for the suppression of usury ; and against all persons that should offend against the true meaning of that ' > Fenton tells us that this distinction between biting and tonihless usurie, is a vaine device. That the Hebrew word for usury is " Neshec," which signifies " cruel hiting ;" the Greek word for the same is " Pleonasmos," which means " painfid travailing," and the Latin word is " Foenus," which means " unnatural brood" and then argues that the very nature of the thing is greatly to be sus- pected, for it is ominous and very suspicious to have a had name. n2 Charles II., c. 13. » 12 Anne, c. 16. A. D.
STATUTE OF ANNE. 51 statute, by any way or device, directly or indirectly." Indeed all the statutes against usury, since that of Henry VIII., were copied from each other almost verbatim, and differed in no material particular, ex- cept that they altered and gradually reduced the rate of interest to the per centage limited by the present Act of Queen Anne. Therefore the decisions under the Statute of Henry VIII., and all the statutes subse- quent, are to be considered