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The greffier (clerk) who has charge of this office is, moreover, required to draw up and to record acts relative to the jurisdiction, to give certified copies when desired, and to receive certain declarations which the law provides for and authorizes.

These divers operations give rise to expenses which are called droits de greffe, (clerk's fees.) These fees are, in fact, a tax, and are paid into the treasury after deducting a part which the law allows for the perquisites of the greffier, (clerk,) in addition to his salary. Like many other fees, these, under the old regime, formed part of the revenue of the crown. They became a branch of the public revenue of the state after the French revolution. They were soon after suppressed by the laws of 5 and 19 December, 1790, and 21 December.

A law of 21 Ventose, an 7, re-established this tax in favor of the state in all civil and commercial tribunals, and it is at this day the basis for its collection. The law of 22 Prairial, an 7, regulated this tax in the event of voluntary sale or voluntary expropriation. A decree of 12 July, 1808, made a new classification of the droits de greffe, of those of drawing up papers, or recording, which were to be levied on the basis laid down in the two laws before cited, viz: of 21 Ventose and 22 Prairial, an 7.

This tax, which is upon acts emanating from or in the jurisdiction of the civil and commercial tribunals, is not levied upon acts in connexion with the criminal, correctional, or police tribunals, the fees for which, established by law of 18 June, 1811, are solely the remuneration of the clerks of the court.

There are three kinds of droits de greffe, (clerk's fees,) properly so-called, that is, of commercial or civil attributions, to wit, the enrolling, (droit de mise an role,) the drawing up and recording, (droit de reduction et de transcription,) and the copying, (droit d'expedition.)

Enrolling fees.-These are levied when inscribed upon the rolls of each cause, as is provided in the law of 21 Ventose, article 3, as follows: The fees for enrolling are, the dues for forming and keeping the rolls, and the inscribing of each cause upon the roll to which it belongs. This fee shall be in the civil tribunals 5 francs, ($1,) on appeals from the civil and commercial tribunals; three francs, (60 cents,) for cases in first resort or on appeal from justice of the peace; and one and a half franc, (30 cents,) for summary or provisory cases-in the tribunal of commerce this shall be also one and a half franc; the whole without prejudice to the fees of the sheriff, (hussier,) which shall be 25 centimes, (5 cents,) for each cause entered on the docket. The fee for enrolment can only be collected once; in case of taking from the docket it shall be replaced gratuitously at the end of the rolls, and mention of the same shall be made; the use of placets to call cases is prohibited; they can only be called from the rolls, and in the order of inscription.

In fixing the tariff of this tax the preceding provisions are confirmed with the laws of 31 March, 1824, 30 December, 1833, and 29 December, 1842. The first provides that the fees, fines, stamp, registry, record, or de greffe, whose amount is named in francs or livres by existing laws, shall be at 50 centimes (10 cents) for every franc or livre, and so in proportion for less sums; and the second provides that until otherwise provided a florin of Holland shall, when it appears in the laws bearing relation to these taxes, be considered of two franes each, with 6 per cent. additional for monetary difference; and the last of the above named laws provides that the additional centimes or increased per cent.

shall be 30 instead of 26.

Tax for drawing up and recording. This tax is applied to acts named in the code of civil procedure and the code civil. To avoid all misapprehension as to these acts a decree of 12 July, 1808, enumerates them. According to this decree they are either proportional or fixed, and the amount of tax varies according to their character, and is modified by the laws of 31 May, 1824, of 30 December, 1832, and 29 December, 1842. As was shown with respect to the

tax on the roll or docket, the law afterwards indicates in what cases proportional, and in what fixed dues are to be levied.

Tax for drafting papers.-The tax for drafting judgments and all other acts made and deposited at the greffe, (clerk's office,) established by the law of 21 Ventose, an 7, was maintained by article 5 of the decree of 12 July, 1808.

