on a loan of money. It is understood that, if a contract which carries interest be made in a foreign country, the courts in this country will direct the payment of interest according to the law of the country in which the contract was made, and that Irish, Turkish, American, and Indian interest have been allowed so far as ten and twelve per cent.: hence the settled rate of interest for money lent may be considered the lawful gain, and the extortion of unlawful or excessive gain, usury. A proposition for the repeal of the laws, generally termed the usury laws in this country, has been brought forward by Mr. Serjeant Onslow in successive sessions of Parliament. With respect to India, the subject was first noticed in Parliament in the Fourth Report from a Secret Committee of the House of Commons, which was appointed in 1772, for the purpose of inquiring into the affairs of the East-India Company. In that report, the revenue in India was principally adverted to its sources were stated to be rents of lands, duties and customs, farms of exclusive privileges, fines and forfeitures. The committee pointed out that the diminution of the revenues arose in a great measure from the exorbitant rate of interest exacted for money taken up by the zemindars and others, others, to enable them to discharge their rents. Three and a-half per cent. per mensem, or thirty-seven and a-half per cent. per annum, was a very general rate; and in some instances, a rate of interest almost incredible had been taken: from which it was clearly shewn, that however fertile the lands might be, or whatever crops they might yield, no produce could bear the charge. It was likewise apparent that the Company's covenanted servants had been parties to leases of lands, in cases where they themselves were entrusted with the management of the revenues and letting of the territory. In May 1772, a Committee of Revenue was held at Calcutta, of which the Governor, Mr. Hastings, was president. It had been specially referred to the committee, to find out some means of preventing the practice of lending money on exorbitant usury, by which the ryots were often involved in heavy debts, without the hope, or scarce the probability of relief; and not only the fruits of their industry, but often the farmers' dues (which in effect are those of the state), became the property of the money-lenders. The collector himself in the meantime was forbidden, on pain of removal from his office, either to lend money himself, or to suffer his banyan, or any other of his servants, or dependants, to lend money to the zemindars, talookdars, farmers, ryots, or any other person whatever, within the district of which he had charge. In like manner, the zemindars, talookdars, and others were prohibited from lending money to the ryots; the restriction however was not to prevent the farmer from affording the usual and necessary aids of tuccavy to the ryots, the premium of such advances being fixed at two per cent. per mensem, and payment received not in kind, but in money. In the regulating act passed the following year, a clause was introduced, which provides that no subject of his Majesty in the East-Indies shall take, directly or indirectly, for loan of any monies, wares, merchandize, or other commodities, a greater rate of interest than twelve per cent. * In the year 1797, in order to checkt he practice of British subjects lending money, or their being being con cerned • Assisting tenants with an advance of money for cultivation when the necessary means are wanting. cerned in lending the same to native princes in India, which had been the source of much usury and extortion, the 37th Geo. III, cap. 142, sec. 28, was passed, prohibiting such practice in future, and declaring any party concerned in any transaction of that nature after the 1st December 1797, guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to be proceeded against by any competent court of jurisdiction. upon A question arose, in 1822, as to the construction to be put the two enactments before-mentioned, and a case was accordingly prepared and laid before his Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor-General and the Company's standing counsel, who gave it as their opinion, with reference to the 30th section of the 13th Geo. III, cap. 63, that the restriction on the rate of interest extends to contracts made as well in those parts of the East-Indies which are not under the government of the EastIndia Company, as in those which are. That such restriction also extends to loans made to native princes and governments in the East-Indies, as well as to those made to individuals, whether the contracts for such loans be made or carried into execution within or beyond the territories under the govern ment of the East-India Company. That if a loan be made by a British subject to a native prince in the East-Indies, with the consent and approbation of the Governor in Council of one of the Company's governments, first had and obtained in writing, pursuant to the 37th Geo. III, cap. 142, sec. 28, but without any specification of the rate of interest to be taken for such loan, the rate of interest will be limited by the 13th Geo. III, cap. 63, sec. 30, whether the contract for such loan be made or carried into execution within or beyond the territories under the government of the East-India Company, and that the Governor in Council could not in either case legally authorize the lender to take a rate of interest exceeding twelve per cent. per annum. That it is not lawful for a mercantile or banking partnership, consisting partly of natives of India and partly of Europeanborn subjects of his Majesty, to make a loan to a native prince contrary to the provisions of 37th Geo. III, cap. 142, sec. 28, whether • Hyderabad Papers, page 107. |