PAWNBROKERS. All persons who receive goods by way of pawn or pledge for the repayment of money lent thereon at a higher rate of interest than five per cent. per annum, are pawnbrokers. The character of the individual to whom the money is lent is scarcely a subject of consideration with the lender; he may be satisfied, if he believe that the articles pledged are not stolen or come by in an unlawful manner.
Pawning differs from other ways of lending and borrowing money in this, that the goods of the borrower are delivered to the lender as a security. [PLEDGE.] Otherwise, when the lender has confidence in the integrity and solvency of the borrower, he is often satisfied with a written engagement from the borrower, and if it should be required, with the additional engagement of some other person. When further security is required by the lender, it may be land, or shares in a ship, or it may be something which is not in its nature capable of immediate tradition, as the future benefit to accrue from a policy of insurance; but all these kinds of security are different from that given in pawning, and are treated under the articles MouvolioE and Sun's.
The business of lending money on pledges is in many countries carried on under the immediate control of the government as a branch of the public administration ; and where only private individuals engazo in it, as in this country, it is placed under regulations. Thus in China, where pawnbrokers are very numerous, Sir J. F. Davis, talus work on the Chinese,' says `• they are under strict regulations, and any one acting without a licence is liable to severe punishment. The usual period allowed for the redemption of the pawned goods is three years. The highest legal rate of interest on deposits is three per cent. per month ; but in the winter months the money advanced on wearing apparel may not exceed two per cent., on the alleged ground that poor persons may be able the more easily to redeem." During the existence of the Usury Laws in this country, which fixed the maximum legal rate of Interest at five per cent. per annum, a higher rate was nevertheless chargeable by pawnbroker* under the section of the 39 & 40 Geo. 3, c. 99, an act which is still in force, and which regulates the various rates of interest on goods or chattels pan-ned according to the following scale : For every pledge upon which there shall have been lent any sum not exceeding 2s. 6d., the sum of id., for any time during which the said pledge shall remain in pawn not exceeding one calendar month, and the same for every calendar month afterwards, including the current month in which such pledge shall be redeemed, although such month shall not be expired. If there shall have been lent the sum of 58., one penny ; 7a. 6d., one penny halfpenny ; 108., two-pence ; 128. 6d., two-pence halfpenny ; 158., threepence; 178. 6d., three-pence
halfpenny ; 20s., four-peuce ; and so on progressively and in proportion for any sum not exceeding forty shillings ; but if exceeding 408. and not exceeding 42s., eight-pence ; if exceeding 42s., and not exceeding 10/., after the rate of three-pence for every 20s., by the calendar month, including the current month, and so on in proportion for any fractional sum. Parties may redeem goods within seven days after the expiration of the first calendar month without paying interest for the extra seven days; or within fourteen days on paying for one month and a half ; after which time interest is charged for two calendar months. But in case the interest has accumulated throughout a series of months, the pawnbroker is not entitled to calculate it for a single month, taking advantage of an indivisible fraction, and then multiply the result by the number of months. The calcula tion in the first instance should be for the whole time at the rate allowed by law so as to avoid the injustice done the pawnor by the other method.
Pawnbrokers are required by the Act to keep books in which all goods taken in pledge must be entered and described, the sum advanced upon them, and the name and abode of the pledger, and whether he is a housekeeper or a lodger. They make out at the time two memoranda of these particulars, one of which is given to the pledger. For this dupli cate, when under Ns., one halfpenny is charged ; 10s. and under 208., one penny; 1/. and under 51., twopence ; 51. and upwards, fourpence. Articles pledged for sums above 5s. must be entered in the pawn broker's books within four hours ; and those on which 10s. or upwards have been advanced must be entered in a separate book and numbered, the first entry in each month commencing No. 1. The number and description of the pledge in the books and on the duplicate correspond with each other. Articles cannot be taken out of pawn without the production of the duplicate, the bolder of which is presumed to be the owner; but the original pawnor has a perfect right to sell the duplicate, and the pawnbroker is obliged to deliver the goods to the purchaser on the production of the duplicate with the principal and interest due on the pledge. If a duplicate be lost or stolen, the pawu broker is required to give a copy of it to the party representing himself as the owner of the articles pledged, with a blank form of affidavit, which must be filled up with a statement of the circum stances under which the original duplicate was lost, and sworn before a magistrate. For this second duplicate the pawnbroker is entitled to demand one halfpenny, if the sum advanced does not exceed 5s. ; from 5s. to 10s., one penny; and afterwards in the same proportion as for the original duplicate.