The Commonwealth Excise, 1649–1653

Abstract

Investigations into the institutional culture of the Commonwealth excise commission reveal that the basic administrative structure was in place by 1650. Redactions of the detailed minutes of the parliamentary Committee for Regulating and Improving the Excise demonstrate the regime’s commitment to supervising the excise establishment. They show that both tax farmers and sub-commissioners were monitored and that farming represented not so much a policy shift towards private interests as one strategy among many employed to enhance both revenue collection and access to credit. Both in its substance and in its procedures, the administrative law around the excise developed out of precedent set down in this period.