For the people and households in Article 8, the 20,000-to-one rate led to four maximum outcomes: 75, 150, 250 or 375 stabilised lei. Registration, occupation, domicile, place in a household and proof that the compulsory grain quota had been delivered could change the result.
Compare the same stack at four countersEach window represents a legal scenario for a person or household. Change the amount and the rate stays fixed. Only the part admitted to immediate exchange moves.
Step: 100,000 old lei
Unchanged at every window
÷ 20,000 old lei for each stabilised leuThe categories overlapped. The four windows isolate four legal values. Article 8(b) treated salaried farmers as farmers, then also employees, craftspeople and everyone domiciled in rural communes.
Window 01 · Art. 8(d)
Admitted from the stack: 1,500,000 old lei
8,500,000 old leiLeft outside the immediate exchange.
A person who had not presented documentary proof of a profession. The same ceiling appeared in several special routes described elsewhere in Article 8.
Art. 8(d), printed page 7343Window 02 · Art. 8(a), 8(c)
Admitted from the stack: 3,000,000 old lei
7,000,000 old leiLeft outside the immediate exchange.
Public or private employees and pensioners; people listed with a documented profession; war invalids, widows and orphans. Employees who were also farmers and people treated as farmers moved instead to the ceiling in Article 8(b). Decision 17 listed the records and documents used.
Art. 8(a), 8(c), printed page 7343Window 03 · Art. 8(b)
Admitted from the stack: 5,000,000 old lei
5,000,000 old leiLeft outside the immediate exchange.
A farmer who headed a household had one ceiling for the farmer and family. The article treated salaried farmers as farmers, then also employees, craftspeople and everyone domiciled in rural communes. Decision 17 defined the rural family and household registration.
Art. 8(b), printed page 7343Window 04 · Art. 8(b)
Admitted from the stack: 7,500,000 old lei
2,500,000 old leiLeft outside the immediate exchange.
The 5,000,000 old lei agricultural ceiling, plus 2,500,000 for an eligible household whose head had delivered the compulsory grain quota by the specified date.
Art. 8(b), printed page 7343At 10,000,000 old lei, the agricultural route with the compulsory quota delivered converts 375 stabilised lei immediately, five times the 75 stabilised lei available on the no-proof route.
Article 14 ordered unexchanged old lei to be deposited with a credit institution within 15 days of publication of the decision that started the operation. That decision appeared in Official Gazette no. 186 on 15 August. The account was blocked and paid no interest. Existing bank deposits entered the same regime.
Decision 17 allowed three days for registration. Employees, urban residents and rural families followed different administrative routes.
The old means of payment ceased to be legal tender. Article 29 kept brief exceptions for bread, transport and communications.
The exchange operation ended at the time stated in Article 7.
Remaining money had to be deposited without interest. Its release depended on separate rules and later decisions.
Articles 18 and 19 treated release separately. A Council of Ministers decision could govern releases. Beneficiaries who had not used their exchange entitlement could request, through the National Bank and under Article 19, the release of an amount up to that entitlement. The simulation stops at the immediate effect that the law establishes: money above the ceiling left spendable circulation and entered a blocked regime.
The four windows summarise recurring ceilings in Article 8. Later articles used different rules for institutions, companies and special cases.
A monetary reform is usually summarised by the relationship between old and new money. In 1947, the 20,000-to-one rate described only the change of unit. Article 8 determined how much of a person's or household's money could immediately reach that rate.
For a stack of 10,000,000 old lei, the no-proof ceiling admitted 1,500,000. The routes in Article 8(a) and 8(c) admitted 3,000,000. Article 8(b), including its rural assimilations, opened the 5,000,000 ceiling. Proof that the compulsory grain quota had been delivered added another 2,500,000.
Proof that the compulsory grain quota was delivered opened another 125 stabilised lei.
That difference makes the reform visible as an administrative procedure. The list, document, domicile and household set the applicable ceiling. The rate stayed the same for the admitted amount.
The law's “old lei” included banknotes, coins and several forms of state paper. Deposits and payment instruments followed their own regime. This object tracks currency and paper presented for immediate exchange, then marks where blocking began.
The primary source for Law 287. Articles 6–8 appear on printed page 7343; the blocked-sum regime begins on page 7344.
The typographical correction clarifies that Article 8(e) referred to unmarried adult children. The ceilings remain unchanged.
Published in Official Gazette no. 183 on 12 August. It defines the lists, professional documents, rural family and registration on 12–14 August.
Method. For each route, the amount exchanged is the smaller of the chosen stack and the ceiling. The stabilised result is the admitted amount divided by 20,000. The remainder is the amount left outside immediate exchange. The 7,500,000 old lei ceiling is derived from 5,000,000 plus the conditional 2,500,000 increment. There is no hidden rounding.