A debt may
be commuted
in the courfe
o f a Sir fiût.
One pure and
two baß dir ms
may be fold
for two bafe
an.d one pure*
Defcription
of, and rules
refpe£ting,
bafe coinage.
but abominable. But if, on the contrary, the additional thing bear
119 value, (fuch as dufl, for inffance) the fale is not valid, becaufe of
its being ufurious, inafmuch as nothing is oppofed to the différence
of the weight. '
If a perfon, indebted to another to the amount of ten dirms, fell
to his creditor one deenarior ten dirms, and having delivered the decnar
to him, the parties then commute the ten dirms which they reciprocally
owe to each other, it is lawful. This cafe, however, fuppofes
the fale of the deenar to relate to ten dirms in an abfolute manner, and
not to the debt.
T he fale of one pure dirm and two bafe ones in exchange for two
pure dirms and one bafe one, is lawful.— By a bafe dirm is to be un-
derftood, fuch as pafles amongft merchants, but is rejected at the public
treafury.— The reafon of the legality, in this inffance, is that an
equality according to weight is eftablifhcd, and the quality of purity
is of no account.
D irms in which the filver is predominant are confidered as Hiver,
and deenars in which the gold is predominant are confidered as
gold-, and a difference in the proportion with refpect to them in a
■ fale is confequently unlawful, in the fame manner as in the cafe of
pure dirms or deenars. Hence it is unlawful either to fell bafe money
in exchange for pure, or bafe in exchange for bafe, unlefs upon a
footing of equality in regard to weight.—In the fame manner, alfo,
it is unlawful to borrow bafe money except according to weight : for
dirms and deenars, in common, are not free from a mixture of bafe
metal ; becaufe gold and filver do not receive the impreffion well
without a mixture of it, and it is fometimes innate in them.
I-f , however, in d.rms' and deenars, the bafe metal predominate,
they are not, in effedt, dirms and deenars, becaufe the law adverts to
the
the predominancy. Hence if a perfon fhould purchafe pure filver in
exchange for dirms of that nature, the law is the fame as has been already
ftated in the ,cafe of a fword with filver ornaments. It is lawful,
moreover, to fell dirms and deenars of this nature in exchange
for others of the fame kind, at an unequal proportion ; for as thefe
confift of two different materials, (namely, gold and bafe metal, or
ftlver and bafe metal,) one genus may therefore be oppofed to another.—
This, however, is neverthelefs a S tr f fale, becaufe of there
being an oppofition of gold or filver on each fide; and hence mutual
feizin in the meeting is neceffary : and in the fame manner as feizin
of the ftlver or gold is neceffary in the meeting, fo alfo is that of the
bafe metal, becaufe a feparation cannot be effedted without detriment.
_The compiler of the Heddya obferves that the modern lawyers of
his country * do not pafs decrees agreeably to this dodtrine; for as
bafe money is there much in ufe, it follows that if the fale of it at an
unequal proportion were permitted, the door of ufury would thereby
be opened.
W ith refpedl to money in which the bafe metal predominates,
it is to be remarked that, ifjit pafs current by weight, purchafe, fale,
and loans are tranfadted in it by weight. If, on the pther hand, it
pafs current by tale, all matters are tranfadted in it by tale.— If, however,
both modes prevail, it is in that cafe permitted to follow either;
for cuftom is decifive with refpedt to matters of this kind, provided
they be not otherwife determined by the ordinances of the l a w .—
It is alfo to be obferved that money of this kind, whilft it continues in
ufe, is a reprefentative of price, and is therefore incapable of being
rendered determinate : but if it fhould not be in ufe, it is confidered
as other wares or articles of merchandize, and is therefore capable of
being rendered determinate.
* Mawtir al Nihr.