4 MODERN MONETARY SYSTEMS
In our times—in France since the Revolution—this
custom has ceased. The State extends a different treatment
to precious metals, or at least to that metal which it has de-
cided to use as the basis of its monetary system and to
adopt as its standard. It is true that this metal is minted by
the State and by the State alone ; but it is no longer bought,
it 1s accepted in unlimited quantities by the mints from in-
dividuals who wish to have it coined. They bring their bar
metal and it is given back to them in the form of minted
money weight for weight except that in certain countries a
small amount is deducted for expenses of minting. This
is the system of free coinage or of free money.
Thus the State no longer claims either to restrict the
entry of precious metals admitted under this sytem and the
issue of the coins of which they are made or to tariff the
coins. It therefore appears to limit itself to putting into
circulation metal ingots brought by individuals, after hav-
ing transformed them into smaller pieces of more con-
venient size, of which it certifies the weight and fineness.
Nevertheless, the law has thenceforward and once for all de-
fined the monetary unit in terms of a certain weight of fine metal
and every coin bears the number of units which it represents.
Thus, as a result of the mere definition of a monetary unit, a bar
of a given weight of fine metal represents a given number of
monetary units in all those countries to which gold is admitted
for free coinage.
The true theoretical significance of this provision will
be defined later, and we will only add here that nothing is
easier than to determine the ratio between the monetary
units of two countries, e.g., the franc and the pound, if the
same metal is admitted to free coinage in both countries ;
for each of these monetary units corresponds to a given
weight of fine metal. Hence there is a constant ratio be-
tween them, viz., the ratio between the respective weights
of fine metal which they contain. The ratio between them,
called mint par, is based on their material content, and—
once given the definition of each monetary unit—it is not
arbitrary. In virtue of this ratio of weight, which corre-
sponds by the mere definition of the monetary units to a
