The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t21.5

c11.t21.5

Taxation as such was unknown in France previous to 1300.⁴ As a function of the state and as an institution of "public law" it virtually ceased to exist with the destruction of the Roman Empire by the Teutons. In its place was substituted the "private claim" of customary dues, fines or tolls by landlords and barons.⁵ The transition from this "feudal" to "modern" finance was a lengthy process in England.⁶ It was not before the rise of nation-states in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that the right of government to levy "taxes" became established or rather re-established in the western world. But, for purposes of comparative politics it is necessary to note that the Chola finances do not exhibit the features of the disintegrated feudal polity of mediaeval Europe. The revenues of the Chola Empire possessed the same variety in form as the Roman-Imperial and the modern French. They may be classified by students of *Finanzwissenschaft*, if required, according to the Latin *patrimonium*, *tributum*, and *vectigalium*, or the more popular *domaine*, *contributions directes*, and *contributions indirectes* of modern science. And of course the right of taxation was firmly planted in the political consciousness of Chola India.