Tontine, a kind of life annuity originated by Loronzo Tonti, a Neapolitan, who published his scheme and introduced it into France about the middle of the 17th century. The subscribers or their representatives were divided into 10 classes, and an annuity was apportioned to each class according to their age, the survivors deriving an increased annuity as their associates died, and the last survivor receiving the entire annuity of the class till the close of his life. The first association of this kind, called the " Royal Tontine," was founded under the administration of Cardinal Mazarin in 1653. The total sum paid in was 1,025,000 francs, in 10 classes of 102,500 francs each. The subscription was 300 francs, and every subscriber received the interest of his investment until the death of some member of the association increased the dividend to the rest, and after the death of the last subscriber it reverted to the state. This project was not successful, nor were two more subsequently proposed by Tonti. In 1689 Louis XIV. authorized another of 1,400,000 francs divided into 14 classes, according to age, from children of 5 years to adults of 70. In 1726 the last survivor of the 13th and 14th classes was the widow of a poor surgeon who had invested 300 francs in two tontines, and who enjoyed at her death, at the age of 96, an income of 73,500 francs.

Tontines were again resorted to by the French government in 1733 and 1734; but in 1763 they were interdicted as a measure of finance. In 1791 a tontine called the cause Lafarge, on a more extended scale, was established under private management; but by a gross blunder or fraud, the interest promised was impossible, and the subscribers, whose united contributions amounted to 60,000,000 francs, never received even simple interest, and the entire capital was lost in the disasters of the time. In England tontines have been occasionally resorted to as a measure of finance, the last opened being in 1789, and a few private ones have been established. In 1871 the Alexandra park company in London proposed to organize an institution similar to the South Kensington museum by means of a tontine to cease June 30, 1886; but the scheme proved unsuccessful, and was abandoned in 1872. In the United States there have been private annuities of this kind. The New York tontine association was organized in 1790, with 203 shares valued at $250 each. The tontine coffee house was built in Wall street, and about 1850 the property was leased for business purposes. The lease was to expire and the property to revert to the owners of the shares depending upon the last seven surviving lives.

This contingency occurred in 1870, but proceedings for winding up the affairs of the association and the partition of the property are still pending (1876). Buildings have been erected in some other cities on the same plan.