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99-509: The institution lasted from its introduction in 1663 to the fall of New France in 1760. Its last meeting occurred on April 28, 1760, the day of the Battle of Sainte-Foy . In April 1662, Louis XIV issued an edict creating a new governing council named the "Sovereign Council." The new Sovereign Council had a broad policy mandate. The edict creating the Council authorized it to spend public funds, regulate

198-484: A French fleet to arrive in his support General James Murray , left in command at Quebec, believed that his army was too small to adequately defend the walls of Quebec, which had not been improved since the British capture of the town. He therefore moved some 3,800 men into the field, all he could muster, along with over twenty cannon , to the same position that Montcalm had occupied for the 1759 battle. Rather than wait for

297-424: A certain amount of property (usually, a sum of money, certain movable property, or a combination of both) that was untouchable by creditors and did not belong to the community for the other spouse to claim in the event of the death of their partner. This was the jointure ( préciput ) and typically came to half the dower's value. Almost all married couples of the time created a jointure in their marriage contracts, and

396-427: A converged light infantry battalion, and two companies of rangers . In order to cover the entire plateau, the battalions were each drawn up in two ranks with three-foot gaps between files, instead of the normal elbow-to-elbow formation. There were 40-yard intervals between battalions. The light infantry covered the right flank. In order, from right to left, were the 48th Foot , 15th Foot , 58th Foot , 2nd battalion of

495-512: A fixed quitrent for land as specified in their deeds of enfeoffment , and tenants were not permitted to run down their tenancy to the point that the revenue it generated would fail to cover their annual feu-duties. The Custom also contained the equivalent of a building code, outlining rules for property held in common , but in general, police regulations were more important for construction, fire prevention, and public hygiene in New France. Under

594-483: A means of transportation. A 1664 ordinance that mandated inhabitants in the Grande Allée leave part of their land along the riverbed unsown was largely ignored for example. Peasants needed river access for their personal drinking water, crops, animals, and transportation. The Sovereign Council ordered the creation of the first highway linking Quebec to the countryside in 1667. In 1696, it delegated these responsibilities to

693-413: A situation, there is empirical evidence of a notary drawing up a separation agreement for an early modern Quebecois couple (Félicité Audet and Étienne Ledoux) that specified a fairly egalitarian custody arrangement regarding the couple's children and provided the wife with a perpetual material settlement in the form of agricultural provisions. The agreement also dissolved their community of property, enabling

792-442: A source of money at the time), and this comprised approximately 17% of all cases in the 18th century. Also rising as a proportion of all crimes over the 18th century were violent crimes like assault, which constituted approximately 1/3rd of all cases. Concentration of prosecuted crimes was mainly around urban settings, notwithstanding the fact that towns represented only an average of 20% of New France's population. A large majority of

891-454: A state of affairs. Once married, the husband could, as head of household, explicitly authorize his wife to manage (though not to dispose of) her inheritances, give her general or special power of attorney , or recognize her as a public merchant capable of transacting independently. However, contemporary husbands were not commonly predisposed to initiating such measures. The Custom of Paris provided for several specific measures for evening out

990-543: A total of 1,182 casualties. The French lost 833 men, including 193 killed and 640 wounded. The 15th Foot lost 138 out of 386 soldiers of all ranks, or 34% casualties. Three-quarters of the officers of the Fraser Highlanders (78th) were killed or wounded. This makes the Battle of Sainte-Foy one of the bloodiest engagements ever fought on Canadian soil. Lévis was, however, unable to retake Quebec. The British retreated behind

1089-777: A verdict was definitively reached. More than just a judicial body, however, the Sovereign Council made lasting achievements in agriculture, commerce, the maintenance of public order, and sanitation. Many of these achievements were in the first century of the Sovereign Council's existence, prior to the dissolution of some of its responsibilities to the increasingly centralized intendant and other offices. The Sovereign Council exercised considerable authority over New France's economic affairs. It dictated when certain types of commercial interactions could occur, and public markets in Québec City, Montréal and Trois Rivières were only established under

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1188-518: A very discriminatory fashion. While departing sons sometimes received a piece of land when they married, that was not the case for daughters in the same position. Customary law accorded women a share in property, including land, upon the deaths of their parents, such that in the mid-18th century, they received a part of the family estate. However, when parents created specific distributions of family property to come into effect if they should die, they prioritized getting their sons established and assumed that

