With the first scattered adoptions of cars, entrepreneurial cities saw an potential new tax stream, similar to what they did with the bicycle. Regulation of the new motor carriages was another concern, as early adopters enjoyed driving around with absolute impunity under the law. Slowly, and in different forms, states, cities and countries began to form laws to regulate cars and their drivers.

On this day, August 14, in 1893 the first car registration law went into effect by the Department of the Seine under the Paris Police Ordinance of 14 August 1893, requiring the owners of each vehicle to affix a personally identifiable tag to their car. By 1901 the rule was extended to all of France.

In the first example of modern-day DMV bureaucratic language, the Paris police ordinance went into fine detail as to the method and purpose of such an act: “Each motor vehicle shall bear on a metal plate and in legible writing the name and address of its owner, also the distinctive number used in the application for authorization. This plate shall be placed at the left-hand side of the vehicle – it shall never be hidden.”