Under the Old Mode, the letter of respite was granted to a debtor to suspend during a certain time the continuations of its Créancier S. It could give place to abuses. The ordinance S of August 1669 and of March 1673 endeavoured to cure it. It is finally a Déclaration December 23rd 1699 which regulated the question and which fixed the various cases where the letter of respite could be granted.