REVENUE. 565 



We trace tlie like hi the records of early European peoples. 

 Part of the revenue of the primitive Greek king, consisted of 

 &quot; the presents paid for licences to trade &quot; presents which 

 in all probability were at first portions of the commodities 

 to be sold. At a later period in Greece there obtained a 

 practice that had doubtless descended from this. &quot; To these 

 men [magistrates of markets] a certain toll or tribute was 

 paid by all those who brought anything to sell in the market.&quot; 

 In western Europe indirect taxation had a kindred origin. 

 The trader, at the mercy of the ruler whose territory he 

 entered, had to surrender part of his merchandise in con 

 sideration of being allowed to pass. As feudal lords, swoop 

 ing down from their castles on merchants passing along 

 neighbouring roads or navigable rivers, took by force portions 

 of what they had, when they did not take all; so their 

 suzerains laid hands on what they pleased of cargoes enter 

 ing their ports or passing their frontiers: their shares 

 gradually becoming defined by precedent. In England, 

 though there is no clear proof that the two tuns which the 

 king took from wine-laden ships (wine being then the chief 

 import) was originally an unqualified seizure ; yet, since this 

 quantity was called &quot;the king s prisage&quot; we have good 

 reason for suspecting that it was so ; and that though, after 

 wards, the king s officer gave something in return, this, being 

 at his option, was but nominal. The very name &quot; customs,&quot; 

 eventually applied to commuted payments on imports, points 

 back to a preceding time when this yielding up of portions 

 of cargoes had become established by usage. Confirmation 

 of this inference is furnished by the fact that internal traders 

 were thus dealt with. So late as 1309 it was complained 

 &quot; that the officers appointed to take articles for the king s use 

 in fairs and markets, took more than they ought, and made 

 a profit of the surplus.&quot; 



Speaking generally of indirect taxes, we may say that 

 arising when the power of the ruler becomes sufficient to 

 change gifts into exactions, they at first differ from othei 



