The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Octroi

OCTROI, ok-trwa, an old French term particularly applied to the commercial privileges granted to a person or to a company. In a like sense the term is applied to the constitution of a state granted by a prince in contradistinction to those which are derived from a compact between the ruler and the representatives of the people. The tax was levied on articles of food brought into a city or town. A great deal of the money for the expenses of the local town government in France is obtained from the Octroi, nine-tenths of which are applied to local uses and one-tenth to the national treasury. Under the name “Alcabala” a similar tax was collected in Spain and the Spanish colonies. This tax was in force in Mexico until a few years before the revolution of 1910.