being an infrequent and uncertain
kind of taxation the direct tax on movables, which was practically
absorbing the older forms, became usual and regular. Under medieval
conditions the collection of a general property tax (for such, in fact,
was the nature of "the tenth and fifteenth") presented serious
difficulties. Each locality gained by keeping its assessment down to the
lowest point, while the borough authorities were naturally not eager to
enforce the charge on their fellow-citizens. England in the 14th century
was not ripe for a system that has been found hard to make effective in
more advanced societies. Hence, from 1334 onward, the method of
"apportionment" was employed, i.e. the tenth and fifteenth was taken as
affording a definite sum measured by the yield on the ancient valuation.
As this gave, in the aggregate, between L38,000 and L39,000, "the tenth
and fifteenth" became for the future "practically a fiscal expression
for a sum of about L39,000"; the total to be divided or "apportioned"
between the several counties, cities and boroughs according to their
former payments. This settlement, which remained in force for centuries
and affected all the later direct taxes, had the great advantages of
certainty and adaptability. The inhabitants of any particular town knew
their total liability and could distribute it amongst themselves in the
manner most convenient to them. From the royal standpoint also the
arrangement was satisfactory, for the "tenth and fifteenth" could be
multiplied (e.g. in 1352 three "tenths and fifteenths" were voted for
three years), and supplied a stable revenue for the service of the
kingdom. To the parliament the power of regulating the policy of the
crown by the bestowal or refusal of grants was naturally agreeable.
Thus, all sections of the nation united in support of the system
established in 1334, just before the opening of the Hundred Years' War,
in connexion with which it was particularly serviceable.

Akin to the tax that has just been described, at least in its nature as
a direct impost, is the poll or capitation tax. Financial pressure at
the close of Edward III.'s reign (1377) led to the adoption of a tax of
fourpence per head on all persons in the kingdom (mendicants and persons
under fourteen years being excepted). This "tallage of groats," which
seems to be derived by analogy from the hearth money for Peter's pence,
was followed by the graduated poll taxes of 1379 and 1380. I