ANATOCISM, civil law. Usury, which consists in taking interest on interest,or receiving compound interest. This is forbidden. Code, lib. 4, t. 32, 1,30; 1 Postlethwaite's Dict.
2. Courts of equity have considered contracts for compounding interestillegal, and within the statute of usury. Cas. t. Talbot, 40; et vide Com.Rep. 349; Mass. 247; 1 Ch. Cas. 129; 2 Ch. Cas. 35. And contra, 1 Vern. 190.But when the interest has once accrued, and a balance has been settledbetween the parties, they may lawfully agree to turn such interest intoprincipal, so as to carry interest in futuro. Com. on Usury, ch. 2, s. 14,p. 146 et eq.