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When the law prohibits interest altogether, it does not prevent

it. Many people must borrow, and nobody will lend without such a

consideration for the use of their money as is suitable, not only

to what can be made by the use of it, but to the difficulty and

danger of evading the law. The high rate of interest among all

Mahometan nations is accounted for by M. Montesquieu, not from

their poverty, but partly from this, and partly from the

difficulty of recovering the money.