The taxes for copies are of three kinds : 40 cents, 25 cents, and 20 cents per roll, according to the nature of the act; but, as was said further back, these have been modified by the laws of 31 May, 1824, of 30 December, 1832, and 29 December, 1842. Clerk's fees, (droits de greffe,) of the Court of Capation, droits de greffe, are not levied by the Court of Capation in civil affairs in virtue of the law of 21 Ventose, an 7, but by an anterior regulation of 12 September, 1739. The law further determines affairs exempted from this tax as well as the emoluments of the clerks of the courts, but the detail is unnecessary here.

4. Inheritances.-The amount of this tax appears by the budget for this year to be $2,080,000.

The tax upon the transmission of real and personal property is a very ancient one. In the early Roman law it was one-twentieth or 5 per cent. of the value of every testimentary inheritance which did not come from a near relative. This was afterwards increased to 10 per cent., and reduced again to 5 per cent. under the Emperor Constantine. In the middle ages the feudal seigneurs claimed at the death of their vassals dues of the same character, which varied according to localities, and was originally part or 1 per cent. of the inheritance. Another tax, under the title of inventory or division dues, was also collected upon successions in direct line.

After the French revolution the law of 15th and 19th December, 1790, laid down, in the first place, the principle totally different from the bases of previous legislation on the subject, inasmuch as the whole social basis was changed, that every transmutation of property, real or personal, whether by testament or by deed, should be subjected to registry, and on account of this formality a tax should be levied, the amount of which should vary according to the nature of the acts and the object of the transmission.

The law of 15 and 19 December, 1790, is purely fiscal, reaching all real and personal property every time it changes hands, by death or otherwise. It was successively modified by the laws of 14 Thermidor, an 4; 9 Ventose, an 6; 11 Brumaire, an 7; and finally, by that of 22 Frimaire, an 7, which definitely replaces all anterior legislation on the subject, and is the same law previously cited as providing for the taxes on registry, &c. All its provisions, however, relative to the tax on successions have been abrogated and replaced in Belgium by the law of 27 December, 1817, and that of 17 December, 1851; outline of the law of 27 December, 1817. To the taxes on changes of property caused by decrease, “mutations par décès," an expression which, in the law of 22 Frimaire, an 7, embraces all inheritances indiscriminately, the law of 27 December, 1817, has established two new expressions, which must not be confounded: 1st, it establishes a tax on inheritances; and 2d, a tax on "mutations par décès," or changes of property caused by death.— (Article 1.) All this is received or acquired by inheritance of any person residing in the kingdom, is subjected to the tax on inheritances. The value of real estate situate in the kingdom, received or acquired in possession or usufruct by the death of any person not reputed an inhabitant, (that is, who has his domicile or place of business in another country,) is subjected to the tax on "mutations par décès." These two taxes are regulated upon different bases. The most characteristic feature of the law of 27th December, 1817, is, that it exempts from the inheritance tax successions in direct line, but the exemption is not given in case of mutations.

A similar exemption is granted to all that is received or acquired by husband

or wife leaving one or two children born from their marriage, or from their descendants, or usufruct by the surviving husband or wife, or pension or periodical payment, if by the decease of the testator the children, issue of a former marriage, or their descendants, have acquired the property or are charged with the pension or periodical stipend.-(Article 24.)

These provisions, it will be seen further on, have been modified by the law of 17 December, 1851, which levies the tax upon inheritance in direct line, or between husband and wife.

Succession in direct line. According to the law of 17 December, 1851, "There shall be levied a mutation tax, to be paid by the inheritors, legatees, or those receiving in free gift, who succeed in direct line, ascending or descending, from an inhabitant of the kingdom; and in the cases provided by Nos. 2 and 3 of article 24 of the law of 27 December, 1817, to be paid by the surviving husband or wife."-(Article 1.)

"This tax shall be levied exclusively upon the value of the real estate situate in the kingdom, and the rentes and dues hypothecated on real estate in Belgium, deduction being made of the mortgages encumbering the property subjected to the tax." (Article 2.)

Articles 3 provides for the measures to be adopted for the valuation of real

estate.

Article 4. The tax is fixed at one per cent. upon what is inherited in possession, and one-half if in usufruct only.

