A city's zoning ordinances are the single most affective tool to implement the general plan, however, on the fringes, land use can be shaped through the governments right of taxation, eminent domain, and escheat (the right for the government to assume title in certain estate situation).

The lettres-patentes rendered the "Portuguese Merchants" neither full-fledged, "natural" or "native" subjects of the French king, nor foreigners, at least in the sense that these "Portuguese" New Christians (as distinct from "true" Portuguese merchants residing in places like Paris), were exempt from the royal Right of Escheat (droit d'aubaine), according to which foreigners could not bequeath and/or inherit property and did not enjoy the legal protections afforded "natural" subjects.

At the lower end of the scale, she noted, control areas include escheat, payroll taxes, and excise taxes.