138 
Urdahl—Historical Survey of Fee Systems. 
F. NEW STANDARDS OF MEASUREMENT. 
In course of time new standards of measurement are intro¬ 
duced. Recorders’ fees were, as a rule, so much per folio. 
“Folio,” however, is an ambiguous term, of which the recorders 
were not slow to avail themselves; and, as a result the states 
one by one passed acts defining its meaning . 1 Peddlers’ license 
fees soon become graded according to the amount of goods which 
were carried, and also according to the nature of the goods 
sold . 2 Liquor licenses are made to vary in some states accord¬ 
ing to the number of kinds of liquor sold on the premises; in 
others according to the quantity sold at the time; and in still 
others according to the value of the stock , 3 or the rental value 
of the premises, and so on. In billiard table licenses there is 
usually a smaller charge for the second table on the same prem¬ 
ises than for the first. In a few states the charge for inspec¬ 
tion is slightly lower if there is a large quantity of goods in¬ 
spected at one time, than for small quantities. 
G. INCORPORATION FEES. 
Another set of fees, which may be said to be a direct result 
of economic conditions of the middle period, are the payments 
which have been designated by the general term, “ incorpora¬ 
tion fees. ” These are, in a certain sense, one of the few sur¬ 
vivals of the ancient Regalia, or lucrative prerogatives, which 
belonged to the sovereign. The right of incorporation was at 
first simply one of a large number of franchises 4 granted by the 
King. In common law the words “franchise” and “liberty” 
are synonymous. Blackstone defines a franchise as a “royal 
privilege, or branch of the king’s privilege, subsisting in the 
hands of a subject .” 5 It may be “vested” he says “in natural 
1 Some states fix 100 words to the folio; others 80, and so on. 
2 First there is one charge for all peddlers’ licenses; then there is a 
higher charge for a license to peddle with a horse; then the charge is 
further increased for license to peddle with two horses, and so on. 
3 Pennsylvania adopted the system as early as 1840. 
4 Blackstone mentions as franchises the right to have a manor, to hold 
court-leet, to have lordship, to hold estrays, to use royal fish, and so on. 
5 Blackstone, II, 37. 
