The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

A revision of the system was therefore required. These protests led in 1775 to a
partial revision of the leather system in France. A new law was considered in order
to abolish a patchy system based on more than eighty laws on leather developed
between 1725 and 1775.78 However the new law did not change substantially either
the level of taxation or the control exercised by the State. It provided a clear frame
in which governmental intervention could be more effective.79
It was only with the Revolution that the leather legislation had to be completely
reformed, not only to match with new political and ideological principles, but also
in response to new needs. The Assemblée Nationale established in March 1790 that
"L'exercise du droit de marque des Cuirs sera supprimé dans toute l'étendue du
Royaume, a compter du premier Avril prochain". 8° The repeal of the stamp duty
was not only considered as the suppression of a fiscal burden, but also as an
important simplification in leather production. The law was welcomed by tanners,
curriers and shoemakers who considered it as the moment when "le commerce sur
les cuirs de France a reconquis sa liberté". 8' Such freedom was in reality a
necessity in order to support the new leather needs of the French Nation. 82 Far from
an expected laissez-faire, the revolutionary Government soon showed an active role
in revitalising the leather sector. The army was requiring large quantities of leather
that could be produced only by a larger and more efficient leather market. The
Government thus intervened in different ways. From 1790, for instance, the French
State supported the development of the tanning a la flotte, a process much quicker
than traditional tanning systems. 83 In the same way, in 1791 and 1792 a project was
presented for the institution of a centre d'instruction for young workers in the
leather sector, but the opposition by the minister Gerville made the law fail. 84 What
78 J.A. de Rubigny de Berteval, Lettre, cit., p. 2.
L'arrêt du Conseil of the 27th May 1777, for instance, established a very tight rule and said that
"Enjoint aux tanneurs et aux ouvriers employant-cuirs, d'ouvrir a Ia premiere sommation des
commis, leurs tanneries, ouvroirs, magasins et autres lieux dépendant de leurs maisons pour yfaire
les visites nécesssaires, a peine de 300 livres d'amende..". In H. Depors, Recherches sur l'état de
l'industrie des cuirs en France, cit., p. 122.
80 Lettres patentes... sur le décret de l'Assemblée Nationale du 22 mars 1790, concernant la
sufpression de l'exercice du droit de marque des cuirs... (Paris, 1790), p. 1.
'J.A. de Rubigny de Berteval, Lettre, cit., p. 2; Si vedano anche Rapport fait au nom du Comité
des finances, a l'Assemblé nationale: le 14 aoât 1790: sur Ia repartition de la contribution en
replacement des grandes grabelles... (Paris, 1790); Troisieme rapport fait au nom du Comité des
finances: sur le replacement de la gabelle et des droits sur les cuirs... (Paris, 1790).
82 Consideration sur le projet de supprimer les droits sur les cuirs... (Paris, 1790), pp. 1-6.
83 H. Depors, Recherches sur l'état de l'industrie des cuirs en France, cit., p. 19.
Ibid.,p.21.
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