In Roman law. This was the Senatus-oonsultum Mace- donianurru, a decree of the Roman senate, first given under Claudius, and renewed un- der Vespasian, by which it was declared that no action should be maintained to recover a loan of money made to a child who was under the patria potcstas. It was intended to strike at the practice of usurers in making loans, on unconscionable terms, to family heirs who would mortgage their future ex- pectations from the paternal estate. The law Is said to have derived its name from that of a notorious usurer. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, I 432; Inst. 4, 7, 1; Dig. 14, 6.