This volume investigates the use of mortgages in the European countryside between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries. A mortgage allowed a loan to be secured with land or other property, and the practice has been linked to the transformation of the agrarian economy that paved the way for modern economic growth. Historians have viewed the mortgage both positively and negatively: on the one hand, it provided borrowers with opportunities for investment in agriculture; but equally, it exposed them to the risk of losing their mortgaged property. The case studies presented in this volume reveal the variety of forms that the mortgage took, and show how an intricate balance was struck between the interests of the borrower looking for funds, and those of the lender looking for security. It is argued that the character of mortgage law, and the nature of rights in land in operation in any given the place and period, determined the degree to which mortgages were employed. Over time, developments in these factors allowed increasing numbers of peasants to use mortgages more freely, and with a decreasing risk of expropriation. This volume will be appealing to academics and researchers interested in financial history, rural credit and debt, and the economic history of agrarian communities.

How American colonists laid the foundations of American capitalism with an economy built on credit Even before the United States became a country, laws prioritizing access to credit set colonial America apart from the rest of the world. Credit Nation examines how the drive to expand credit shaped property laws and legal institutions in the colonial and founding eras of the republic. In this major new history of early America, Claire Priest describes how the British Parliament departed from the customary ways that English law protected land and inheritance, enacting laws for the colonies that privileged creditors by defining land and slaves as commodities available to satisfy debts. Colonial governments, in turn, created local legal institutions that enabled people to further leverage their assets to obtain credit. Priest shows how loans backed with slaves as property fueled slavery from the colonial era through the Civil War, and that increased access to credit was key to the explosive growth of capitalism in nineteenth-century America. Credit Nation presents a new vision of American economic history, one where credit markets and liquidity were prioritized from the outset, where property rights and slaves became commodities for creditors' claims, and where legal institutions played a critical role in the Stamp Act crisis and other political episodes of the founding period.

Land Transfer and Finance: Cases and Materials, Sixth Edition, is a classroom-tested casebook designed for upper-class courses in real estate transactions or financing that will appeal to professors who prefer to focus on the taxation and financing aspects of a transaction as well as to those who choose to concentrate on contractual and title areas. The Sixth Edition has been meticulously updated and features extensive coverage of the impact of the recent mortgage crisis and the resulting changes and potential changes to real estate mortgage markets. This comprehensive casebook offers: A thorough foundation in land transfer law and a solid doctrinal framework in contract, financing, taxation, and titles. Legal and historical background on the subject of land transactions that will help prepare students for practice. Thorough coverage of the law relevant to various kinds of land transactions, with an emphasis on the major participants in the land sale and lending markets, the role of these participants, their business concerns, and their legal rights and duties. Consideration of many of the more troublesome legal and policy problems in the land transaction field and alternative solutions to these problems are explored. Numerous judicial opinions illustrating important issues of law concerning land transactions and the major participants in land transaction markets. Cases that are selected to help demonstrate the variations in the design of real-world land transactions and the frequent complexity of ;these transactions. Materials that develop students' ability to critically evaluate legal problems and propose solutions to these problems that will best serve the parties' business objectives within the applicable legal constraints. Valuable appendices, including a glossary of real estate terms and sample form documents. The Sixth Edition features: Extensive consideration in Chapter 2 of changes pertaining to real estate mortgage markets. Chapter 7, Part D (Securitization) has been significantly revised. Material in Chapter 7, Part E (Valuing Real Estate and Investments) has been expanded to include a brief section on the basic business and finance considerations in real estate development and investment. Updated tax material. Revisions and refinements to nearly all of the explanatory text, article excerpts, and notes. The purchase of this Kindle edition does not entitle you to receive 1-year FREE digital access to the corresponding Examples & Explanations in your course area. In order to receive access to the hypothetical questions complemented by detailed explanations found in the Examples & Explanations, you will need to purchase a new print casebook.