A brief history of the mortgage, from its roots in ancient Rome to the English dead pledge and its rebirth in America brooklyneagle.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from brooklyneagle.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The roots of these legal contracts, in which land is pledged for a debt and will become the property of the lender if the loan is not repaid, go back thousands of years.