DIXIEME

4 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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DIXIEMEAuthored
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Definition
A French term meaning "tenth" or "the tenth part." In old French law, the dixieme was a direct income tax levied by the crown, calculated as one-tenth of the taxpayer's income or revenue. It functioned as a royal fiscal instrument, distinct from the tithe (dîme) paid to the Church, and was one of several fraction-based tax designations used in pre-Revolutionary French fiscal administration.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Dixième" in contemporary French means simply "tenth" — the ordinal number, or a tenth part of something. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 does not separately list dixieme as an English entry; the root "tenth" in English carries no fiscal connotation beyond a general fractional meaning. The gap matters for legal research: in ordinary French usage, the word is purely ordinal. In the legal and fiscal context, it designates a specific crown tax with defined administrative characteristics. A researcher encountering the term in historical French legal instruments should not read it as a generic fractional reference but as a reference to a formal fiscal levy.
Why It Matters in Research
Dixieme appears almost exclusively in sources dealing with old French civil law or French colonial legal history. Researchers working with Louisiana territorial records, French Caribbean colonial documents, or pre-Revolutionary French fiscal materials are the most likely to encounter it. Because Louisiana's civil law tradition traces directly to French sources, the term can occasionally surface in early Louisiana tax and property records, where French fiscal vocabulary was carried over. The principal trap is confusion with the ecclesiastical dîme (tithe). The dixieme was a secular crown tax; the dîme was a Church levy. Both were computed as fractions of income or yield, and both appear in French legal and notarial documents of the same period. Conflating them misidentifies the obligee — the crown versus the Church — and the applicable legal regime. Historical sources are thin. The dictionaries reference "Steph. Lect. 359" (Stephen's Lectures on French Law) and the Ordonnance de la Marine (Ord. Mar. liv. 1, tit. 1, art. 9) as grounding authorities. Researchers should note that the Ordonnance de la Marine (1681) was a commercial and maritime code; any appearance of dixieme in that context likely relates to royal revenue derived from maritime commerce rather than a general income tax, signaling that the term's application varied by administrative context. For corpus researchers: the term will not appear in common law materials. It is a civil law term of art rooted in French administrative history. If encountered in an Anglo-American legal dictionary, it appears only as a foreign-law reference entry, not as operative domestic law.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions) and Burrill's Law Dictionary are in full agreement: dixieme means "tenth; the tenth part" and, in old French law, designates an income tax payable to the crown. All three sources cite the same two authorities — Ord. Mar. liv. 1, tit. 1, art. 9 and Steph. Lect. 359 — without elaboration, suggesting the compilers treated this as a narrow, specialized term requiring only brief identification rather than substantive treatment. None of the historical dictionaries address the distinction between dixieme and dîme, nor do they discuss the administrative history of the tax, including its periodic imposition and suspension under the French monarchy (notably under Louis XIV and Louis XV during wartime fiscal crises). This is a genuine gap: the dixieme was not a permanent standing tax but was levied, suspended, and reimposed across specific historical periods, a fact that matters when dating documents. The historical dictionaries do not equip researchers to make that determination. The apparent textual corruption in the first Black's entry ("income tax dered on the case... a division into two classes... divided court") reflects a scanning or transcription artifact and should be disregarded; the Burrill and second Black's entries provide the clean text.
Jurisdictional Note
Dixieme has no operative meaning in any current common law jurisdiction. It is relevant only in historical research contexts involving pre-Revolutionary French law, French colonial legal systems, or early American jurisdictions with French legal heritage, principally Louisiana. It carries no application in modern statutory or regulatory frameworks.
Related Terms
Dîme — ecclesiastical tithe; the Church's one-tenth levyfrequently confused with dixieme Tithe — English common law analog to the dîme Vingtième — the "twentieth" another French royal income tax that partially replaced the dixieme Capitation — another French crown direct tax of the same era Taille — French royal direct tax on commonerscontemporaneous with the dixieme Ordonnance de la Marine — primary source authority cited for dixieme Civil law — parent legal tradition within which this term operates Louisiana civil law — most likely domestic corpus context for encountering the term
DIXIEMEmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
Fr. Tenth; the tenth part. Ord. Mar. liv. 1, tit. 1, art. 9. In old French law. An income tax dered on the case. But it sometimes also payable to the crown. Steph. Lect. 359. denotes a division into two classes, one of which may comprise a majority of the judges; as when we speak of a decision having pro- ceeded from a "divided court."
DIXIEMEmain
Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1867
Fr. Tenth; the tenth part. Ord. Mar. liv. 1, tit. 1, art. 9. In old French law. An income tax payable to the crown. Steph. Lect. 359. To DO. This word was sometimes used in old law, in the sense of to make; both being translations of the Lat. facere, (q. v.) Thus, "to do law" and "to make law," signified the same thing. See To make. So the expression "we do you to wit," occurs as the translation of scire facimus, (we make you to know, or give you to understand). and wife, made before a competent judge, on due cognizance had of the cause, and sufficient proof made thereof. Ayliffe's Parergon, 225. See Godolph. Abr. 493. -The dissolution of the marriage contract by law, either totally, (à vinculo matrimonii,) or partially, (à mensa et thoro).* 1 Bl. Com. 440, 441. 2 Steph. Com. 310, 311. 2 Kent's Com. 95, et seq. See infra. The word divorce appears to be framed partly from the original Latin divortium, and partly from the old French form devorce or devors. Divorce is used by Littleton. According to Lord Coke, it is so called from divertendo, (turning away,) because a man is thus turned away from his wife; (divortium dicitur à divertendo, vel divortendo, quia vir divertitur ab uxore). Co. Litt. 235. The derivation given in the civil law illustrates the facility with which the Roman divorces were allowed. Divortium vel à diversitate mentium dictum est, vel quia in diversas partes eunt qui distrahunt matrimonium; divorce is so called either from diversity of minds, or because they who break off marriage go different ways. Dig. 24. 2. 2. It is worthy of remark DO. Lat. I give. The ancient and that, of the two great writers on the anaptest word of feoffment and of gift. 2 cient law of England, Britton defines Bl. Com. 310, 316. Co. Litt. 9. Used divorce to be nothing more than a sepaby Bracton in all his examples and illustraration of the bed; (devorce nest autre tions of conveyances. Bract. fol. 17, et chose que severaunce de lyt parentre espous passim. See Fleta, lib. 3, c. 9. Probably et espouse,) while Bracton makes a clear the most ancient term of conveyance. distinction between the two. Britt. c. 107. Bract. fol. 92 b. See Divortium. or, I give and bequeath. The formal words DIVORCE A VINCULO MATRIMOof making a bequest or legacy, in the Ro-
DIXIEMEmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
Fr. Tenth; the tenth part. Ord. Mar. liv. 1, tit. 1, art. 9. In old French law. An income tax payable to the crown. Steph. Lect. 359. The ancient and apt2 Bi.

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