[a. F. exaction, ad. L. exactiōn-em, n. of action f. exigĕre: see EXACT v.] The action of exacting.
1. The action of demanding and enforcing payment (of fees, taxes, penalties, etc.); an instance of the same.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 517. Þe þinggus þat ben duwe to prest shulde … be ȝoven frely, wiþouten exaccioun. Ibid. (1382), 2 Macc. iv. 27. Exactioun of tributis perteynede to hym.
1489. Sc. Acts Jas. IV. (1597), § 18. Of the quhilk tak thair, and exaction thairof, our Souerane Lord … knew na … cause.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 166. If he should breake his daie, what should I gaine By the exaction of the forfeiture?
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., 6. Assigning of places for the exaction of it [customs].
1818. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, III. i. 30. He was the proper object of penal exaction.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Ireland, 108. He could not allow that its [tithe’s] exaction deserved the name of plunder.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 303. Exactions of market and harbour dues.
b. The action of enforcing the performance of (a task) or the rendering of (respect, service, obedience, etc.).
1674. S. Vincent, Gallants Acad., 93. He … is strictly just in the exaction of respect.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., v. 161. The exaction of a written dissertation on a given thesis … seems likely to be efficacious.
2. The action of demanding or requiring more than is due or customary; an instance of the same; an illegal or exorbitant demand; extortion.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., IV. lxiv. 43. [Allectus] vsed and exercysyd many Tyrannyes and exaccions.
1578. T. N., trans. Conq. W. India, 168. Complayntes against Mutezuma, of many wrongs and exactions done by him.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 180. The Master … (who as he was an Infidell, vsed me with great exaction).
1655. Digges, Compl. Ambass., 21. Great exactions used by the innkeepers at Gravesend.
1785. Burke, Sp. Nabob Arcot’s Debts, Wks. IV. 286. Tyrannous exaction brings on servile concealment.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. F. Bremer’s Greece, II. xiv. 108. The Christians of the plain are especially exposed to exactions of the Government.
1873. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., 348. We may, without being chargeable with exaction, ask of him to remit a little the rigour of his requirements.
3. A sum of money that is exacted; an arbitrary and excessive impost.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. xix. (1495), 205. Lordes … ouersette … the people wyth exaccyons and talyages.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 227. Many cytees in Gyan fel fro the obediens of Prince Edward … for grevous exacciones that were leyde upon hem.
1516. Pynson, Life St. Birgette, in Myrr. our Ladye, Introd. 53. The kyng of Swecia wolde haue charged his comons with a great exacion.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. ii. 25. They vent reproches Most bitterly on you, as putter on Of these exactions.
1786. Burke, W. Hastings, Wks. 1842, II. 123. The small balance of fifteen thousand pounds remaining of the unjust exaction aforesaid.
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng. (1858), II. viii. 256. The exactions might have been tolerated if the people had been repaid by protection.
4. Law. (See quot.)
1641. Termes de la Ley, 149. Extortion is where an Officer demaundeth and wresteth a greater summe or reward than his iust fee: And Exaction is where an Officer or other man demaundeth and wresteth a fee … where no fee … is due at all.
1672. in Cowell’s Interpr.
b. (See quot. and EXACT v. 7).
1816. Chitty, Crim. Law, I. 359. The five exactions or callings of the defendant, and his non-appearance at the five successive county courts.
