318 SEA FISHERIES 



to take his wares under the roof of the market, is to exer- 

 cise an indirect but irresistible constraint upon him/' The 

 Council of State and the Appeal Court have repeatedly 

 pronounced null and void such octroi tariffs as tend, in 

 any shape or by any means, to produce such a result. 



Example : On August 6, 1892, the Mayor of the Com- 

 mune of Grandcamp issued a decree forbidding the 

 wholesale sale of fish on the public highway. All fish 

 sold in the commune, even if intended for exportation 

 beyond the boundaries of the commune, were first to be 

 taken to the market, to be verified and taxed ; and if the 

 fishermen wished the verification to be effected on board, 

 they had to pay a far heavier tax. The Council of State, 

 considering that the Mayor of Grandchamp had acted 

 solely in the financial interests of the commune and of 

 the patentees of the market, annulled his decree. Lorient 

 also was judged " to have created a monopoly to the 

 profit of the patentees," and Cancale to have "con- 

 ditioned the sale of fish in such a manner as to force all 

 the fishermen to resort to the officials of the market." 



In short, the law is strictly against the monopolisation 

 of the sales of fish by the cities. Not only the Council of 

 State and the Court of Cassation, but ordinary common 

 sense protests against the taxation of the same product on 

 two different scales, according as it enters a town by this 

 or that entry. This objection holds good, alas ! not only 

 for Havre, but for nearly all the towns of France. Let 

 us proceed a little further. 



With the exception of Havre, Trouville, and Cher- 

 bourg the more important fishing ports impose no octroi 

 duty upon fish. But in the inland cities the duties fall 

 thick as hail. Their object is to protect butcher's meat, 

 while along the coast they serve in the first place to 

 protect the interests of the small fishermen who depend 



