Medieval and modern times; an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . ions. Some of the districts which the kings of France brought undertheir sway, like Languedoc, Provence, Brittany, and Dauphiny,were considerable states in themselves, each with its own laws, cus-toms, and system ofgovernment. Whenthese provinces hadcome, at differenttimes, into the pos-session of the kingof France, he hadnot changed theirlaws so as to makethem correspondwith those of hisother domains. Hewas satisfied if anew province paidits due share of t
Medieval and modern times; an introduction to the history of western Europe form the dissolution of the Roman empire to the present time . ions. Some of the districts which the kings of France brought undertheir sway, like Languedoc, Provence, Brittany, and Dauphiny,were considerable states in themselves, each with its own laws, cus-toms, and system ofgovernment. Whenthese provinces hadcome, at differenttimes, into the pos-session of the kingof France, he hadnot changed theirlaws so as to makethem correspondwith those of hisother domains. Hewas satisfied if anew province paidits due share of thetaxes and treatedhis officials with re-spect. In some casesthe provinces re-tained their local assemblies, and controlled, to a certain extent,their own affairs. The provinces into which France was dividedbefore the Revolution were not, therefore, merely artificial divi-sions created for the purposes of convenience, like the modernFrench departments^- but represented real historical in a considerable portion of southern France theRoman law still prevailed, in the central parts and in the west 1 See below, p. S P A I n~v--•?1jp5,toS MED1TERRANEA N SEA The Salt Tax Showing the different amounts paid in the vari-ous parts of France in the eighteenth centuryfor a given amount of salt The Eve of the French Revolution 477 and north there were no less than two hundred and eighty-five Various sys-different local codes of law in force; so that one who movedfrom his own to a neighboring town might find a wholly un-familiar legal system. One of the heaviest taxes was that on salt. This variedgreatly, so greatly in different parts of France that the govern-ment had to go to great expense to guard the boundary linesbetween the yarious districts, for there was every inducementto smugglers to carry salt from those parts of the countrywhere it was cheap into the regions where it sold for a highprice on account of the tax. Besides these unfortunate local differences,
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