254. =a retro=; a legal term for a particular kind of conveyance,
often used in Spain as a usurer's device, and best explained by
an example. A house-owner wishes to raise money by giving a
mortgage on his house. But if he is in straits, the lender may
refuse to accept the mortgage as security, and demand a bill of
sale of it, which contains a clause providing that the original
owner may buy it back within a certain time (not over four years,
unless more are stipulated in the deed, and never more than ten).
This is called _venta con pacto de retro_, 'sale subject to redemption.'
It saves the usurer the trouble of going to law to eject the
borrower, and enables the former to charge enormous rates of
interest under the guise of a sale. See Adolfo Posada, _El derecho
usual_, p. 251.