Chambre des comptes
Encyclopedia
Under the French monarchy, the Courts of Accounts (in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 Chambres des comptes) were sovereign courts specialising in financial affairs. The Court of Accounts in Paris was the oldest and the forerunner of today's French Court of Audit. They oversaw public spending, handled finances, protected crown estates
Crown lands of France
The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or domaine royal of France refers to the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the kings of France...

, audited the accounts of crown officials, and adjudged any related matters of law.

Early history

To oversee the Kingdom's revenues and expenditure, the French King first relied solely on his King's Court or Curia Regis, court officials who assisted him in governing. However, by the mid-12th century, the Crown entrusted its finances to the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...

, who maintained a banking establishment in Paris. The royal Treasury was henceforth organized like a bank and salaries and revenues were transferred between accounts. Royal accounting officers in the field, who sent revenues to the Temple, were audited by the King's Court, which had special clerks assigned to work at the Temple. These financial specialists came to be called the Curia in Compotis and sat in special sessions of the King's Court for dealing with financial business. From 1297, accounts were audited twice yearly after Midsummer Day (June 24) and Christmas. In time, what was once a simple Exchequer of Receipts developed into a central auditing agency, branched off, and eventually specialized into a full-time court.

In 1256, Saint Louis
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...

 issued a decree ordering all mayors, burghesses, and town councilmen to appear before the King's sovereign auditors of the Exchequer (French gens des comptes) in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 to render their final accounts. The King's Court's general secretariat had members who specialized in finance and accountancy and could receive accounts. A number of Barons
Court of Exchequer (Scotland)
The Court of Exchequer was formerly a distinct part of the court system in Scotland, with responsibility for administration of government revenue and judicial matters relating to customs and excise, revenue, stamp duty and probate...

 (maîtres lais) were commissioned to sit as the King's Exchequer
Exchequer
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...

 (comptes du Roi).

In or around 1303, the Paris Court of Accounts was established in the Palais de la Cité where it remained until the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Its auditors were responsible for overseeing revenue from Crown estates and checking public spending. It audited the Royal Household, inspectors, royal commissioners, provosts, baillifs, and seneschals. In 1307, the Philip IV
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...

 definitively removed royal funds from the Temple and placed them in the fortress of the Louvre. Thereafter, the financial specialists received accounts for audit in a room of the royal palace that became known as the Camera compotorum or Chambre des comptes, and they began to be collectively identified under the same name, although still only a subcommission of the King's Court, consisting of about sixteen people.

The Vivier-en-Brie Ordinance of 1320, issued by Philip V
Philip V of France
Philip the Tall was King of France as Philip V and, as Philip II, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne. He reigned from 1316 to his death and was the penultimate monarch of the House of Capet. Considered a wise and politically astute ruler, Philip took the throne under questionable...

, required the Chambre to audit accounts, judge cases arising from accountability, and maintain registers of financial documents; it also laid out the basic composition of financial courts: three (later four) cleric masters of accounts (maîtres-clercs) to act as chief auditors and three lay Barons (maîtres-lais familiers du Roi) empowered to hear and adjudge ("oyer and terminer
Oyer and terminer
In English law, Oyer and terminer was the Law French name, meaning "to hear and determine", for one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat...

") audit accounts. They were assisted by eleven clerks (petis clercs, later clercs des comptes) who acted as auditors of the prests. This complement grew by 50 percent in the next two decades but was reduced to seven masters and twelve clerks in 1346. The office of churchman Chief Baron (président) was created by the Ordinance of 1381, and a second lay Chief Baron was appointed in 1400. Clerks of court were eventually added to the Court's composition. Examiners (correcteurs) were created to assist the Barons (maitres). Other court officers (conseillers) appointed by the King were created to act alongside the puisne Barons (maîtres ordinaires). Lastly, the Ordinance of 26 February 1464 named the Court of Accounts as the "sovereign, primary, supreme, and sole court of last resort in all things financial".

While gaining in stability in the later 14th century, the Court lost its central role in royal finances. First, currency was moved to a separate body (Chambre des monnaies), then the increasingly regular "extraordinary" taxes (aide, tallage
Tallage
Tallage or talliage may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the crown upon cities, boroughs, and royal domains...

, gabelle) became the responsibility of the généraux of the Cour des aides (created in 1390). The Crown's domainal revenues, still retained by the Court of Accounts, fell in importance and value. By 1400, the Court's role had been much reduced. However, with the gradual englargement of the Realm through conquest, the need for the Court remained secure.

In the Provinces

The oldest provincial Court of Accounts was in Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....

 and established in 1368. Other courts sprang up in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

 (1465), Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

, Burgundy
Bourgogne
Burgundy is one of the 27 regions of France.The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people who settled in the area in early Middle-age. The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern...

, Nantes
Nantes
Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

 in Britanny, Navarre
Kingdom of Navarre
The Kingdom of Navarre , originally the Kingdom of Pamplona, was a European kingdom which occupied lands on either side of the Pyrenees alongside the Atlantic Ocean....

, Languedoc
Languedoc
Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...

 and Roussillon
Roussillon
Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

, and the cities of Nancy, Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...

 and Bar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc, formerly known as Bar, is a commune in the Meuse département, of which it is the préfecture . The department is in Lorraine in north-eastern France-Geography:...

.

Decline and Abolishment

Toward the end of the French monarchy and excluding the Paris Court of Accounts, out of 12 other regional courts of accounts, some (merged into the Cours des aides) continued to exercise as financial courts presiding over tax and estate cases. Some sovereign courts of accounts were raised from grand feudal estates also existing in certain provinces, and did not therefore form a cohesive whole. It was not until the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

the courts of accounts would be abolished between 17–29 September 1791.

Court Officers and Staff

At any given time, a Court of Accounts may have included any of a number of officers:
  • premier président - Chief Baron
  • président (de chambre) - Presiding Baron
  • maître des comptes (later conseiller maître) - puisne or ordinary Baron
  • auditeur des comptes (later conseiller auditeur) - auditor (later Auditor of the Prests)
  • correcteur des comptes (later conseiller correcteur) - examiner of accounts
  • conseiller contrôleur des restes - comptroller
  • conseiller sécrétaire - judicial secretary
  • sécrétaire du roi - Secretary to the King

  • procureur du roi (later procureur général) - King's attorney-general
  • avocat général - King's deputy attorney
  • substitut - King's solicitor-general

  • greffier en chef - Chief Clerk of Court
  • greffier au plumitif - Clerk of the Dockets
  • greffier à la peau - Clerk of the Pipe, or Ingrosser of the Great Roll
  • sous-greffier - deputy clerk of court
  • garde des livres - Clerk of the Pells (records officer)
  • receveur de gages - Teller of the Receipt
  • receveur des amendes - Chirographer of Fines
  • commis à doubler les comptes - Comptroller of the Pipe (copyist; made a counter-roll or "duplicates")

  • chevalier d'honneur - Usher
  • premier huissier - Constable
  • huissier - marshall
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