Court of Finances

The Chambres des comptes were in France under the Ancien Régime, the independent financial courts. The Chambre des comptes in Paris, the oldest of these institutions, is the forerunner of today's Court of Auditors ( Cour des comptes )

The Chambre des comptes of Paris

In order to keep the receipts and expenditure of the empire under control, the king made ​​use only of the originally Curia Regis, the group of his closest advisors. Middle of the 12th century, he entrusted the finances then the Knights Templar, which resulted in a banking house in Paris, so that the Treasury was now organized as a financial institution and income and expenditure accounts ran over. The royal tax officials in the country who sent the receipts to the Templars, were tested at the royal court, which in turn has had a particular officer at the Templars, who were called curia in compotis and registered in the discussions of the curia took part, when it came to financial issues. From 1297 the accounts audit was conducted twice a year at the solstice (then June 24 and December 25). That which was at first simply a fund for the receipt of money, developed as a Court, the split from the curia, and finally a separate Court was.

1256 wrote an ordinance of St. Louis that Mayeurs et prud'hommes would be accountable before the gene des comptes in Paris; some ( spiritual ) members of the curia specialized in this task, some ( secular ) " Maîtres relays were put to them as Comptes du roi to the side.

To 1303, the Paris Chambre des Comptes in the Palais de la Cité settled where they should stay by the French Revolution until its dissolution. Their job was primarily to oversee the management of the Domaine royal, in the second place in the control of public expenditure: they considered the royal household, the guards and officers, bailiffs, bailiffs and seneschals. With the dissolution of the Knights Templar in 1307 King Philip IV spent the treasury in the Louvre. For the group of auditors, which had been assigned a special room in the royal palace, now the term "camera compotorum came on and they were considered a separate office, although they continue to constitute a Commission of the curia regis only.

The orderly Vivier -en- Brie from January 1319, which was published on April 17, 1320 by Henri IV de Sully, laid down the organizational principles of the Chambre des comptes: It included only three, later four Maîtres clerks and three Maîtres relay as confidant of the king with consultation and decision-making power, also eleven assistants ( Petits clerks, later Clerc des comptes ). The office of President of the Chambre was created for the clergy in 1381, another president for the Laity in 1400. Clerks ( " registrars " ) were set and Corrrecteurs to support the Maîtres, the king also sent more Conseillers.

Decline of the Chambre de Comptes

From the late 14th century, the Chambre des comptes lost its unique position with respect to the royal finances. A special Chamber of monnaies was created for the coinage, new taxes ( aide, tallage, gabelle ) were introduced and administered by the Cour des aides created in 1390. The importance of the Domaine royal who continue supplying the Chambre des Comptes, for the financing of the court went back by it. In addition to that, with its insinuation own chambers were set up now in some new provinces under the Crown: The oldest regional Chambre des comptes was the Dauphiné, which was founded in 1368; others were set up in Normandy ( 1465 ), in Provence, in Burgundy, in Nantes ( for Brittany ), in Navarre, in the Languedoc Roussillon and, in Nancy, Metz and Bar-le- Duc. On the other hand, the Chambre des comptes of Paris as an independent final authority in financial matters was an orderly on February 26, 1464 noted ( " Cour sovereign principale, Première et du dernier ressort singulière en tout le fait du compte des finances ").

Jean -Baptiste Colbert, who was finance minister from 1665 to 1683, eventually withdrew the Chambre des Comptes, the management of water and forests An edict of February 1704 created then as a new authority, the " Chambres des Eaux et souveraines Forest"

Resolution of the Chambres des comptes

In the eighteenth century, the Chambre des comptes of Paris was still responsible for the Domaine royal, control of finances, review of all royal officials and the application of privileges. Your jurisdiction they had extended over the whole kingdom, but had thereby the existence of the chambers in a dozen provinces consider their powers were regulated differently.

Had the Chambre des comtpes of Paris at its peak at the end of a Premier Président and twelve presidents who were each half a year in office; were added 68 advisors, Maîtres etc., so that in 1789 belonged to the Chambre des comptes 289 officials.

During this time, the Chambre des comptes was regarded as an archaic institution with no real power or any benefit for ordered finances. She worked so slowly that, on average, passed ten years for the audit. His decisions were rarely implemented, considered as purely formal. In fact, the Chambre des comptes was due to the fact that they repeatedly undocumented decisions of the Parlement in the financial sector, has become a nuisance. On September 17, 1791, the Chambre des comptes of Paris was finally dissolved and replaced by a Commission de comptabilité; same thing happened with the Chambres in the provinces on September 29.

List of Presidents

Weblink

• Patent letter of Louis XI. From September 7, 1461, confirmation of officials of the Chambre de Comptes of Paris

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