be taxed at
pleasure, either by taking a percentage of their property (e.g. in one
case, one-fourth), or by levies for alleged offences. The existence of a
separate exchequer for the Jews is an indication of their fiscal value.
(5) Direct taxation formed an extraordinary or occasional head of
revenue. The Danegeld was succeeded by the carucage, and the commutation
of military service introduced the scutage, but these forms were of
little immediate importance, though very significant for the future
course of development. (6) Lastly come the dues claimed at the ports,
which contain in germ the customs system of later times, though they
rather resemble the harbour charges of modern ports and were very
trivial in amount.

The history of the English financial system consists largely in the
exhibition of the different fortunes of these several component parts of
the exchequer receipts; for it must be remembered that the sheriff was
bound to account to that tribunal for all that he should have received,
and by this agency the local contributions passed into the king's
possession for the service of the state, During the century and a half
that lay between the Conquest and the granting of the Great Charter the
account given above holds good. The character of the ruler affected the
vigour of the fiscal, as well as the general, administration. Henry I.
and Henry II. secured much better results than Stephen or John; but the
collection of the rent and profits of the royal manors and the feudal
and other dues continued as the mainstay of revenue. Indications of
change are, however, to be found. Thus the substitution of the
"carucage" or plough tax for the "Danegeld" marks an advance towards
direct taxation of land through its produce, and the introduction of
"scutage" is not only further evidence of the same tendency, but also a
step in the development of "money economy" in place of the earlier
"natural economy" or system of payments in kind. The special levies or
"tallages" imposed at times of need on the towns in the king's demesne
appear to have been a doubtful exercise of the royal prerogative, but
scientifically they belong to the same class as the Danegeld and
scutage. Perhaps the most important advance made in this period is the
beginning of taxation of movables, first applied in the Saladin tithe of
1189 and, later, expanded into a general system.

In the reign of John (1199-1216) the loss of Normandy and the concession
of