74 
Urdahl—Historical Survey of Fee Systems. 
The state prescribed what weights and measures should be 
used, and possessed the standard by which all others must be 
gauged. * 1 Thus we find “ tronage ” collected in England at a 
very early date from all foreigners who made use of the “Tron, ” 
or great King’s beam. 2 In the medieval law courts many fees 
and charges were collected which have either disappeared alto¬ 
gether, or else been transformed into their modern equivalents. 
An example of this is the fee long known as “ epices ” 3 which 
originated in a voluntary contribution, made by the winning 
party in a trial, to the judges. In course of time they became 
so customary that the judges regularly demanded and collected 
their epices before they would hear any case. Innumerable other 
fees, or rather taxes, of this kind were everywhere collected un¬ 
der various pretences. 
There is, however, one class of fees, the influence of which dur¬ 
ing the middle ages was so important that it requires special 
mention. This class includes all the charges made by the var¬ 
ious trades and commercial guilds for privileges and preferments. 
It was largely by means of these heavy fees and charges that 
the great mediaeval corporations were able to maintain them¬ 
selves, and prevent the number of master workmen from becom¬ 
ing too large. Most of the workmen were kept as apprentices 
in a subjection little better than slavery, because they were un¬ 
able to raise the money exacted by the guilds for promotion. 
The expenses of passing from apprenticeship to comradeship, 
and from comradeship to mastership, were enormous, especially 
if the money value of commodities and labor is taken into con¬ 
sideration. The following are some of the fees collected on 
such occasions: 4 a royal fee, fee for registration, reception fee, 
escorts belonged to the lord, as a territorial privilege belonging to the soil. 
When the times became more peaceful, the written passport took the place 
of the personal escort, and the gradually increasing power of the king led 
to the transfer of this power to him. Handworterbuch der Staatswis - 
senscahften , Supplement, 1897. 
1 Waitz. IV, pp. 6,1-65. 
2 Ashley, Eg. Hist. Eng., I, 21. 
3 Cheruel, Dictionnaire de VInstitution, p. 359. 
4 Blanqui, Hist. Pol. Econ., p. 186. 
