mutation fine, when an estate is inherited only by collateral descent. Lods et ventes, are fines of alienation of one-twelfth part of the purchasemoney, paid to the seigneur by the purchaser, on the transfer of property, in the same manner as quints are paid to the King on the mutation of fief; and are held en roture, which is an estate to which heirs succeed equally. Franc aleu noble is a fief, or freehold estate, held subject to no seignorial rights or duties, and acknowledging no lord but the King. The succession to fiefs is different from that of property held en roture or by villainage. The eldest son, by right, takes the chateau, and the yard adjoining it; also an arpent of the garden joining the manor house, and the mills, ovens, or presses within the seigniory, belong to him; but the profit arising from these is to be divided among the other heirs. Females have no precedence of right, and when there are only daughters, the fief is equally divided among them. When there are only two sons, the eldest takes twothirds of the lands, besides the chateau, mill, &c., and the younger, one-third. When there are several sons, the elder claims half the lands, and the rest have the other half divided among them. Censive is an estate held in the feudal manner, subject to the seigniorial fines or dues.

All the Canadian habitans, small farmers, are censitaires. Property, according to the laws of Canada, is either propre, that is held by descent, or acquits, which expresses being acquired by industry or other means. Commu nité de bien is partnership in property by marriage; for the wife, by this law, becomes an equal partner in whatever the husband possessed before and acquires after marriage, and the husband is placed in the same position in respect to the wife's dowry property. This law might operate as well as most general laws, if both husband and femme came to the finale of life on the same day; but very unhappy conse quences have arisen when the one died before the other. For instance, when the wife dies before the husband, the children may claim half of the father's property, as heirs to the mother; and the mother's relations have often persuaded and sometimes compelled them so to do.

The dot or dowry, is the property which the wife puts into the communité de bien: moveable or immoveable property, falling to her by descent, is a propre, and does not merge in the communité. Dower in Canada, is either customary or stipulate. The first consists of half the property which the husband was possessed of at the time of marriage, and half of all the

and the chil

property which he may inherit or acquire-of this the wife has the use for life, dren may claim it at her death.

If they be

take it out

not of age, the wife's relations can of the father's hands for them, and may compel him to sell his property to make a division. Stipulated dower is a portion which the husband gives instead of the customary dower.

Those farmers who hold land from the seigneur en roture, and who are termed tenanciers or censitaires do so subject to certain conditions, viz.: a small annual rent from 2s. 6d. to 5s. (or perhaps more of late years) for each arpent in front, to this is added some articles of provision annually, according to the means of the farmer, who is also bound to grind his corn at the moulin banal, or the seigneur's mill, when one-fourteenth is taken for the lord's use as a mouture or payment for grinding. The lods et ventes form another part of the seigneur's revenue; it consists of a right to onetwelfth part of the purchase money of every estate within his seigniory that changes its owner by sale or other means equivalent to sale: this twelfth to be paid by the purchaser, and is exclusive of the sum agreed on between the latter and the seller, and if promptly paid, a reduction of one-fourth is usually made (in

the same manner as two-thirds of the quint due to the Crown is made.) On such an occasion a privilege remains with the seigneur but seldom exercised, called the droit de retrait, which confers the right of pre-emption at the highest bidden price within forty days after the sale has taken place.

All the fisheries within the seigniories contribute also to the lord's income, as he receives of the fish caught, or an equivalent in money for the same: the seigneur is also privileged to fell timber any where within his seigniory for the purpose of erecting mills, constructing new or repairing old roads, or for other works of public and general utility. In addition to the foregoing obligations on the farmer, he is, if a Roman Catholic, bound to pay to his curate one twenty-sixth part of all grain produced, and to have occasional assess ments levied on him for building and repairing churches, parsonage houses, &c.

The duties of the seigneur to his tenants are also strictly defined,—he is bound in some instances to open roads to the remote parts of his fief, and to provide mills for the grinding of the feudal tenants' corn ;-he cannot dispose by sale of forest lands, but is bound to concede them, and upon his refusal to do so, the appli

cant may obtain from the Crown the concession he requires, under the usual seigniorial stipulations, in which case the rents and dues appertain to the King.

The soccage tenure, like the franc aleu roturier, leaves the farmer or landholder wholly unshackled by any conditions whatsoever as to rents, corvées, mutation fines, banaleté (corn grinding obligation) without in fact any other obligation than allegiance to the King, and obedience to the laws. The quantity of land thus granted in Lower Canada amounts to upwards of 7,000,000 acres while under the seigniorial grants there are nearly 11,000,000 acres held by a vast number of small proprie

tors.

It is very difficult to conceive how the statesman who sanctioned the act that substituted this extraordinary code for that of England, could have imagined it could ever be productive of anything but discord in a country inhabited by two races of different origin and different language. Any person at all acquainted with the prejudices and passions that operate on man, will easily understand that the French, jealous of any innovation, are constantly suspicious of an intention on the part of the English to infringe upon their rights, and intro