Robert Keayne is convicted of usury.

General Court fines Robert Keayne 200 pounds for overcharging his customers. Keayne protests the size of the fine and the court subsequently reduces it, but he is also criticized by the First Church in Boston for “selling his wares at excessive Rates, to the Dishonor of Gods name . . . and the Publique scandal of the Cuntry.” Keayne composes an extensive defense of his conduct just prior to his death that is published in a modern version in 1964.*