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The edicts of 1576 and 1594 established the offices of annuity payers at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, and the number of these offices grew rapidly: by 1714 there were no fewer than 71, doubled by as many inspectors who attended payments and verified that the parties involved were indeed annuity owners. The deliberate complexity of this system meant that payments could only be obtained at the cost of many delays and paperwork. It was hoped that these difficulties would discourage some annuitants from receiving the amounts due to them, which was not without harm to public credit.
Source: www.cbgfr.com