La Paulette (after the financier Charles Paulet, who proposed it) was the name commonly given to the "annual right" (droit annuel), a special tax levied by the French Crown during the ancien régime. It was first instituted on December 12, 1604 by King Henry IV's minister Maximilien de Béthune. Under the terms of the Paulette, the holders of various government offices could secure the right to transfer their office at will by annually paying the Crown one sixtieth of the sum that they had paid when they acquired the office. A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e. ... Kings ruled in France from the Middle Ages to 1848. ... Administrative map of ancien régime France Ancien Régime means Old Rule or Old Order in French; in English, the term refers primarily to the social and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. ... December 12 is the 346th day (347th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events January 14 – Hampton Court conference with James I of England, the Anglican bishops and representatives of Puritans September 20 – Capture of Ostend by Spanish forces under Ambrosio Spinola after a three year siege. ... Henry IV (French: Henri IV) (December 13, 1553 – May 14, 1610), called the Great (French: le Grand), was the first of the Bourbon kings of France, reigning from 1589 until 1610. ... Maximilien de Béthune, duc de Sully (December 13, 1560 – December 22, 1641) was the doughty soldier, French minister, staunch Protestant and faithful right-hand man who enabled Henry IV of France to accomplish so much. ...

This tax provided the Crown with a steady source of revenue while making many government offices, particularly seats in the Parlements, effectively hereditary, since holders usually transferred them to their heirs. This left the administration of justice in France in the hands of a new and increasingly powerful hereditary class of magistrates, which came to be known as the noblesse de robe ("nobility of the gown"), in contrast with the traditional aristocracy, known as the noblesse d'épée ("nobility of the sword"). This system was abolished after the French Revolution. Parlements (pronounced in French) in ancien régime France — contrary to what their name would suggest to the modern reader — were not democratic or political institutions, but law courts . ... A magistrate is a judicial officer with limited authority to administer and enforce the law. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the Windows of the Lodge of the Heralds. ... During the French Revolution (1789–1799) democracy and republicanism overthrew the absolute monarchy in France, and the French portion of the Roman Catholic Church was forced to undergo radical restructuring. ...