Paulette

La Paulette (after the financier Charles Paulet, who proposed it) was the name commonly given to the "annual right" (droit annuel), a special tax levied by the French Crown during the ancien r?gime. It was first instituted on December 12, 1604 by King Henry IV's minister Maximilien de B?thune. Under the terms of the Paulette, the holders of various government offices could secure the right to transfer their office at will by annually paying the Crown one sixtieth of the sum that they had paid when they acquired the office.

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This tax provided the Crown with a steady source of revenue while making many government offices, particularly seats in the Parlements, effectively hereditary, since holders usually transferred them to their heirs. This left the administration of justice in France in the hands of a new and increasingly powerful hereditary class of magistrates, which came to be known as the noblesse de robe ("nobility of the gown"), in contrast with the traditional aristocracy, known as the noblesse d'?p?e ("nobility of the sword"). This system was abolished after the French Revolution.

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Tax: A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e.g., tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). Taxes could also be imposed by a subnational entity....

French Crown: REDIRECT List of French monarchs...

December 12: December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 19 days remaining....

Paulette related Images and Photos (experimental)

Paulette Goddard	Paulette's Cafe	Madame Paulette Net Hat c.1963	Goddard Paulette - Movie Story Magazine Cover 1940's
Goddard Paulette - Movie Stars Parade Magazine Cover 1940's	Anna Lucasta Paulette Goddard 1949	Ghost Breakers Paulette Goddard Bob Hope on Window Card 1940	Isa Miranda and Paulette Dubost: Le Mensonge De Nina Petrovna 1937
Pot O' Gold James Stewart Paulette Goddard 1941	Reap the Wild Wind Ray Milland Paulette Goddard 1942	Dramatic School Alan Marshal Luise Rainer Paulette Goddard 1938