Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

8-2020

Source Publication

Banking & Finance Law Review, 35(3), 597-602.

Keywords

Currency; Central banks; Breach of contract; Payment systems; Commodities; Banking; Digital currencies

Abstract

If A accepts X in payment from B, in the expectation that he will be able to give it to C in payment ... he almost certainly not make an explicit agreement with C in advance to accept X in payment ... [...]in any society, the question of whether a particular thing is "money" or not can only be answered by examining social behaviour and social norms.4 Accordingly, the author asserts, there is no clear distinction between "money" and "not money". [...]the author addresses monetary sovereignty. [...]under Gersham's law, between coins with lower and higher metallic value, people will prefer to hold on to the latter, so as to cause them to disappear from circulation into hoards. In my view the chapter is very informative in dissecting the payment system to its various components and yet inadequate in not specifically providing a holistic view of the payment system as "a complex set of arrangements involving such diverse institutions as currency, the banking system, clearing houses, the central bank, and government deposit insurance.

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