Theory of Fees. 
53 
tutions which are of service to them. As a sub-class 1 under the 
fees he recognizes what he calls “fees in a more limited sense,” 
which he characterizes as compensation for the expense of ad¬ 
ministration. ( Verwaltungs-fcosten-vergutungen .) 
None of the French writers seem to have recognized fees as 
any distinct category. Not even Beaulieu 2 in his Science de 
Finance considers them as a separate class, but treats of these 
charges under other headings . 3 
The Italian economist Cossa 4 gives some attention to them 
and defines fees, costs, and Charges, as “ the remuneration for 
special public services which are rendered to the private indi¬ 
viduals at their request. ” 
We thus have all shades of opinion, from Professor Bastable, 
who denies the existence of fees as a separate category, to 
Schaeffie, who would include all the taxes on contracts and trans¬ 
fers, inheritance taxes, and so forth, under that heading. We 
have assertions that fees should be levied according to the ser¬ 
vice rendered, or according to the expense to the government, 
or according to the pecuniary ability of the fee-payers, or ac¬ 
cording to the principle of highest monopoly profit. 
All prominent writers on finance seem to recognize, first, the 
fact that the official activity may often further special individ¬ 
ual interests. But the concensus of opinion seems to be that 
public activity should not be carried on purely for the sake of 
such individual interests. All recognize further, that some 
payment should be made to the state when it incidentally con¬ 
fers special benefits upon certain individuals. How such pay¬ 
ments shall be determined, how their amount shall be gauged, 
and under what category in a classification of state revenues 
such payments shall be placed, are questions which are still open. 
1 Ibid., p. 496. 
2 LeRoy Beaulieu. The early writer Parieu, III, 165, puts fees among in¬ 
direct taxes. 
3 M. Besobrasof, in two articles entitled fhtudes sur les Revenus publics, 
seems to recognize the essential difference between fees and taxes. See 
page 44 of article published in 1866: Imp4riale Acad^mie de Sciences, 
St. Petersbourg. 
4 Taxation: its Methods and Principles, p. 36. 
