1907 DEPARTMENT OF LANDS, FORESTS AND MINES. 149 



ments of a new country. The principal characteristic of the system was 

 the broad and clear-cut distinction between classes recognized by law and 

 embodied in the system under which the lands of the colony were distri- 

 buted and held. Large areas were allotted to the Seigniors, who were the 

 ^nly class to hold their titles directly from the Crown, and received their 

 grants on the express condition of subdividing them among tenants or 

 censitaires. The conditions upbn which the latter obtained their lands not 

 only involved the payment of rents, but the performance of a number of 

 other duties and obligations, not always exactly defined, and numerous 

 •reservations and conditions affecting the land, some of which were in accord- 

 ance with the terms of the original grant, while others appear to have been 

 arbitrary or in accord with ancient feudal custom. The Seignior was 

 invested with privileges of a much more extensive character than appertain 

 to the landlord under the British law, among others the authority- of 

 administering justice among his dependents. 



A Seignorial Grant, 



The following extract from a grant made in 1683 by the Governoi and 

 Intendant of Quebec embodies the conditions upon which the Seigniories 

 were usually granted. 



Oah Timber Reserved. 



"We, in virtue of the power intrusted to us by His Majesty, and in 

 toonsideration of the different settlements which the said Sieur de la Valliere 

 and the Sieur de la Poterie, his father, have long since made in this coun- 

 try, and in order to afford him the means of augmenting them, have to the 

 said Sieur de la Yalliere given, granted, and conceded and by these pre- 

 sents do give, grant and concede the above described tract of land; to have 

 and to hold the same himself, his heirs and assigns forever, under the title 

 of fief, vSeigniory, high, middle and low justice {haut, moyen, et basse jus- 

 tice), and also the right of hunting and fishing throughout the extent of 

 the said tract of land; subject to the condition of fealty and homage (foi et 

 hommage) which the said Sieur de la Yalliere, his said heirs and assigns, 

 shal] be held to perform at the Castle of St. Louis in Quebec, of which he 

 shall hold under the customary rights and dues agreeably to the custom of 

 Paris, which shall be followed in this respect provisionally and until other- 

 wise ordained by His Majesty; and that the appeals from the judge of the 

 said place shall lie before the Lieutenant-General of Three Rivers; and also 

 'that he shall keep house and home (feu et lieu) and cause the same to be 

 kept by his tenants on the concessions which he may grant them, in default 

 whereof he shall re-enter plevo jure into the possession of the said lands, 

 that the said Sieur de la Valliere shall preserve and cause to be preserved 

 by his tenants within the limits of the said tract of land, the oak timber fit 

 for the building of vessels: and that he shall erive immediate notice to the 

 King or to us, of the mines, ores, or minerals, if anv be found therein; that 

 he shall leave and cause to be left all necessary roadwavs and passages; that 

 he shall cause the said tract of land to be cleared and inhabited, and fur- 

 nished with buildings and cattle within two years from this date, in default 

 whereof the present concession shall be null and void; the whole under the 

 pleasure of His Majesty, by whom he shall be held to have these presents 

 confirmed." 



It will be seen that this document comprises a reservation of the oak 

 t'imber on the domain adapted for shipbuildinq*. Thi<? condition was jren- 

 eral if not universal, in all the grants made bv the Fre^nch Crown. The 



