Exactions
Exactions (Let. exactiones, taliae), the name given in ecclasiastical law to taxes of an extraordinary kind, which either were not in use before, or the rate of, which hash been increased. As a general rule, taxes of this kind are forbidden. Thus the third Council of Toledo prohibited the bishops from "imposing exactions upon the diocese," and Leo IV designates as unlawful exactions any "gifts beyond the statutes of the fathers" that bishops may impose upon clergymen or laymen. The prohibition was renewed at the Council of Lateran in 1179 by Alexander III, who "prohibited bishops or abbots, or any other prelates, from imposing new takes upon the churches, or from increasing the old ones, or from appropriating for their private uses any portion of the revenue." 'The imposition of exactions requires a reasonable cause, and limitation to what is necessary. State churches cannot impose an exaction without previously obtaining the permission ofthe state government. — Herzog, Real-Encyklop. 4:280.
