Foreign Commerce v. Bernard Tonn

1. Although the Majority is fully cognizant that the result it reaches today is inconsistent with the traditional judicial interpretation of usury statutes, it nevertheless believes that the “plain language” of the Virgin Islands’ statute compels its holding. In my view, this conclusion reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the doctrine that formed the foundation for the Virgin Islands’ usury law. Moreover, the Majority Opinion ignores the established canons of Virgin Islands statutory interpretation. I must dissent.

I

First enacted in the American colonies in the late seventeenth and early…