Document: Ordinance|Director General and Council establishing an excise on slaughtered cattle

The Director General and Council to All, etc., etc.
Many complaints are daily made and verified by experience, that under the guise and name of Indians Christians or at least people going under that name, catch, kill and offer for sale many cows, pigs and other animals in the open country. To prevent this as much as possible the Director General and Council hereby strictly forbid, that henceforth no one within this City, or in any village or place of the open country, belonging to this Province shall butcher any cow, calf, hog, sheep or goat, not even the owner thereof, before such owner has not on the same day, when he intends to butcher, given notice thereof to the Magistrates of the place, where he belongs, or to such person, as the Magistrates may appoint, and received a slaughtering permit, the owner paying to the Magistrates or the Receiver by them appointed one stiver for each florin, the animal to be butchered is really worth, for the public benefit, the value to be decided in case of dispute by the Magistrates or their deputy and the money thus received to be kept in each city, village or hamlet and to be used in time of need for the maintenance and protection of the public interests, i. e. in raising soldiers, buying ammunition, as circumstances may require: the fines for transgression of this order shall be applied and distributed, one third for the informer, one third for the Officer and one third for the public benefit as before.
Thus done etc., January 18, 1656.