![]() ![]() The state established regulations to govern the system and the relationship between seigneurs and their tenants. ![]() Individual holdings were large enough (usually about 3 x 30 arpents) to provide a reasonable living to farmers. The long, rectangular strips were particularly well adapted to the local terrain, since they facilitated interaction between neighbours and provided multiple points of access to the river, the principal communication route. Seigneuries, which were usually 1 x 3 leagues (5 x 15 km) in size, were generally divided into river lots ( rangs), a survey system based on the French experience in Normandy. Its purpose was to promote settlement in a systematic way. This politically determined system of land distribution was regulated by law and had many advantages. ![]() The land was therefore granted as fiefs and seigneuries to the most influential colonists who, in turn, granted tenancies. The Compagnie des Cent-AssociƩs, which was granted ownership and legal and seigneurial rights over New France, from the Arctic to Florida, also obtained the right to allocate the land to its best advantage. The tenant was normally referred to as a habitant. In New France the similarities ended with occupation of land and payment of certain dues. The seigneurial system was based on the feudal system, which involved the personal dependency of censitaires (tenants) on the seigneur. The family would engage in subsistence farming to meet most of their food, heating, and shelter needs. In principle, the seigneur granted a piece of land to a family under a royalty system. In New France, 80 per cent of the population lived in rural areas governed by this system of land distribution and occupation. The seigneurial system was an institutional form of land distribution established in New France in 1627 and officially abolished in 1854. ![]()
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