Henry of Susa (Hostiensis), c.1190-1271.

Henry of Susa (or Henricus Segusio or Hostiensis) was Italian Scholastic canonist.

A native of Susa ("Segusio") in Piedmont,  Henry of Susa studied Roman and Ecclesiastical law at the university of Bologna.  He went on to lecture on canon law at Paris.   

Despite his reputation as a great canonist, Henry moved out of his academic career and took up some plum positions in the Church hierarchy.  In 1244, he became Bishop of Sisteron, in 1250 Archbishop of Embrun, and in 1261 became Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, a suburbarican diocese of Rome, one of the highest positions in the church hierarchy (from whence his nickname (H)Ostiensis).

Henry of Susa was still in Paris when he began his most famous work, the Summa aurea, an exposition of the Decretals (papal and councilar decisions, the last eight years of which had recently appeared in 1234 under the editorship of Raymond of Peñafort).  Henry completed his Summa in 1253, when he was already in Embrun (a fire had destroyed the first original draft).  It was written as a manual for practitioners, incorporating the latest court practice, both Roman and Ecclesiastical, to bear on canon law.  It become a popular text in the study of canon law for several centuries.  Henry's more original work was probably his Lectura (or Commentaria) on the Decretals, which he finished in the early 1260s.

In his discussion on usury,  Henry of Susa considered several cases of  "exceptions" to the general ban on usury or increase on capital lent.  Twelve exceptions are given in a easily memorized verse form:

feuda, fidejussor, pro dote, stipendia cleri,
Venditio fructus, cui velle jure noceri
Vendens sub dubio, pretium post tepora solvens,
Poena nec in fraudem, lex commissaria, gratis
Dans, socii pompa: plus forte modis datur istis

(Summa aurea: Lib. 5,  ch. 19, sec. 7 1448-49)

The list of exceptions include various modes of temporary transfer of property, with the fruits of the property, the effective interest, being acceptable interest.  Under this title come "feuda" (return of a fief to the church as security), "pro dote" (property given to a bridegroom as security on unpaid dowry), "stipendia cleri" (revenue from pedges placed with clerics in view to recovering ecclesiastical benefices), "venditio fructus" (land revenues sold in advance, fruits in excess of payment reaped by the buyer, justified in light of uncertainty) and "lex commissoria" (clause allowing a seller to regain possession of property by refunding original price, fruits accruing to the buyer).  Also included under the exceptions are interest as compensation for damage, which includes  "fidejussor" (compensation to those who put up security for clerics in debt to merchants), "pretium post tempora solvens" (late payment charge to cover possible damages), "poena nec in fraudum" (penalty charge for not executing contract) Other exceptions include selling at higher price now in anticipation of higher value acquired later ("vendens sub dubio"), gifts by the debtor ("gratia dans"), property leased for purposes of display ("socii pompa"),  and charging usury to heretics and infidels ("cui velle jure noceri").  A thirteenth exception compensation for labor) is added in the text.

In his Lectura, Henry goes beyond these well-known cases and is the first to introduce the justification of lucrum cessans, that is, the charging of interest on a loan from the outset, on  the basis of foregone profit by the lender, provided that loan was made with charitable intent:.

Ideo puto ex mente praemissorum iurium, quod si aliquis sit mercator , qui conseueuit sequi mercata et nundianas, et ibi multa lucrari, mihi multum indigenti, ex charitate mutuaret pecuniam, cum qua negotiaturus erat, quod ego exinde sibi ad suum in eo quo notatur supra eo. Tuas in fin. Et dummondo dictus mercator non consueuerit pecuniam suam taliter tradere at vsuram."  (Commentario Lib. 5.19.16. n.4)

"if some merchant, who is accustomed to pursue trade and the commerce of the fairs and there profit much, has, out of charity to me, who needs it badly, lent money with which he would have done business, I remain obliged from this to his interesse, provided that nothing is done in fraud of usury ... and provided that said merchant will not have been accustomed to give his money in such a way to usury".

Henry of Susa's lucrum cessans argument would be rejected by Thomas Aquinas, but accepted by Duns Scotus

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