《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第六章·旧制度下的行政积习》第6节
An Intendant writes to the minister with reference to a duty of octroi from which a contractor of public works wanted to be exempted: ‘It is certain that according to the strict letter of the edicts and decrees which I have just quoted, no person throughout the kingdom is exempted from these duties; but those who are versed in the knowledge of affairs are well aware that these imperative enactments stand on the same footing as to the penalties which they impose, and that although they are to be found in almost every edict, declaration, and decree for the imposition of taxes, they have never prevented exceptions from being made.’ The whole essence of the then state of France is contained in this passage: rigid rules and lax practice were its characteristics. Any one who should attempt to judge the Government of that period by the collection of its laws would fall into the most absurd mistakes. Under the date 1757 I have found a royal declaration condemning to death any one who shall compose or print writings contrary to religion or established order. The bookseller who sells and the pedlar who hawks them are to suffer the same punishment. Was this in the age of St. Dominic? It was under the supremacy of Voltaire. It is a common subject of complaint against the French that they despise law; but when, alas! could they have learned to respect it? It may be truly said that amongst the men of the period I am describing, the place which should be filled in the human mind by the notion of law was empty. Every petitioner entreated that the established order of things should be set aside in his favour with as much vehemence and authority as if he were demanding that it should be properly enforced; and indeed its authority was never alleged against him but as a means of getting rid of his importunity. The submission of the people to the existing powers was still complete, but their obedience was the effect of custom rather than of will, and when by chance they were stirred up, the slightest excitement led at once to violence, which again was almost always repressed by counter-violence and arbitrary power, not by the law.
注释摘要
总督的这封信件极短，却像一束光穿透了旧制度行政体系的整个运作逻辑。它涉及的是入市税，一种对进入城镇的商品征收的古老间接税。一位公共工程承包商想免掉这笔税，总督在替他说情时写下的这几句话，暴露出一种比任何正式制度描述都更真实的权力形态。他说，若按法令的字面规定，全国没有任何人可以豁免此税。但他紧接着补充说，通晓事务的人都明白，这些强制性条款连同它们宣布的惩罚…