 Originally this was the rule throughout France, but now many of them are entirely independent of the charitable institutions.Counting the head office, the branches and the auxiliary shops, the Paris establishment has its doors open in some 50 or 60 districts; but the volume of its annual business is infinitely smaller than that transacted by the London pawnbrokers.The amount to be advanced by a municipal pawnshop is fixed by an official called the "commissaire-priseur", who is compelled to load the scales against the borrower, since, should the pledge remain unredeemed and be sold for less than was lent upon it, he has to make good the difference.