GOD’S PENNY
God’s penny.Hist. Earnest money; a small sum paid on the striking of a bargain. — Also
termed denarius Dei; earnest-penny; godpenny. See ARRA.
“It is among the merchants that the giving of earnest first … becomes a form which binds
both buyer and seller in a contract of sale. To all appearances this change was not accomplished
without the intermediation of a religious idea. All over western Europe the earnest becomes
known as the God’s penny or Holy Ghost’s penny (denarius Dei) ….” 2 Frederick Pollock &
Frederic W. Maitland, The History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I 208 (2d ed.
1899). [Blacks Law 8th]