) "Here
is what it cost a Councillor; I take myself as an example. He paid
fifty thousand livres for his place, and ten thousand more for the tax
of the 'marc d'or.' He received three hundred and eighty-nine livres
ten sous salary, from which three hundred and sixty-seven livres
'capitation' had to be deducted. The King allowed us forty-five
livres for extra service of 'La Tournelle'. How about the fees? is
asked. The (grande chambre) superior court, asserted to have received
the largest amount, was composed of one hundred and eighty members;
the fees amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand livres, which were
not a burden on the nation, but on the litigants. M. Thouret, who
practiced in the Rouen parliament, will bear witness to this. I
appeal to him to say conscientiously what sum a Councillor derived
from his office - not five hundred livres . . . When a judgment
cost the litigant nine hundred livres the King's portion was six
hundred Iivres . . . To sum up, the profits of an office were seven
livres ten sous."
[81] Albert Babeau, "La Ville," ch. II., and "Histoire de Troyes,"
I., ch. 1. At Troyes, fifty merchants, notables, elected the judge-
consul and two consuls; the merchants' guild possessed its own hall
and had its own meetings.
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