30 App. D.C. 576 | D.C. Cir. | 1908
delivered the opinion of the Court:
It is admitted that the money sued for, which was retained, at the time the loan was made, under the subterfuge of a commission, was, “under the law in force in the District of Columbia, usury.” This admission reduces the inquiry to one question : Is this claim barred by the statute of limitations ? Sec. 1181 of the Code of the District provides: “If any person or corporation in the District shall, directly or indirectly, take or receive any greater amount of interest than is herein declared to be lawful, whether in advance or not, the person or corporation paying the same shall be entitled to sue for and recover the amount of the unlawful interest so paid from the person or corporation receiving the same, provided said suit is begun within one year from the date of such payment.” The amount here sued for was deducted by appellant at the time the loan was made, October 31, 1905. On that date appellee gave her note for $183.60, receiving only ,$135 in return. She began paying the note on January 5, 1906, in monthly instalments of $15.30. Payments were made for twelve successive months, the last payment, completing the full payment of the face of the note, being made on December 4, 1906. This suit was brought within one year from the date of the last payment, but more than a year after the amount sued for was deducted.
It is admitted that the sum deducted was usurious under the law, but, inasmuch as it was paid more than one year before suit for its recovery was begun, appellant insists that recovery is barred by the statute of limitations. Counsel for appellant rely on the case of Lawrence v. Middle States Loan, Bldg. & Constr. Co. 7 App. D. C. 161. In that case the loan was for $4,000, and there was deducted, under the guise of a commission, $688. The loan was not paid, and, on suit to recover it, it was sought to set off the $688 under the plea of usury. On this point the court said: “Put allowing to the defendant’s affidavit all the force and efficacy which the utmost liberality of construction would entitle it to receive, we find that it raises but the one single substantial issue of usurious interest taken or re
No more wholesome laws appear on the statute books than those for the prevention of usury. They look to the protection of a class of borrowers who can ill afford to be subjected to the mercy of the Shylocks of trade. If the defense here made should be sustained, it would put in operation a system whereby loans could be negotiated in such a manner as to practically nullify the usury laws of the District of Columbia. If the usurious amount could be deducted in advance, and security taken, providing for payments extending beyond the period of a year, so that the amount collected within a year from the date of the giving of the note and the making of the deduction would not be equivalent to the amount of the loan and legal interest, the party subjected to the usury would be powerless.
It is unnecessary to discuss the effect of a deduction of this kind under the guise of a commission, as in this case usury is admitted. It is sufficient to intimate that statutes of this kind should be construed in such a way, if possible, as to carry into effect the intention of the lawmakers, and in such a way as to prevent evilly designed persons from violating the intent and escaping by the letter. The judgment is right, and must be affirmed, with costs, and it is so ordered.
Affirmed.