Controller-General of Finances
By the mid-17th century, French officials were flooded with documents written in various hands (styles) at varied levels of skills and artistry. As a result, officials began to complain that many such documents were beyond their ability to decipher. France's Controller-General of Finances took proposals from French writing masters of the time, the most influential being , who had published his ', circa 1650. After examining the proposals, the Controller-General of Finances decided to restrict all legal documents to three hands, namely the ', the ', and a "Speed Hand" sometimes simply called '.