the fractional reserve ratio was one fifth, and a royal edict to criminalise the sale of gold was decreed. a later royal edict decreed that gold coin was illegal, which was soon reversed, leading 50 people to be stampeded to death. the company's shares were ultimately rendered worthless, and initially inflated speculation about their worth led to widespread financial stress, which saw law dismissed at the end of 1720 from his sinecure as controller general and his post as chief director of the banque générale.