86 Urdahl—Historical Survey of Fee Systems. 
of incorporation, which, at first the same for all, were by the 
act of 1872 made proportional to the amount of capital stock. 
At the present time the fixed fees vary from one-half to one 
hundred francs, according to the nature and importance of a 
document. In this category may be mentioned powers of attor¬ 
ney, receipts, protests, marriage contracts, transfers of prop¬ 
erty, and so on. Preportional fees are usually based upon the 
face value of the document, and vary from one-tenth of one per 
cent, to ten and one half per cent. 
Among other fees classed with the enregistrement are the 
charges made for grants of nobility, naturalization decrees, per¬ 
mits to foreigners, for impressions of the state seal, and the like. 
These “ Droits de Sceau, ” as they are called, have been in use 
from very early times; and are based on the principle, that acts 
emanating from a judicial authority should be provided with the 
seal of that authority before they are executed. The following 
acts, among others, require the state seal to make them valid: 
letters of transmission or confirmation of title, certificates of 
majority, acts concerning changes of name, naturalization, ad¬ 
mission to domicile, marriage dispensations, and the like. 
The income to the state from registration charges has in¬ 
creased with marvelous rapidity. The total annual receipts be¬ 
fore the Revolution have been estimated at twenty million francs, 
and the cost of collection averaged about thirteen per cent. 
while in 1891 the revenue from this source reached the enor¬ 
mous sum of five hundred and forty-four million francs. The 
significance of these figures lies mainly in the fact that almost 
all of these charges originated as fees, but have gradually been 
increased until many of them are pure taxes. 
B. FRENCH LICENSE FEES. 
Although some of the so-called registration fees are in reality 
license fees, still there is another distinct class of charges which 
may properly be placed in this category. The edict of 1577 1 2 i s 
the first law which required wholesale and retail dealers in i n- 
1 Handworterhuch der Staattswissenschaften , V, 378. 
2 Parieu, II, 273-274. Block, Dictionnaire de VAdministration, p. 1412. 
