_Droit de Blairie_ was a right belonging to the _Seigneur_, who was _Haut Justicier_, to grant permission to the inhabitants to have their cattle graze upon lands situated throughout his jurisdiction, or upon waste lands. This right did not exist in any parts regulated by _droit écrit_; but it was common enough in those where the _droit coutumier_ was in force. It was to be found under different denominations, more particularly in the Bourbonnais, the Nivernais, Auvergne, and Burgundy. This right rested upon the supposition that the whole territory originally belonged to the _Seigneur_, in such wise that, after the distribution of the greater part into _fiefs_, _cencites_, and other concessions of lands upon quit-rents, there still remained portions which could only be used for waste pasture-ground, and of which he might grant the temporary use to others. The _blairie_ was established in several _coutumes_; but it could only be claimed by a _Seigneur_ who was _Haut Justicier_, and was maintained only by some special title, or at least by old claims supported by long possession. _Péages._--According to our authors, there originally existed a prodigious number of manorial tolls upon bridges, rivers, and roads. Louis XIV. did away with a great number of them. In 1724 a commission, nominated to examine into the titles by which the tolls were claimed, suppressed twelve hundred of them; and, in 1765, they were still being constantly suppressed. ‘The principle observed in this respect,’ says Renauldon, ‘was that, inasmuch as the toll was a tax, it was necessary to be founded not only upon legal title, but upon one emanating from the sovereign.’ The toll was levied ‘_De par le Roi_.’ One of the conditions of the toll was that it should be established by _tarif_ regulating the dues, which each kind of merchandise had to pay. It was necessary that this _tarif_ should be approved by a decree of the Council. ‘The title of concession,’ says one author, ‘had to be followed by uninterrupted possession.’ In spite of these precautions legally taken, it appears that the value of the tolls had greatly increased in later times. ‘I know one toll,’ says the same author, ‘that was farmed out, a century ago, at 100 livres, and now brings in 1400; and another, farmed at 39,000 livres, that brings in 90,000.’ The principal ordinances or principal decrees that regulated the right of toll, were paragraph 29 of the Ordinance of 1669, and the Decrees of 1683, 1693, 1724, 1775. The authors I have quoted, although in general favourable enough to feudal rights, acknowledge that great abuses were committed in the levying of the tolls.