THE HISTORY OF COMMERCE
received the proceeds of goods sold by him, his diary should be taken as evidence in preference to the allegations of his debtors, unless the latter could produce documentary proof. The practice with regard to loans was also different from that prevailing in ante-feudal days, when accumulated interest had always to be less than principal. The system under the Ashikaga Shōguns was that, whereas the period of a loan must never exceed twenty years, the double of the principal must be paid if the debt was not discharged until the tenth year, and the treble if that period were exceeded. At the expiration of the term originally fixed, the creditor had to make three applications for repayment before appealing to the law courts, and the latter, if the debt was duly proved, had power to impose a fine amounting to one-tenth of the sum due, by way of penalty for failure to pay. There was also a law protecting a creditor against being importuned for mercy by an impecunious debtor; a law evidently designed to guarantee tradesmen against the menaces of indigent samurai. The old rule exempting a child from any obligation with regard to a parent's debts ceased to be observed in this epoch, as was natural, seeing that the custom of separate residences for fathers and children had given place to family life. The liabilities of a parent now possessed validity against a child, but, on the other hand, a parent was not liable for his children's debts. An insolvent debtor had still no
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