This chapter takes the province of Normandy, a pays détat with its own provincial estates and bailiwick assemblies, to demonstrate how political language and vocabulary evolved in the sixteenth century from an emphasis on the common good (le bien public) to a more royalist language of the good of the state (bien dÉtat). The crown had given the province a Charter outlining its rights and privileges in the fourteenth century. The crown also gave the provinces principal city, Rouen, a charter. Becasue of customary law, however, consenting to taxation by the Estates of Normandy had become established custom in the province by the sixteenth century even though it ws not mentioned specifically in the Norman Charter. Thus, royal efforts to emphasize the nation State in its vocabulary challenged the custom of consent to taxation.