1

however, not in the first but in the last year of her reign. This date, 1558, has been generally accepted.2 There is good evidence, however, that Mary was not the first sovereign to issue a Book of Rates. And in spite of Gilbert's view, it seems clear that the earliest general Book listing fixed valuations could not have been issued before 1509-10, since the poundage grant of Henry VIII kept the old clause that the merchant's declaration on oath of the value of his goods was to be accepted. The corresponding poundage grant of Mary omits this clause,' as does that of Edward VI, inserting the significant phrases, "and so after the rates." Watts, in his Bibliotheca Britannica, refers to a Book of Rates of 1550,7 no copy of which, however, have I found. But there is in the Bodleian Library a Book of Rates clearly dated 1545, and this is a reissue of an earlier Book. At the Record Office, the original order for the issue of the first general Book of Rates is dated 1536. The wording of the general orders accompanying the Book indicates that

1 A History of Taxation and Taxes in England, I, p. 179: "The old system of rating merchandise for the poundage, upon the value as sworn by the merchant, was superseded by a fixed valuation."

* Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce (4th ed.), vol. i, p. 549. Atton and Holland, The King's Customs (1908), p. 60.

"The Book of Rates seems to be as ancient as the thirty-first of Ed. I for thereby the Merchants agreed to be charged with the Pound Rate according to Value and such a Pound Rate could hardly be well and equally assest without a Book of Rates; since, without such a Book, the Customs would be liable either to the Oath of the Merchant, or the Oppression of the Officer." Treatise, pp. 223, 224.

1 Henry VIII, c. 20. The exception to this rule is considered below.

1 Mary, St. 2, c. 18.

1 Ed. VI, c. 13.

"The Rates of the Custom-House, both inward and outward, newly corrected. London, 1550, 8vo," printed by Nicholas Hyll.

The title of this reads: "The rates of the custome house bothe inward and outward, the difference of measures and weyghts and other commodities very necessarye for all merchantes to knowe newly correctyd and imprynted. An. MDXLV." Printed by Rich. Kele.

R. O., St. P., Henry VIII, vol. 113, fols. 129–140.

this was the first national Book of Rates ever made in England; "None of the Raats of merchandisis in no port within the Reme doth agre one with another at this day."

On the other hand, in the year 1532, there was a petition of foreign merchants concerning official valuation, which elicited the reply that the system had been in vogue over 20 years,1 in other words, previous to 1512. Another diplomatic document of an earlier date, 1507, implies the existence of such a system.2 There is also a long paper roll of date 1532,3 giving the official valuations of goods made in 1507. And the report of the royal commission of 1553 refers to the Book of Rates of the same year, 1507.

The apparent conflict of statements and facts may be explained by the hypothesis that this list of rates was for one port only, not general. The port was probably London, for in the drawing up of the Rates London customs officials were the only officials consulted along with the Merchants Adventurers of London, and the list of rated commodities resembles London's imports, as shown in the customs accounts, more than those of any other port. Furthermore, the evidence

1 R. O., St. P., Henry VIII, vol. 69, fol. 255b. Schanz, Englishe Handelspolitik II, p. 267. The Rates were likewise the subject of foreign negotiations in 1566 (Br. M., Galba, C II, fol. 297). Mary had considered the possibility of foreign objection before issuing her Rates (Br. M., Titus, B IV, fol. 129).

Br. M., Harl., 288, fol. 19; Schanz, II, sec. 115.

Br. M., Add. Ch., 16577, inaccurately catalogued as "Rate of prices of wares for custom due from Merchant Adventurers, 1507, 1532.” (Charters and Rolls, Index Locorum, 460.) The preface of this document reads: "A Rate made of the prisys of allmaner off warys by the kyngs cownsell and by the advyce [of the] surveyor & cowntrawlers & costemers off the porte of london and the merchants adventerers of the same with other the xv daye of July in the xxii yere of the Rayne of ower Soveragne lorde Kyng Hary the VIIth the same to induer & to contynew forever duryng the kyngs plesure."

Br. M., Add., 30198, fols. 43 ff.

Schanz, tho with little evidence before him, concluded that there was "in all probability for some wares a new rating" under Henry VII, and that this remained "quite unaltered" under Henry VIII. His statement has been ignored by English writers.

from the customs ledgers in the years following 1507 indicates that the London valuations had not been established in the other ports, for their rates differed both from London and each other. We may distinguish, therefore, a period of metropolitan official valuation (1507-1536), preceding that of national valuation when the London rates were made general for the Kingdom, and printed in book form.

