84 
TJrdahl—Historical Survey of Fee Systems. 
mortgages'and authenticity to these and other documents, espec¬ 
ially to their dates. Registration did rot, however, become a state 
institution until 1539, 1 when Francis I required all sales and 
transfers of real estate to be reported to an official, who was 
empowered to collect and fix charges or fees for this service. 2 
But the original purpose of the charge was soon lost sight of, 
and it became simply a means of deception, or subterfuge, for 
the collection of heavy^and oftentimes, progressive taxes. 3 
Other charges, which apparently were of the same nature, 
were collected under various names. Among others may be 
mentioned the “Droits d’Ensaisinement”, “Droits de Reserve", 
“Droits de Nouvel Acquit", “Droit d’lnsiuuation,” all of which 
were charged for the same ostensible purpose, and yielded con¬ 
siderable revenue, both to the royal exchequer and to the collec¬ 
tors. An act of 1722 fixed a new tariff of charges for these 
services, which tariff remained in force down to the Revolu¬ 
tion. This law distinguished between fixed and proportionate 
fees. The fixed charges varied in amount according to the rank 
of the parties concerned, as in marriage contracts; often also 
according to the nature and size of the document. Much injust¬ 
ice resulted from the fact that most of these fees were collected 
under obscure, incomplete, and in many cases, arbitrary laws 
and rules, which were interpreted by the collectors to suit their 
own interests. The worst abuse, however, may perhaps be 
ascribed to the vicious system of farming the offices out to 
subordinates for fixed sums. But, aside from the illegal ex¬ 
tortions which this resulted in, the legitimate and regular 
working of the law was such, that the fees — more especially 
the proportionate fees — bore more heaviiy upon the poorer 
classes than upon the nobles and the clergy. 4 
The modern French legislation on the subject of registration 
may be said to date back to 1790, when all these heterogeneous 
elements were united into one great category called “Enregist- 
rement." The same edict extended the scope of the subject, in 
^lamageran, Histoire de VImpots , III, R. 
2 Cheruel, Dictionnaire , I, 353, 506. 
3 Parieu, II, 105-106; Vuitry, I, 462. 
4 Parieu, III, 108. 
