Decrees relating to French commerce

Bound volume containing file copies of decrees relating to commerce collected between 1717 and 1725 by a Paris office of the Compagnie des Fermiers-Généraux, which was a company trading with the Levant. All are printed excepting the following manuscript transcripts concerning the regulation of trade: 1)An extract of the declaration given to the Ministers of Holland and England by the Plenipotentaries of the King, 4 January 1717, including a note that 'this copy was given to the Company on 11 March 1718, in consequence of a letter written by M. Piquet, Keeper of the Seal at the Council of Foreign Affairs'. 2) A decree, dated 7 October 1717, on the laws governing duties on butter and cheeses. 3) Decree headed 'Cires', 1719, beginning 'The King wishes to treat favourably the manufacture established at Limoges...', and transcribed on the last page of a printed decree of 30 March 1719. 4) Decree, dated 1 August 1720, relating to the sawing and merchandising of merain wood, transcribed on the last page of a printed decree of 9 July 1720. 5) Copy of a letter written by the Companie des Fermiers-Généraux to Sr. Savalette, Receiver at St Valery concerning the liability of duty to goods imported from the Levant.

A farm was the system of leasing out the rights of collecting and retaining taxes in a certain district. The Compagnie des Fermiers-Généraux obviously played some national part in collecting taxes and duties.

Access to the items in the collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the controlled environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Access to archive collections may be restricted under the Freedom of Information Act. Please contact the University Archivist for details.

Bound in a volume lettered 'Recueil Darrest', which is part of the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature (Ref: G.L. Catalogue 1716).

Collection level description.

Manuscript quarto.

Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

Several of the printed decrees may also be found in the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature (Ref: G.L. Catalogue 5545 and 5692).