1287-452: A widower had to pay for his mourning clothes personally. Somewhat amusingly, the explanation for the clause was that it compensated a widow for the fact that she would be reviled if she did not formally mourn her husband for at least a year, but no such expectation constrained a widower. Divorce was uncommon in New France. While the Custom of Paris did not specify any hard and fast rules for such

1386-444: The 60th Foot , 43rd Foot , 47th Foot , 78th Foot , and 28th Foot . The rangers and some volunteers covered the left flank. In reserve behind the right flank stood the 35th Foot , while the 3rd battalion of the 60th formed the left flank reserve. The infantry were supported by 20 cannons and two howitzers. One sergeant recorded that the British army was "a poor pitiful handful of half starved scorbutic skeletons." Observing that

1485-518: The Civil Code of Lower Canada entered into force in 1866. The Custom first originated in 16th-century France as part of a larger project of centralization of law. French law was not unified; multiple regions with distinct laws stemming from each region's unique blend of jus commune and customary law . The Custom of Paris was just one of 360 uncodified custumals in effect across the different regions of 15th-century France. The customary law of Paris

1584-495: The French West India Company was created. Around this time, the office of Intendant of New France was also established. The intendant was to be in charge of police, justice, and finance in the colony. Shortly after the post's creation in 1665, the intendant began to sit on the Sovereign Council, though its place on the council was not made official until 1675. Over time, the intendant became more powerful, and some of

1683-746: The Seven Years' War (called the French and Indian War in the United States). It was a victory for the French under the Chevalier de Lévis over the British army under General Murray . The battle was notably bloodier than the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of the previous September, with 833 French casualties to 1,124 British casualties. At first the British had some success, but the advance masked their artillery, while

1782-450: The fur trade , regulate trade between colonists and French merchants, and issue police measures. The council was also to create a system of lower courts in Québec , Montréal , and Trois-Rivières , and was to appoint judges, bailiffs and other court officials. The Sovereign Council possessed a larger membership than previous colonial councils, having nine members in 1663. These nine members were

1881-425: The governor general , the bishop (or, in his absence, the senior ecclesiastic), five councilors, an attorney general, and a clerk. The creation of the Sovereign Council was part of a broader effort to reform the administration of New France by Louis XIV and his finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert . The King and Colbert felt that New France's administration had been badly mismanaged by charter companies and that

1980-471: The infantry became bogged down in the mud and melting snowdrifts of the late spring. The battle turned into a two-hour fight at close range; eventually, as more French soldiers joined the fray, the French turned the British flanks, forcing Murray to realize his mistake and to recall the British back to Quebec without their guns, which Lévis then turned on the city. New France had suffered significant setbacks in

2079-455: The 16th–18th centuries and was applied to French overseas colonies, including New France . First written in 1507 and revised in 1580 and 1605, the Custom of Paris was a compilation and systematization of Renaissance -era customary law. Divided into 16 sections, it contained 362 articles concerning family and inheritance, property, and debt recovery. It was the main source of law in New France from

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2178-552: The 1758 campaigns of the French and Indian War . Its fortress at Louisbourg was lost in a siege by British forces, and Fort Duquesne was abandoned to another advancing British army. The situation got worse in 1759 when Fort Carillon and Fort Niagara were taken by the British, and the key city of Quebec fell after a prolonged siege and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham of September 13, 1759. The French army regrouped in Montreal under General Chevalier de Lévis . Meanwhile,

2277-455: The 43rd Foot from his center, which Levis had mostly ignored, and moved it to support his left flank. However, the British left flank finally gave way after suffering heavy losses, and the line collapsed from left to right. Lévis later claimed that he tried to cut the British off from Quebec, but a mischance allowed his enemies to escape. Instead of attacking straight ahead, as ordered, one of his right wing brigades went astray, heading over to help

2376-473: The British army, left behind in Quebec after the fleet sailed at the end of October 1759, suffered from hunger, scurvy and the difficulties of living in a city that they had largely destroyed in the siege. In April 1760, Lévis returned to Quebec with an army of over 7,000 men, including Canadien militia and First Nations warriors. He hoped to besiege Quebec and force its surrender in the spring, when he expected

2475-419: The Custom of Paris, property was divided into movables ( biens meubles : chattels , emblements , debts or 'obligations') and immovables ( biens immeubles : land, buildings, fixtures , etc.). In the interest of encouraging trade, movable property could not be mortgaged and was not considered separate property ( biens propre s), that is, property in severalty external to the marital community unless specified in

