Definition
In French law, one of two parts of a wooden tally used to record a debt or obligation. When a tally stick was split, the half retained by the creditor was called the eghantillon (also rendered echantillon); the half retained by the debtor was called, properly, the tally. The matching of the two pieces served as proof of the obligation, since the split wood's grain and notches would align only with its counterpart.
Common Confusion
The term is sometimes used loosely to refer to either half of the tally, but Black's draws a precise distinction: the debtor's piece is the tally proper; the creditor's piece is the eghantillon. This distinction matters when reading French legal sources and treatises that rely on Pothier's treatment of obligations, where the two halves carry different evidentiary weight relative to the party holding them.
Why It Matters in Research
This is a narrow term of French customary law with no direct modern counterpart in common law systems. Researchers will encounter it almost exclusively in:
— English translations and commentaries on Pothier's Traité des obligations, which was enormously influential on early American and common law contract doctrine;
— Historical sources addressing the law of evidence and proof of debt before written instruments became standard;
— Comparative law materials examining how obligations were recorded and enforced in pre-modern civil law jurisdictions.
The term will not appear in American case law or statutory materials. Its presence in Black's 2nd Edition reflects the dictionary's effort to equip common law practitioners reading French civil law sources, particularly Pothier, whose work on obligations was cited extensively by Story, Kent, and early American courts. A researcher following citations back through those authorities may encounter this term without context.
The spelling varies across sources — eghantillon, echantillon — reflecting inconsistent transliteration of the French. Search accordingly when working with digitized historical sources.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's 2nd Edition (Supplemental) provides the only entry in the Law Mind shelf corpus for this term. The definition is brief and technical, pointing directly to Pothier's Obligations (pt. 4, c. 1, art. 2) as its authority. The citation to Pothier is the key research anchor: Pothier's treatment of the tally system appears in his analysis of how obligations may be proven, placing eghantillon in the law of evidence and proof rather than in substantive contract formation.
No other shelf dictionary in the corpus covers this term. The absence is unsurprising given the term's obsolescence and narrow civil law origin. Researchers should not expect support from Bouvier, Burrill, or other common law dictionaries.
Jurisdictional Note
This term is specific to French civil law and has no recognized role in English or American common law. It is a term of historical and comparative interest only.