The indirect taxes, the _traites_ and the revenues of the royal domain were farmed out by the crown. At first a separate contract had been made for each impost in each _election_, but later they were combined into larger lots, as is shown by the name of one of the customs districts, _l'enceinte des cinq grosses fermes_. From the reign of Henry IV. on the levying of each indirect impost was farmed _en bloc_ for the whole kingdom, a system known as the _fermes generales_; but the real _ferme generale_, including all the imposts and revenues which were farmed in the whole of France, was only established under Colbert. The _ferme generale_ was a powerful company, employing a vast number of men, most of whom enjoyed various privileges. Besides the royal taxes, seigniorial imposts survived under the form of tolls and market dues. The lords also often possessed local monopolies, e.g. the right of the common bakehouse (_four banal_), which were called the _banalites_. Courts of law. The organization of the royal courts of justice underwent but few modifications during the _ancien regime_. The number of parlements, of _cours des aides_ and of _cours des comptes_ increased; in the 17th century the name of _conseil superieur_ was given to some new bodies which actually discharged the functions of the parlement, this being the period of the decline of the parlement. In the 16th century, under Henry II., had been created _presidiaux_, or courts of final jurisdiction, intended to avoid numerous appeals in small cases, and above all to avoid a final appeal to the parlements. Seigniorial courts survived, but were entirely subordinate to the royal jurisdictions and were badly officered by ill-paid and ignorant judges, the lords having long ago lost the right to sit in them in person. Their chief use was to deal with cases concerning the payment of feudal dues to the lord. Both lawyers and people would have preferred only two degrees of justice; and an ordinance of May 1788 realized this desire in the main. It did not suppress the seigniorial jurisdictions, but made their extinction a certainty by allowing litigants to ignore them and go straight to the royal judges. This was, however, reversed on the recall of Necker and the temporary triumph of the parlements. Ecclesiastical courts.