than the domains and perquisites of the crown could supply to meet the expenditures of continued wars and the maintenance of standing armies, gradually, however, broke down (as has been before pointed out) the feudal system for defraying the expenses of the government; and the sovereigns were compelled to petition their tenants in chief, or the representatives of the great estates of their realms, to meet in assembly and co-operate with the crown in raising revenue by a more or less general system of forced contributions upon the persons and property of the people. And in this necessity is to be found the origin of the modern parliaments or states general; and also the inception of the modern system of taxation through the representatives of the people. And the manner in which the great principle that representation should accompany taxation began to find a place in English legal or economic experience, through what was clearly a process of evolution, was undoubtedly as follows:
Under the Saxon and, for a lengthened period, also under the Norman kings, the revenues of the crown (as before shown) were mainly derived from taxes on land, which were paid in kind (produce), and what, as the holders of land were regarded as tenants of the crown, were in the nature of rents.[1] But when, in order to enlarge the basis of revenue, personal property, in the form of movables or income, was brought under contribution, the situation became different; inasmuch as the titles of all such property not being primarily derived from the king, the consent of its owners to an official inquisition, necessary for proper valuation and assessment, was implied, and naturally was not willingly granted. And the great religious houses and orders, who in the main were the principal owners at this time of such property and were all-powerful, especially insisted that this consent should be recognized as a prerequisite to assessment; and, in at least one instance, re-enforced their position by an interdict from the Pope.
The successive steps, also, by which this great principle became recognized and incorporated into general practice have also been clearly worked out by historians. Thus, in 1181, under the reign of Henry II, each freeman was required to equip himself (for war) according to his means; and to determine what his means were, or his liability for taxation in respect to other than landed property—namely, chattels and income—four or six lawful
- ↑ Rents (taxes) paid in kind continued in force in England after the Conquest, and certainly down to the reign of Henry I. Indeed, by reason of the scarcity of money, there was practically no other method of payment. But at the same time the collectors of the king's revenue, in the settlements of their accounts, were accustomed to reckon the value of produce in money at an established ratio: as, an ox at 1s.; a sheep at 4d.; so many measures of corn at so much, and the like.
