Tontine

In French law. The name of a partnership composed of creditors or recipients of perpetual or life rents or annuities, formed on the condition that the rents of those who may die shall accrue to the survivors, either in whole or in part. This kind of partnership took its name from Tonti, an Italian, who first conceived the idea and put it in practice. Merlin, Repert.; Dalloz; 5 Watts (Pa.) 351.

A loan raised on life annuities, with the benefit of survivorship.

i In French law, a partnership composed of the recipients of perpetual or life annuities or benefits, the portions of those who die accruing to the survivors. A species of life annuity, propounded by Lorenzo Tonti, about 1650, as a mode by which governments might obtain loans. The general idea is that property is loaned, owned, or invested for the benefit of a certain number of persons, who at first receive its income, the share of a deceased member increasing the sum divisible among the survivors; the last survivor taking the whole income or principal, as the case may be. A company which issues a policy on the tontine or " ten years dividend system ''-is In no sense a trustee of any particular fund for policy-holders; their relation is that of debtor and creditor, and the assured is not entitled, at the end of the term, to an accounting, in the absence of evidence of wrong-doing or mistake on the part of the company.* TOOIi. "An instrument of manual operation, particularly such as is used by farmers and mechanics.' The statutes of some States exempt from execution the tools or implements belonging to a. debtor which are necessary to his trade or business. Where the language of the statute was " tools of the debtor necessaiy for his trade or occupation,'* the court said " The design and effect of the law are to secure to liandicraftsmen the means by which they are accustomed to obtain subsistence in their respective occupations. The exemption is not limited to tools used by the tradesman with his own hands, but comprises such,'^in character and amount, as are necessary to enable him to prosecute his appropriate business in a convenient and usual manner; and the only rule by which it can be restricted is that of good sense and discretion in reference to the circumstances of each case,"* The object of such laws is to secure to the debtor the means of laboring at his trade or profession, the tools and instruments required by him in his own manual labor.^ The following articles have been decided to be included within such laws: the abstracts of titles and iron safe of a conveyancer; ' a barber's chair; ' ' In the sense of a resort for merchants, see 8 Mc Master's Hist, Peop. U, S. 236. "Uhlman «. New York Lite Ins. Co., 109 N, Y. 421 (1888), distinguishing and limiting Bogardus v. Same, 101 id. 328, 338 (1886). • Oliver v. White, 18 S. C. 241 (1888). « Howard v. Williams, 2 Pick. 83 (1834), Lincoln, J. See also Healy v. Bateraan, 2R. I. 456 (1853). • Boston Belting Co. v. Ivens, 28 La. An. 69B (1876), Howell,.T. cheese vats, presses, and knives; ' a cornet,' a violin,' a piano;* dentist's instruments;' surgeon's instruments;' a fish net and boat;' a hunter's gun;» a journeyman jeweler's tools; ' a merchant's books and safe; "> a plow, harrow, and drag," and like articles; " a printing press, cases, and type; '» a shovel, ax, fork, and hoe; '* watches." Not included: a threshing-machine; ■' the blocks of an oil-cloth printer; " a lawyer's library; '» the machinery and implements constituting an extensive factory." See BAaoAGE; Exemption; Implement; Mechanic; Trade.

A species of life annuity, the invention of which is ascribed to Lorenzo Tonti, an Italian, by whom it was propounded at about the middle of the seventeenth century, as a mode by which the governments of the day might obtain loans. There seem to be several forms in which, from time to time, tontines have been arranged; but the general idea is that property is loaned or owned or invested for the benefit of a number of persons, who at first receive its income divided among all; but, when any one dies, his share goes not to his heirs or representatives, but to increase the sum divisible among the sui-viving members. As the number of members diminishes by successive deaths (no new members are created), the annuity of each is increased, until at length the last siurvivor takes the whole income, or, it may be, the whole principal, if such were the terms of the foundation.