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The Brandenburg Recess: Resolutions agreed to by Frederick William ("the Great Elector") and the Brandenburg Estates in the Recess of July 26, 1653 (1653)

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[Precautions must, however, be taken against abuse of this privilege.]

[ . . . ]

[Art. 53 lays down various rates of export duty on beer. Art. 54: duties on corn exported from certain localities. Art. 55: further safeguards against abuse. Art. 56: customs and excise officers must report to the local authority before distraining on any noble estates. In Art. 57 the Elector promises to continue, as best he can, the supply of cheap timber. Art. 58: Crown employees entitled to fell timber on nobles’ estates must not take mast-bearing trees in bearing. Art. 59: certain types of iron may be imported, but duty must be paid on them. Art. 60: the shepherds and drovers of lords are not to be required to pay toll when making short journeys. Art. 61: anyone may buy millstones wherever he pleases, at home or abroad, but the traffic in them is declared a Crown monopoly, and everyone except the Knights and duty-free towns must pay import duty on them.]

62. Sixty-secondly, on the purchase of salt. Since certain Prelates, Lords, and Knights have their own transport services to Lüneburg and think that they can get salt cheaper there, at Stettin, or at other places on the frontier, We are willing, as provided by previous Reverses, to exempt and relieve the Prelates, Lords, and Knights of all Our Electorate, and also owners and holders of knightly estates, from the salt tax insofar that any of them may, as heretofore, buy the salt necessary for their own households and for their sheep and dairy farms, without let or hindrance, wherever they will, and have it conveyed by land or water.

[The carriers must, however, be provided with papers showing the destination of the salt, which must not be in excess of the buyer’s own needs, nor may it be resold, under pain of loss of the privilege for life. A noble’s privilege extends to his widow, orphan children, their guardians, etc.]

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