2574-484: The Custom, when a couple got married in New France, the couple married in community of property ( communauté de biens ), which means that the couple's marital property was co-owned. However, any immovable property purchased prior to marriage or directly inherited remained separate property ( biens propres ); all other property acquired after the marriage was concurrently owned by the spouses as community property ( biens communs , or biens de communauté ). The husband

2673-511: The French army was still deploying, Murray resolved to strike his enemies before they were ready. As the British advanced, Lévis pulled his three formed right wing brigades back into the Sillery Woods. At this time, the French left wing had not yet deployed. The British light infantry drove some French grenadiers out of a windmill on the right flank. Pursuing, they soon ran into trouble. The French left wing troops aggressively attacked and scattered

2772-478: The French to advance, however, he took the gamble of going on the offensive. Lévis commanded 6,910 soldiers, including 3,889 in eight regular battalions. Compagnies Franches de la Marine comprised two more battalions. The remainder of his army was made up of Canadien militia, plus a handful of native allies. Of this force, approximately 5,000 and only three cannons were present on the field of Sainte-Foy. Murray's 3,886-man force consisted of ten regular battalions,

2871-530: The Saint Lawrence. He quickly raised the siege and retreated to Montreal, where he surrendered in September to overwhelming British forces that approached the city from three directions . "The Monument des Braves," in Quebec in 1863, commemorated the Battle of Sainte-Foy. It began a wave of commemorations that took place across Canada between 1850 and 1930. They were designed to create positive memories, leave out

2970-449: The Sovereign Council's auspices. It was also the primary regulatory body for coinage, regulating colonial weights, measures and scales until paper currency surpassed metal currency in 1685. The Sovereign Council was very involved in early attempts to stimulate economic activity and maximize agricultural productivity. Ordinances mandated that seigneurs clear their seigneurs within an allotted time, and exempted small crops from yearly tithes for

3069-467: The accused to be burned alive, but the Council intervened and commuted the punishment to death by hanging. The crimes prosecuted by the colonial judicial system, the bishop, and, by extension, the Sovereign Council, were diverse, although extra weight was given to crimes that undermined France's colonial interests. An increasing problem was acts against the crown including forgery, where subjects created counterfeit money by modifying their playing cards (also

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3168-539: The area in front of their homes, until a seasonal worker with a horse and cart was eventually introduced. The Sovereign Council's only ordinance mandating wells be drilled in Upper and Lower Canada in 1687 was never realized. Cahall notes that drilling wells was likely not a priority because no epidemics arose as a result of inhabitants drinking contaminated water under the entirety of the Sovereign Council's administration from 1663 to 1760. Moreover, townspeople drank river water for

3267-473: The balance of power; the most important among these were the dower and the right of renunciation to an indebted community; also important was jointure. The Custom stated that if such a right was specified in the marriage contract, a widow could choose between taking a legal or contractual dower. The vast majority of early modern marriage contracts in New France provided for dowers, and in Quebec City and Montreal,

3366-588: The city's walls, and withstood Lévis' feeble siege until the arrival of naval reinforcements in May. The French fleet never arrived, because France's naval hopes were smashed at Quiberon Bay the previous fall and the few supply ships sent from France were lost in the Bay of Chaleur in the Battle of Restigouche . HMS Lowestoffe raised her flag as she neared Quebec followed by HMS Diana , and HMS Vanguard under Commodore Swanton which then destroyed Levis' support ships on

3465-418: The collection of extra food and clothing to distribute amongst the poor as part of an effort to mitigate social unrest. A 1668 edict established commissions distinguishing between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor. This notion that the deserving poor were worthy of local, parish-administered aid while the undeserving poor were destitute law-breakers was common in metropolitan France and Western Europe at

3564-531: The colony for a decade thereafter. The Custom had been a part of the justice system of Canada since the 1627 founding of the Company of One Hundred Associates, which previously managed French holdings in North America. The unilateral application of the Custom to the colonies was a solution imposed by the French monarchy after 1664. Despite the judicial unity, customary practice varied across regions. Institutionally,

3663-558: The colony found itself governed by a three-part government in 1665. The Intendant, who represented one third of this body, was charged with the policy areas of justice, police, and finance, for which the Custom of Paris was relevant. The Custom evolved rapidly in New France, to the extent that in 1760 it was, as applied in Montreal and Quebec City, the "law of Canada", and on certain points had diverged significantly from its origins in France. Under

