Louis XV’s Ordinance of 1760 is an example of unsuccessful heraldic regulation, which marked the general decline of Western European historical heraldry in the eighteenth century. The document required that the nobles would be divided into categories and the right to hold a coat of arms was to be paid for. The Ordinance laid down potential prices, different for individuals and corporations, and even imposed certain restrictions on coats of arms for non-nobles. The latter were essentially barred from having coats of arms, with the exception of those who held military, fiscal, judicial and municipal offices. The Parliament of Paris banned the execution of the Royal Ordinance and subjected it to harsh criticism. It was interpreted as a lawless act and an attempt to impose a new tax. The reservation of the coat of arms to the nobility alone was too radical a change in heraldic legislation. On the whole, this attempt at royal legislation is a clear indication of how coats of arms were treated in the modern era, and its fate is an additional feature of the nature of the French absolutist state. The reader is offered a full translation of the document.