ABSTRACT
If we consider the room that Savary allocated to free ports in his widely read dictionary, we would be highly surprised or rather disappointed. No more than one page was devoted to the institution before turning all his attention to Marseilles and the privileges the French king had granted to this Mediterranean entrepôt. Being a French author, this could seem rather normal. Yet, the question remains as to why such a disregard for an institution which contemporaries treated with so much fervour.
