during the progress of negotiations. There is a House-brokers' Guild, and the name of each member is registered at the mayor's office. If a broker falsifies the amount demanded by the seller and " eats " the extra money, he is very likely to be found out, in which case he will be expelled from the guild and his license will be taken away.
The rate of interest is everywhere proportionate to the safety of the investment. For this reason we find that in Korea money ordinarily brings from two to five per cent a month. Good security is generally forthcoming, and so one may well ask why it is so precarious to lend. The answer is not creditable to Korean justice. In case a man has to foreclose a mortgage and enter upon possession of the property he will need the sanction of the authorities, since possession, here as elsewhere, is nine points of the law. The trouble is that a large fraction of the remaining point is dependent upon the caprice or the venality of the official whose duty it is to adjudicate the case. In a land where bribery is almost second nature, and where private rights are of small account unless backed up by some sort of influence, the thwarting of justice is extremely common. And so the best apparent security may prove only a broken reed when the creditor comes to lean upon it. Let us take a concrete case. A man bor- rows a sum of money, giving his house-deed as security. He then makes out a false deed or secures a new one from the Mayor on the plea that the old one is lost. He then sells the house to a third party and leaves for parts unknown. The mortgage becomes due and the mortgagee proceeds to foreclose. It is now a question of which deeds are the right ones. There should be no difficulty in adjudicating the case, but the occupant, having purchased in good faith, is naturally loath to move out. He is willing to put down a neat sum to secure his possession. It all depends upon the character of the official and is no longer a matter of mere jurisprudence. Herein lies the uncertainty.
When money is loaned at the minimum rate of two per cent, or in exceptional cases one and a half per cent a month, the
