Paradigm for Banking Laws

[syrakusos]

In Barcelona, from 1300, book entries by credit transfer legally ranked equally with original deposits among the liabilities of bankers. Those who failed were forbidden ever to keep a bank again, and were to be detained on bread and water until all their account holders were satisfied in full. In 1321 the legislation there was greatly increased in severity. Bankers who failed and did not settle up in full within a year were to be beheaded and their property sold for the satisfaction of their account holders. This was actually enforced. Francescho Castello was beheaded in front of his bank in 1360.(Usher, Deposit Banking, pp. 239-242.)

Page xxix, Handbook of Medieval Exchange by Peter Spufford with the assistance of Wendy Wilkinson and Sarah Tolley. Published London office of the Royal Historical Society : Distributed ... by Boydell and Brewer, 1986.

Edited October 14, 2008 by Michael E. Marotta

[Dragonfly]

I tried to read this, but I gave up. The font used is horrible, it's almost as bad as a message all in capitals.

[syrakusos]

I tried to read this, but I gave up. The font used is horrible, it's almost as bad as a message all in capitals.

It was only Arial and looked nice to me. I tried a couple and settled on the easy choice. I just changed it to Lucinda Console.

[Dragonfly]

Why not use the standard font, that's still much better readable. Bill Dwyer also had such a font fetish. Forget the special effects, they only distract from the text and make it less readable.

[BaalChatzaf]

In Barcelona, from 1300, book entries by credit transfer legally ranked equally with original deposits among the liabilities of bankers. Those who failed were forbidden ever to keep a bank again, and were to be detained on bread and water until all their account holders were satisfied in full. In 1321 the legislation there was greatly increased in severity. Bankers who failed and did not settle up in full within a year were to be beheaded and their property sold for the satisfaction of their account holders. This was actually enforced. Francescho Castello was beheaded in front of his bank in 1360.(Usher, Deposit Banking, pp. 239-242.)

Page xxix, Handbook of Medieval Exchange by Peter Spufford with the assistance of Wendy Wilkinson and Sarah Tolley. Published London office of the Royal Historical Society : Distributed ... by Boydell and Brewer, 1986.

That sounds like the Code of Hamurabi.

Ba'al Chatzaf