The Anti-Usury Legislation of the Covenant Code: Implication for Business Ethics in the African Socio-Economic Space
| dc.contributor.author | Okunoye, Job Oluremi | |
| dc.contributor.author | Olurin, Enitan Olurotimi | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-01-26T12:30:18Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-01-26T12:30:18Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018-12-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Usury has been practised in various parts of the world including African countries for thousands of years and there have been substantial evidence of intense criticism of the practice from many quarters on moral, ethical, religious and legal grounds. In the Old Testament (OT), usury or the concept of taking interest on loans at least to any member of the community of Israel is viewed as a morally questionable practice. Thus, the three legal codes of the OT, the Covenant Code, the Law of Holiness and the Deuteronomic Code contain a law prohibiting usury but the prohibition in the Covenant Code; that is, the book of Exodus is generally agreed to be the oldest. The Pentateuchal prohibition against lending for interest is often regarded as the result of a primitive economic standard and the specific “kinship morality of a tribal society.” Indeed, the anti-usury legislation was part of an ideal law for a new post-exilic Israel community. In other words, it was the utopian response to the ethical demands of the prophetic thematisation of justice after Israel economy had entered the stage of early capitalism. This paper, therefore, examines the anti-usury legislation in the Code of Covenant with a view to assessing its implication for business ethics in the African social-economic space, a predominantly interest-based economy. By capping interest rates, the paper discovered, that there will be fewer savings available for intermediation, leading to incentives by banks to engage in illegal activities to boost profitability. It is therefore recommended that interest rate should be moderated so as to guarantee resources returns for savers and the investment need of the borrower, while infrastructural deficits should be addressed in the continent. | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2659-1677 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://repository.acu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/1840 | |
| dc.publisher | Journal of Humanities, Management and Social Sciences, Mountain Top University, Prayer City, Ibafo. Ogun State, Nigeria. | |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | Volume 1; Number 1 | |
| dc.subject | usury | |
| dc.subject | interest | |
| dc.subject | anti-usury | |
| dc.subject | capitalism | |
| dc.subject | growth | |
| dc.subject | economy | |
| dc.title | The Anti-Usury Legislation of the Covenant Code: Implication for Business Ethics in the African Socio-Economic Space | |
| dc.type | Article |