When the valuations are compared it is seen that the Tudor Books of Rates fall into two groups. Of the Books issued in 1507, 1532, 1536, 1545, and 1550, the two of 1532 and 1545 (now accessible, one at the British Museum and the other at the Bodleian Library) show that the rates continued unchanged when the London official valuations were made national in 1536. The second group of Books, beginning in 1558,2 and continuing in 1583, 1586, and 1590, raise the valuations by approximately 75 per cent on the average and keep them without change to the end of Elizabeth's reign. Walsingham had apparently contemplated a reform of the rates but Elizabeth postponed this step "untill tyme of more peacible trade." The next alteration of valuations was made in the Books of Rates of 16044 and 1610. When compared with the official prices of 1558, those of 1610 show an average increase of about 100 per cent.

As is indicated by this statement in regard to the

1 See, for example, the accounts of Sandwich and Lynn. R. O., K. R. Customs, 130/1 (Sandwich, 4-5 Henry VIII); ibid., 95/5 (Lynn, 9-10 Henry VIII); ibid., 130-134 (Sandwich, 11-12 Henry VIII); ibid., 130-137 (Sandwich, 23-24 Henry VIII).

2 Br. M., Add., 25097 (wrongly designated as Table of Customs Duties, temp. Henry VIII"). There are references to an issue of a Book of Rates, 28 May, 4 and

5 Philip and Mary (1558) in Lansd. 3, no. 70.

Br. M., Titus, B IV, fols. 303, 304.

R. O., K. R. Customs, 173/3.

• London Customs House. The book is labelled with the date 1611.

changes of prices of commodities listed in the official valuations of the Books of Rates, the Tudor issues of the Books were concerned primarily with the values at which dutiable goods were to be rated, not, as in the nineteenth century,' with the specific duties. One exception should be made, in the case of the specific duties on exported cloth, which had been levied by prerogative of the Crown since 1302-03. In 1558 the custom and subsidy on exported cloth were amalgamated and this duty was greatly increased. But while this was the only instance of an avowed specific duty, the system of official valuations on other exports and on imports in effect converted the older ad valorem duties to a specific basis. For example, wax exported by denizens had been subject to a duty of 12d. per £, or a 5 per cent ad valorem duty, reckoning the value at the time and place of exportation. Henceforth, according to the earliest Book of Rates, a hundred pounds of wax were to be valued at 40s., making the duty equivalent to a specific rate of 2s. per hundred pounds.2

The first Book of Rates did not include all articles subject to an ad valorem duty. The scope was widened in later issues. Late in Elizabeth's reign, eighteen dutiable articles were outside the Book of Rates, and in 1604, some goods, such as diamonds and other jewels, were declared unsuitable for such valuation. In 1685, when goods were not rated, the merchant was called upon to take the " Oath ad valorem,” as indeed

1 This was the case with The Customs' Book of Rates published in 1842. The only early Book of Rates, hitherto at all well known, that of 1660 (Statutes, 12 Car. II, c. 4), unlike the Tudor Books, did not make all its valuations wholly independent of the fluctuating prices of the moment.

R. O., K. R. Customs, 196/7.

• Ibid., 173/3.

MS. "Booke of Instruction, Stockton, 1675-1714," in Stockton Customs House.

was the case in 1787, if there were any goods not included among the specific rates.1

It is necessary to differentiate the history of the valuation of articles of export and import from the history of the Book of Rates. Long before any Book was issued, a customary rating had been developed, as is seen in the case of cloth, the most important single article of export in the sixteenth century. Even in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the short white cloth, the cloth of assize, was regularly valued at 40s. And this rate held till 1558, when the specific cloth dues supplanted the earlier duties. Cloth was probably an extreme case, but it nevertheless illustrates the general tendency toward a nominal valuation, below the market price.

An interesting feature of the cloth duties was the equating of the numerous varieties of cloth to the standard white cloth. Thus a piece of Bridgewater paid custom as half a short white cloth, or a Tavistock as one sixth. This had been the practice at an earlier date, and it was apparently made general in 1536.5

4

In addition to the official valuations of a large number of articles of foreign trade and the specific cloth duties, the Books of Rates contained other matters,

1 27 George III, c. 13, § 17.

R. O., K. R. Customs, 59/8 (5 Ric. II).

Cf. Br. M., Lansd., 3, no. 70; Galba, C I, fol. 223 (about 1558); Bodleian, Douce C 70.

Woad also had enjoyed (at London) a customary rating or valuation of 13s. 4d. per bale. This, at any rate, was the assertion in 1507 of the Breton merchants who were objecting to new and strange rates. Br. M., Harl., 288, fol. 19.

R. O., K. R. Customs, 96/37 (8 Nov., 1456). A Hanse merchant exported from Lynn "8 straights making 2 cloths custom 2s." See also ibid., 53/17 (21-22 Henry VII).

R. O., St. P., Henry VIII, vol. 113, fols. 129-140: "Concernyng the makyng of wollen cloths and how many of every sort shalbe alouyd for a cloth." A fuller statement is to be found in the Book of Rates of 1583 (Bodleian, Douce C 70). See also K. R. Customs, 173/3 (1604).