The French hunting permit

Between the wars a French civilian who carried a gun in the open was, as a rule, a hunter, and his paper was the permis de chasse. Under the law of 3 May 1844 the prefect of the department granted it for a year: in its left column the ministry, the department, the number in the register and the bearer's full description (age, height in centimetres, hair, forehead, eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, beard, chin, face, complexion, distinguishing marks); on the right the prefect's authorisation to hunt in the seasons and places where the bearer had the right, and the duty to show the permit to any authority or agent the law named.

Bearer prints it off a permit of the Gers of 1866. The Empire's head (EMPIRE FRANÇAIS, Au Nom de l'Empereur) gives way to the Republic's, and the price printed at its foot is left out, its figure between the wars not having been found; the office says so above the paper.

Bearer makes an investigator's papers for Call of Cthulhu and any 1920s or 1930s tabletop campaign: the passport a consul would have filled in, with the visas and frontier stamps a campaign leaves in it, and the permits, certificates and tickets of the period, to print or to share.

An example

Open this example in the office

The paper

Parts reconstructed

• the head in the Republic's name: the permit read (1866) says EMPIRE FRANÇAIS and Au Nom de l'Empereur, which the Republic dropped; the price, printed at the foot of the one read (twenty-five francs), is left out, its figure between the wars not found

The same paper elsewhere

• Game licences by country

Still to be confirmed

• the permit read is of 1866; its words and columns are taken to hold under the same law of 3 May 1844 between the wars. What would settle it: a permis de chasse of 1920 to 1939.

Sources

• Wikimedia Commons (public domain), Permis de chasse valable pour un an, département du Gers, 11 août 1866 (Empire français), left column: MINISTÈRE DE L'INTÉRIEUR / PERMIS DE CHASSE, valable pour un an / DÉPARTEMENT / Registre de … N° / SIGNALEMENT: Âgé de, taille d'un mètre … centimètres, cheveux, front, sourcils, yeux, nez, bouche, barbe, menton, visage, teint, SIGNES PARTICULIERS, Signature du Porteur; body: Permis de Chasse, valable pour un an. Au Nom de l'Empereur, Nous, Préfet du département d…, autorisons le Sieur … natif d… demeurant à … à chasser dans les temps et lieux où il en a le droit, conformément à la Loi du 3 mai 1844. Le Porteur devra justifier du présent Permis de Chasse à toute réquisition des Autorités et Agents désignés par la Loi. Fait à …, le … Le Préfet; seal PRÉFECTURE DU GERS; Prix du Permis de Chasse: vingt-cinq francs, dont quinze pour l'État et dix pour la commune (read directly)

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