See Trigonella, Botany Index.

FOENUS nauticum. Where money was lent to a merchant, to be employed in a beneficial trade, with condition to be repaid with extraordinary interest, in case such voyage was safely performed. The agreement was sometimes called foenus nauticum, sometimes usura maritima. But as this gave an opening for furious and gaming contracts, 19 Geo. II. c. 37. enacts, that all money lent on bottomry, or at respondentia, on vessels bound to or from the East Indies, shall be expressly lent only upon the ship or merchandise; the lender to have the benefit of salvage, &c. Blackst. Com. ii. 459.

Mol. de Jur. Mar. 361.