Article 5. Exempts inheritances when the portion for each heir or legatee or of the surviving husband or wife does not exceed, after deducting debts, $200. Inheritances by an adopted child or his descendants.-Before the law of 17 December, 1851, inheritances received by adopted children or their descendants were exempted from all tax. Adoption was a means of eluding the tax on inheritances, those adopted being, by a fiction of the civil law, assimilated to legitimate children who were exempted. In re-establishing the tax on successions in direct line in the law of 1851 this omission was corrected.

Article 6 of this law provides that the tax on successions and that of mutations shall be respectively levied, according to the bases established by the law of 27 December, 1817, and by the present law, upon the total value of all that may be received or acquired by the adopted child or his descendants in the inheritances from him; and by article 9 of the same law the tax to be paid by the adopted child or his descendants is fixed at 6 per cent., if an inhabitant of the kingdom.

Such successions are exempt from tax if the total amount, after deducting debts, does not exceed $127.-(Article 6, law of 17 December, 1851, and article 24, law of 27 December, 1817.)

Inheritances from husband or wife.-Article 17 of the law of 27 December, 1819, provides that on inheritances from husband or wife the tax shall be four per cent., saving exceptions established by article 24, which have in turn been replaced by a graduated tax of from one-half to one per cent.; one-half, or two per cent., is paid for property inherited in entail.

The law of 17 December has also introduced two new provisions, which are contained in article 7, as follows: "The surviving spouse who is not subject by marriage contract to the regulations touching donations, and to whom is given aliatonement, more than one-half of the common fortune shall be assimilated in the collection of the taxes upon inheritances and mutations par décès to the surviving spouse, who, in the absence of a derogation or equal division of the common property, receives the whole or part of the portion of the spouse, in virtue of a gift or testamentary provision.

"The husband or his heir shall be equally reputed in the collection of the tax as having received, in free gift, the portion which they gain by the renun

ciation, of the wife or her heirs, of the property existing at the dissolution of the marriage."

An exemption is granted of the taxes laid down in article 17 of the law of 27 December, 1817, if the total value of the inheritance, after deducting the debts, does not exceed $127.

Exemption of the tax of one-half and of one per cent., established by the law of 17 December, 1851, is also given, when the share of the surviving husband or wife does not exceed $200 after deduction of debts.

Inheritance in collateral line, or where there is no relationship.-By the terms of article 17 of the law of 27 December, 1817, the following tax shall be levied on property inherited or acquired in collateral line, or where there is no relationship: Four per cent., between brothers and sisters, on what would have been acquired ab intestat, and ten per cent. upon all above that; six per cent., between nephew or niece, or grand nephew or niece, between uncle or aunt, grand uncle or aunt, upon what would have been legally inherited, and ten per cent. on all inherited above that; between all other relatives or persons ten per cent. Onehalf of this tax only is levied when the property is left in usufruct.

All these provisions are still in vigor, save that article 9 of the law of 17 December, 1851, provides that the tax on inheritances between brother and sister shall be five per cent. upon the part which legally would come without testament, the ten per cent. on the surplus being maintained.

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Inheritances by natural children.-By the terms of article 10, of the same law, Where natural children, in default of other relatives, heirs at law, inherit an estate, they shall be considered, for the application of the law upon the taxes on inheritances, as relations of the twelfth degree." The only inheritance of any kind whatsoever in Belgium not subjected to tax are those, the total value of which, reduction made of debts, does not exceed $127.

Tax on inheritances of missing persons.-The law of 27 December, 1817, was only applicable to estates in probate by decease legally authenticated. Property left by missing persons could, therefore, be inherited without being subject to tax.

This omission was supplied by the law of 17 December, 1851, which (article 6) provides that the provisions of the first law shall equally apply to the estates of missing persons, and that the tax shall be levied upon their value in accordance with the bases established by these two laws, if the heirs have been in possession in any form; and the taxes previously collected shall be refunded if the demand is made within two years after the day when the existence of the missing person shall have been legally proved.-(Article 8.)

