A pawnshop in the City of Calvin –

A pawnshop in the City of Calvin

Gold jewelry, diamonds and fine horology watches fill the coffers of the Public Pawnbroker Fund, the amounts of which announced for the year 2022 were around 8 million francs. Founded in Geneva in 1872 to lend money on favorable terms to people in need and thus protect them from loan sharks, this venerable institution celebrated its 150th anniversary at Uni Mail on November 11, 2022 through a scientific conference organized with the Faculty of Law.

Pawnbroking was addressed from political, historical, legal and practical angles. The first conference aimed to shed light on the origins and evolution of pawnbroking in Europe over the centuries. The next focused more particularly on the legal characteristics of this activity in Swiss private law, while the last provided an overview of the unusual events which punctuate the daily life of the Geneva establishment, highlighting in passing its social role.

The proceedings of this conference have been collected in a work, edited by Arnaud Campi, lecturer at the Faculty of Law, substitute lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and substitute lecturer at the Global Studies Institute. Parliamentary and legislative sources complete the opus.

Edited by Arnaud Campi
“150 years of the Public Pawnbroker (1872-2022)”
Éditions Droz 2024
120 p.

Also read “The Geneva pawnshop celebrates its 150th anniversary” (Le Journal de l’UNIGE, November 2022)