52 thoughts on “Monday message board”

1. No – not all rents became corn rents. It varied according to the specifics of the rent agreement and the enabling legislation. What I was trying to show was that the concept “legal tender” wasn’t hard and fast but admitted of exceptions and variations. (“Peppercorn rents” were an extreme case.)

   The point isn’t that corn was acceptable as part payment of rent, which would have been an option for the tenant. It’s that otherwise legal tender was not acceptable for all debt payments, sometimes giving the landlord an option to refuse cash. (“Peppercorn rents” didn’t offer either party an option.)

   There’s also the history of tithes, which weren’t commuted for cash payments until quite late (e.g. the local vicar in England could not require cash until the late 19th century – tithes in Palestine were commuted as late as the mandate period).

2. And there are ‘debt-equity’ swapps. I don’t know when they have been first used but I do know they have been used during my time. Not all of the contemporary conversions involved contracts where a debt-equity swapp was written in the original debt-contract.