Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 10.djvu/415

HARVARD LAW REVIEW. VOL. X. ' FEBRUARY 25, 1897. NO. 7. THE PLEDGE-IDEA: A STUDY IN COMPARA- TIVE LEGAL IDEAS. II. IN a previous article,^ taking up the pledge-idea in Germanic and Scandinavian law, we first noticed its development from the forfeit-idea to that of collateral security; and then proceeded to examine the relation of three subsidiary types, — the hypothec (or pledge without creditor's possession), the sale-for-repurchase, and the vifgage. The second of these we now take up. ///. Sale for Repurchase. Since the wed, in its original form, was the transfer with a right, but no duty, on the transferor's part, to redeem, it might seem a not inaccurate description to call it a sale with right to repurchase {Verkauf auf Wiederkaiif, vente a re'jnere). At any rate, a trans- action called by these names is constantly found where a pledge would apparently have served the same purpose ; and its relation to the wed is one of the problems to be solved. The chief ques- tions are : i. How far, in form and in legal effect, was there a differ- ence? 2. How far originally were the motives, or circumstances of use, the same or different? 3. What ultimate trace, if any, has been left on the pledge-transaction by the other? I. a. So far as the form of the transactions was concerned, they appear to have been, to a great extent at least, interchangeable, and to have been used, at least frequently, without discrimination, 1 10 Harvard Law Review, 321. 52