Ancient and Mediaeval Europe. 73 1 
when collected between the state, the missi , and the complain- 
ing witness. 1 The early law of the Franks required no official 
recorder. His functions were performed by the servant or clerk 
of the judge, and any one who was able to write might serve in 
that capacity. As a result, there were no distinctively public 
documents, as distinguished fronTprivate; and no fee or action of 
a recorder could make a private doeument public. 2 3 * * In Italy, 
however, the clerk or recorder became early a part of the court, and 
was just as necessary to its existence as the judge himself. The 
signature of the clerk gave a legal sanction to every document. 
D. THE TRANSITION FROM MEDIAEVAL TO MODERN EUROPEAN FEES. 
After Charlemagne’s empire went to pieces, disintegration 
set in and the royal prerogatives and other vestiges of central¬ 
ized power were swept away. When Europe emerged out of 
the Dark Ages, entirely new conditions and customs had been 
formed and crystallized, and scarcely any relics of the past could 
be distinguished. The Feudal Lord who had absorbed many of 
the powers of the earlier emperors collected all he could get for 
the protection he afforded his dependents. The King, or sov¬ 
ereign, who was beginning to be recognized as the head of the- 
state, became entitled to certain lucurative prerogatives which 
were in the nature of payments for diverse privileges. The 
treasures of the earth were his, and he might therefore charge 
a sum or a fee for the privilege of mining. The game in the 
forest and the fish in the sea were his property. Privileges to 
hunt and fish were thus lucrative prerogatives. Similar pay¬ 
ments were made for using public harbors, for rights to trade,, 
and numerous other privileges which belonged to the regalia of 
the king. Fees were paid for a large number of permits, for 
pass-ports, 8 for permission to foreigners to work at trades, to 
use the courts, and so on. 
1 Altdeutsche JEteiehs und Gerichtsverfassung, 1,170. Waitz, IV, 144. 
2 Ibid, p. 527. 
3 The modern passport fee was originally a payment for a personal escort 
furnished by the lord, or the king, to merchants or travelers through a 
country which was supposed to be unsafe. At first right to furnish such 
