actually made by commerce or in
exchange';[1] and Ambrosius de Vignate explains that compensation
must only be made for 'the time and just _interesse_ of the lost gain,
which must be certain and proximate.'[2]

[Footnote 1: _Eth._, iv. 6.]

[Footnote 2: _De Usuris_, c. 10.]

There was another title on account of which more than the amount of
the loan could be recovered, namely, _periculum sortis_. In one sense
it was a contradiction in terms to speak of the element of risk in
connection with usury, because from its very definition usury was gain
without risk as opposed to profit from a trading partnership, which,
as we shall see presently, consisted of gain coupled with the risk of
loss. It could not be lost sight of, however, that in fact there might
be a risk of the loan not being repaid through the insolvency of the
borrower, or some other cause, and the question arose whether the
lender could justly claim any compensation for the undertaking of this
risk. 'Regarded as an extrinsic title, risk of losing the principal
is connected with the contract of _mutuum_, and entitles the lender to
some compensation for running the risk of losing his capital in order
to oblige a possibly insolvent debtor. The greater the danger of
insolvency, the greater naturally would be the charge. The contract
was indifferent to the object of the loan; it mattered not whether it
was intended for commerce or consumption; it was no less indifferent
to profit on the part of the borrower; it took account simply of the
latter's ability to pay, and made its charge accordingly. It resembled
consequently the contracts made by insurance companies, wherein there
is a readiness to risk the capital sum for a certain rate of payment;
the only difference was that the probabilities charged for were not
so much the likelihood of having to pay, as the likelihood of not
receiving back.'[1]

[Footnote 1: Cleary, _op. cit._, p. 115.]

We have referred above, when dealing with the legitimacy of commercial
profits, to the difficulty which was felt in admitting the justice
of compensation for risk, on account of the Gregorian Decretal on
the subject. The same decree gave rise to the same difficulty in
connection with the justification of a recompense for _periculum
sortis_. There was a serious dispute about the actual wording of the
decree, and even those who agreed as to its wording differed as to its
interpretation.[1] The justice of the title was, howeve