Inheritances by public establishments, (demortmain.)-The law of 27 December, 1817, lays a tax of ten per cent. upon legacies made in favor of hospitals, seminaries, clerical institutions, and others, designated as de main morte. Exception is only made in the case already mentioned, when the net amount is not over $127.

The law provides for the proceedings to be observed in the declaration and valuation of estates; also touching the debts and dues of the estates, and provides also against frauds.

Tax on mutations.-This tax is upon property situate in the kingdom, inherited or acquired, in fee or entail, by the death of a person not reported to be an inhabitant. This class of inheritance, as has been before remarked, has a distinct basis of taxation. By the terms of article 17 of the law of 17 December, 1817, one per cent., if in fee, and half per cent., if in entail, is to be paid for inheritances in right line; five per cent., if in fee, and two and a half per cent., if in entail, for inheritances in collateral line, or persons of no legal relationship. Article 9 of the law of 17 December, 1851, lays the tax at 5 per cent. for an adopted child or descendant of the same. There are no exceptions to this tax.

III.

1st. Customs.-Under this head falls, 1st, the duties on imports and exports, (goods in transit are exempted;) and, 2d, the tonnage dues. The duties on imports and exports are laid in accordance with article 4 of the general law on customs of 26 August, 1822, upon all articles, goods, and provisions, except those specially exempted by law whenever exported or imported. The tariff has been frequently modified, and quite lately by the treaty concluded with France 1st May, 1861. The exemptions are either in the tariff itself, or in a special law, of which the principal is :

1st. Article 5 of the general law of 26 August, 1822, which exempts from duties munitions of war, provisions, &c., necessary to the maintenance of the army; articles belonging to ambassadors or ministers near to or of foreign powers; horses and carriages employed to journey to or from foreign countries, and baggage of travellers containing personal clothing, when they are not new, and cannot be considered as articles of commerce.

2d. The law of 8 August, 1835, which authorizes the government to grant exemptions of duties on entry for specified articles belonging to foreigners who come to reside in Belgium, or to Belgians returning home after residence in a foreign country, &c., &c.

3d. Article 40 of the law of 4 March, 1846.

By virtue of this article government can permit, under bond or security given, the temporary removal from the public storehouses of goods destined to be improved by manufacturing process in the kingdom.

The average of duties is about 10 per cent. and costs, as before remarked, about 30 per cent. for the collection.

The total amount of duties on imports is estimated for 1862 at $3,068,000, and on exports at $5,000, or together $3,073,000.

Tonnage dues.-Chapter 25 of the general law of 26 August, 1822, regulates this tax. Vessels subjected to this tax are divided into three classes:

1st. All seagoing vessels under Belgian flag to one sole tax of nineteen cents per ton at their first entry, or going out of a Belgian port each year from the 1st January to 31st December, inclusive. They are exempt on all subsequent

voyages.

2d. All seagoing vessels under foreign flag, belonging to the inhabitants of a country, kingdom, or port where Belgian ships are not subjected to more elevated or other dues than are their inhabitants. This tax is collected on vessels on their first entry or clearance on the same rate and footing as those of first class.

3d. All seagoing vessels not in the foregoing class. The tax for these is forty-seven and a half cents per ton on every entry, and can eventually be raised by the government.

Exemptions. The law exempts from tonnage tax-1st. Belgian vessels solely employed in fishing, whether coastwise or at sea. 2d. Belgian vessels going out loaded solely with pig iron or coal, and returning without cargo. 3d. Vessels entering by stress of weather or for orders, or for wintering, where cargo is not broken, and none taken, and where the intention of the captain or owner was not to break cargo. 4th. Pilot boats, or vessels serving solely for pilotage.

The law also provides for the restitution of the tonnage tax on Belgian vessels which have paid the tax at the entry or clearance, but have not, during the year, visited a foreign port.

The estimate of this source of revenue for this year in the budget is $170,000; but it is proposed, if the capitalization of the Scheldt dues is carried out, to renounce this tax in so far as it reaches foreign shipping.

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