Fees in the American Colonies. 
99 
must not be forgotten that laws were not so explicit in the 
early days as at present. General powers were given to gov¬ 
ernors in such a way as to leave details to the discretion of each 
official. A page of colonial or provincial law would give all the 
rules which would have required twenty pages of modern statutes. 
The worst abuses which this state of affairs made possible were 
more directly caused by the fact, that the governors looked upon 
their positions as sources of revenue, and did not hesitate to 
exploit the offices to which they had the appointing power. 
Thus we find one of the grievances of the Massachusetts colonists 
under Governor Andros’s administration 1 to be, the extortionate 
fees collected by the deputy to whom Secretary Randolph had 
farmed the post of secretary. This practice was not confined to 
Massachusetts alone, but was resorted to in several other col¬ 
onies both by the governor and by subordinate officials. 
A. SURVIVAL OF THE IDEA OF REGALIA, OR ROYAL PREROGATIVES, 
IN THE COLONIES. 
In the earliest colonial period there were very few taxes 
levied, for but little revenue was needed. All the officers were 
supported more or less by the fees which they collected. No 
expensive public works were undertaken by public authority; 2 
hence but little money was needed in the treasury. As a re¬ 
sult, the idea of paying money or fees into the public treasury 
never seems to have occurred to the early colonists. In old 
England they had paid everything into the King’s Exchequer 
for the use of the King and the State. What could be more 
natural than that similar payments should, in the New World, 
be made to the highest representative of the sovereign power — 
the governor! At any rate, such was the case. He granted the 
marriage license and collected his perquisites 3 for the grant, 
1 Doyle, English Colonies in America , IV, 247. See also Colonial 
Laws of Massachusetts , p. 242, for similar methods authorized by the 
Massachusetts General Court. 
2 The meeting houses and town halls were built by co-operation rather 
than by means of taxes; no record of laws passed for this purpose, is found. 
3 Maryland marriage license fee, 30s. Colonial laws , 1777, Ch. 12. 
The governor of New York had power to grant marriage licenses and 
