Cleante: The devil! What a Jew! What an Arab is that! That would be at a greater rate than denier four (25 per cent.).
La Flèche: That’s so: it is just what I said.
Cleante: Is there anything more?
La Flèche: But just a small item. Of the fifteen thousand francs that are asked, the lender can give in cash only twelve thousand, and for the thousand crowns remaining, it will be necessary that the borrower take the clothes, stock, jewelry, etc., of which here is the list.
Cleante: The plague on him!
The next scene shows with remarkable energy the spendthrift and the usurer in conflict with each other.[26]
39. Duties of the debtor.—After the duties of the lender and the creditor, let us point out those of the borrower or the debtor. The only duty for him here is to return what he has borrowed: it is the duty of paying one’s debts.
For a long time, the duty of paying one’s debts appeared to be one of those vulgar and commonplace duties intended for the generality of men, but from which the great lords freed themselves easily. The poor creditors have been the laughing stock in comedies.[27] But it is not doubted nowadays that to refuse to pay what one owes, is really taking from the property of others, and appropriating what does not belong to us.
This duty, besides, is so simple and stringent that it is necessary only to mention it without further development. The same principles apply to the various ways in which one may make use of property, and particularly to the three kinds indicated in the Civil Code—the usufruct, the usage, and the right of action. The common obligation in these three cases, mentioned by the Code, is to use the thing belonging to others as a prudent father would, which is to say, to use it as the proprietor himself would use it, without injuring the object, and even improving it as much as possible. It is especially in commerce that the act of paying one’s debts, is not only more obligatory morally, but socially more necessary than anywhere else. The reason of it is that commerce is impossible without credit. By exacting of every merchant the payment of cash, the springs of exchange would dry up; besides, most of the time it would be useless; for in commerce merchandise is constantly bought against merchandise. It would be loss of time, loss of writing, limitation of the market. In commerce one cannot say of him who owes that he is a borrower; for the next day, according to the fluctuations of demand and supply, he may be the lender. But it is just because credit is indispensable in commerce, that the obligations of the debtors are in some respect more stringent; for the greater the confidence, the more stringent the duty. So that commercial honor is like military honor—it does not admit of breaking promises.
40. Failures and bankruptcies.—However strict one should be in commerce in regard to keeping promises, there is nevertheless in the Code cause for distinguishing two different cases of promise-breaking—failure and bankruptcy; and in this second case, there is simple bankruptcy and fraudulent bankruptcy.