Chapter 45: Chapter 45 – Year of Legislation

In order to prevent the nobles and capitalists from taking advantage of the instability, the Vienna government passed the Act on Prohibition of Usury on March 24, 1848. This act provided that the annual interest rate for loans of any kind in Austria should not exceed 35%; loans for people from the weaker section of society such as farmers and workers, the annual interest rate should not exceed 25%.

After May 1, 1848, any usurious contract signed would be regarded as an invalid contract and would have no legal validity, which meant that it did not need to be repaid. For any usurious contracts that had already been signed, the law only protected the amount of income within the legal limits.

This was a preventive measure to protect any released serf from foolishly taking a loan to pay off his land lease in one go only to find that the interest was cripplingly high. In fact, the cabinet ministers did not think that any noble would take advantage of the current situation. They believed that only the capitalists would do such a thing.

Franz did not care to argue with them on this issue. For senior nobles and Archdukes like them, it was definitely not worth ruining their reputation for a little profit, but there were also many poor nobles. Due to their expensive lifestyle, every year in Europe, many nobles went bankrupt. Such people would not be deterred from making easy money for the sake of their reputation.

Since the law was written to crack down on capitalists - according to the cabinet ministers - there were many unfavorable provisions for offenders. For example, the intensity of punishment was very serious. If caught, all the property of the usurer would be confiscated; he would be imprisoned for a minimum of three years, up to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

On March 25, 1848, the Vienna government introduced the Minimum Wage Act, which was a subsidiary act to the Labor Protection Act and would set the minimum wage standard.

As the economic development of different regions varied, the minimum wage in Vienna was the first to be announced: 4.5 guldens per week for an adult male worker, 2.5 guldens per week for an adult female worker and 45 kreuzers per week for a child worker.