1. Definition
Until well into the 19th century, the German word for “loan,” Leihe, was used as a comprehensive term for all kinds of transfers of goods, including loans for consumption (mutuum), safekeeping, usufruct, rent, and leases [3. 1421]; [5. vol. 1, 503]. Only in the wake of the reception of ius commune in the 16th century did the specific type of loan contract emerge for the gratuitous use of a specific object (Res) with the obligation to return it. It…