Lot 237
Charles I
Auction: 10 June 2009 at 12:00 BST
Description
Letter signed at the head (Charles R) to an unamed correspondent but clearly the Privy Council in Scotland ("Right trusty & wellbeloved Cosens & Counsellors"), announcing his determination to stamp out "the practise of exorbitant and unsufferable usury, which of late yeres is cum into ane ordinary trade of many merchants ther," "Given att our Court att Whythall this 23 of March 1632 styl. Angl" [i.e. 1633 new style]. 1 page, folio, with integral blank leaf, slightly dustmarked
Footnote
Note: Countersigned by the Master of Requests, James Galloway, afterwards Lord Dunkeld, who had been appointed to receive the "legall forfeits" of Scottish usurers. The Master of Requests, on whom the forfeits were bestowed, was a judge in the Court of Requests, an offshoot of the Council dealing with judicial business in civil cases, exercising an authority similar to that of the Star Chamber in criminal matters. In May the Scottish Privy Council agreed to levy fines for usury (Register of the Privy Council of Scotland IV 2nd series, 189)