The Lost Code

The Importance of Seigneuries

From 1627 to 1790, the colony was divided into seigneuries. At the end of the French regime in 1760, three-quarters of the population lived on some 200 seigneuries. These people were known as “habitants.” The seigneurie was the foundation of French Canadian social life, and everyone worked their plot of seigneurie land to support themselves. Even after the first townships were created, the seigneurie system remained the main method of land distribution until 1854.