GC: n
S: IWC – https://iwc.int/management-and-conservation/whaling/commercial (last access: 17 January 2025); NCBI – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1881265/ (last access: 17 January 2025).
N: 1. 1875, originally a legal term for “authorization to a debtor to postpone due payment,” from neuter of Late Latin moratorius “tending to delay,” from Latin morari “to delay,” from mora “pause, delay,” from Proto-Indo-European*morh– “to hinder, delay”. The word didn’t come out of italics until 1914. General sense of “a postponement, deliberate temporary suspension” is recorded by 1932.
2. A moratorium is the authorization to either postpone the repayment of debts or performance of obligations or to suspend some activity or law for a period of time, often indefinite in duration, until the purpose for which the moratorium was granted is satisfied or resolved.
3. While grace periods and moratoria seem similar, as they are both periods of time where the borrower doesn’t have to make a payment, there are a few key differences between them. Grace periods are interest-free periods between the end of a credit card billing cycle and when the payment is due. They are decided by the lender and, therefore, apply to all customers. Moratoria, on the other hand, are agreed upon between the lender and the borrower for a specific reason, such as financial hardship. Unlike grace periods, a borrower that has been granted a moratorium will not be penalized with any fee.
In bankruptcy law, a moratorium is a hiatus in the rights to collect debts from an individual in order to protect the debtor while a recovery plan is agreed upon.
4. General Vocabulary: moratorium
- Suspension of activity.
- The moratorium imposed in November 1991 by the donor countries remains in effect.
5. Law of Obligations (civil law); Foreign Trade: moratorium.
- An authorized postponement of the debt repayment date.
- Moratoria is the plural form of the term monatorium: Moratoriums is also correct.
6. Collocations: moratorium (noun):
- adjective + noun (moratorium): six-month, etc.
- verb + noun (moratorium): impose, place | call for | announce, declare.
- preposition: ~ on/upon. The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/word/moratorium (last access: 14 January 2025). 2. LII – https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/moratorium (last access: 14 January 2025). 3. Investop – https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/111314/whats-difference-between-grace-period-and-moratorium-period.asp, https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/moratorium.asp (last access: 17 January 2025). 4 & 5. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=moratorium&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 17 January 2025). 6. OCD – https://www.freecollocation.com/search?word=moratorium (last access: 17 January 2025).
SYN:
S:
CR: loan
