More than 2700 years ago toll was levied for those using the Susa to Babylon highway and Germanic tribes charged tolls to travellers who wished to cross the local mountain pass. In the 21st century, we still pay a toll to cross certain bridges, use roads, drive through tunnels etc.
On This Day In Aviation History, a German gentleman took charging a toll to a new
"flight" level. Samuel Schwartz (living in Zehden) citing a law that says his rights extend to the “space above and the ground beneath” his property, asked German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa to pay rent for the use of airspace above his house. (Deutsche Luft Hansa was the German flag carrier that operated from 1926 to 1945, and is not legally connected to modern-day Lufthansa)
History doesn't tell us if he made any money out of this toll plan............