3762-607: The colony should be brought under tighter monarchal control. There was also a concern in the colony over the growing power of the Governor, especially in regard to the Church. In 1663, the colony was made an official province of the Kingdom of France . The crown's contract with the Company of One Hundred Associates , the main charter company in New France, was cancelled, and a new Charter company called

3861-399: The community property of their families. These daughters were instead granted one-time dowries. Thus, it became quite economically practical and common for daughters of typically large, financially strained upper-class families to enter religious orders. The Custom of Paris also set out what happened to a deceased's property on death, so wills were fairly rare. Since it was a legal matter, it

3960-405: The community property. That clause acted not only to protect women in widowhood but also to enhance their stature and involvement in family finances during the marriage. Most marriage contracts stipulated that the spouses would not be held accountable for debts incurred by their partners prior to the marriage, so if such a debt was paid off using the community property, the spouse that did not incur

4059-444: The community's liabilities. The 18th-century Canadian lawyer François-Joseph Cugnet  [ fr ] explained the principle as demonstrating inherent fairness in the treatment of women: The husband being the master of the community and being able to dispose of it at will, it is necessary to afford the wife the privilege of renouncing the community, and to give her by this means the ability to rid herself of debts incurred during

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4158-602: The community, it would be divided between the spouses even if it was the profit from the alienation of an item of the wife's separate property. If the community property's value was insufficient to provide compensation for such a transaction, the widow could lay claim to her deceased husband's separate property. The husband, if he was attempting to benefit from this clause on the death of his wife, had no such option. The Custom also provided widows with other specific benefits. The husband's heirs were obligated to provide her with mourning clothes paid for out of their inheritance, whereas

4257-419: The comunauté de biens, the fundamental principle governing marital property arrangements, gave women legal protection and a stake in family possessions that could not be ignored by any male 'head of household'. The implications of the Custom regarding property were particularly important for widows. Under the Custom, the surviving spouse (husband or wife) had a right to half of the marital community property, but

4356-417: The couple's marital property meant that he would have a significant impact on the material well-being of the family in the event of his death. Thus, the wife largely depended on the managerial abilities and good faith of her husband in according her sufficient material holdings on which to live and support her family in her potential widowhood. A married woman was not allowed to manage her own inheritances, but

4455-494: The crimes, but the Church would excommunicate suspected traders. The activity did regain its illicit status, but the number of cases of the activity that made prosecution was trending downwards significantly throughout the later 18th century. Traffic of alcohol to Natives was only a minor crime by the mid-18th century. The Sovereign Council included nine officials who were fully responsible for all legislative, executive, and judicial matters. It made rules and enacted laws concerning

4554-457: The day-to-day affairs of the colony The Indendant was President of the Council. Battle of Sainte-Foy [REDACTED]   France The Battle of Sainte-Foy ( French : Bataille de Sainte-Foy ) sometimes called the Battle of Quebec ( French : Bataille du Quebec ), was fought on April 28, 1760 near the British-held town of Quebec in the French province of Canada during

4653-435: The debt would have to be compensated for that payment upon the dissolution of the marriage. It was customarily permissible for a couple to stipulate in the marriage contract that the widow would have the right, if she renounced the indebted community, to retake her material input to the marriage free from any debt claims. That clause de reprise was included in the majority of relevant marriage contracts. As previously mentioned,

4752-412: The deceased's separate property acquired prior to the marriage as well as the other half of the community property was inherited by the couple's children. Marriage contracts, however, often specified the conditions of inheritance for a widow in such a way that their financial future was prioritized over that of the family as a whole. The husband's role as "head of household" and his effective control over

4851-401: The earliest settlement, but other provincial customs were sometimes invoked in the early period. The Custom of Paris was introduced in 1627 by the Company of One Hundred Associates . In 1664, under the royal charter of the French West India Company , Louis XIV made the Custom of Paris the only legitimate source of civil law in any French colony. In Quebec, however, it was not replaced until

4950-437: The early period because farmers were often able to acquire huge tracts of land, with the express intention of providing future farms for a large family. However, sons were prioritized over daughters despite the Custom's equitable inheritance principles. One final interesting implication of the Custom of Paris for women in New France was that customarily, daughters who entered religious orders were excluded from any inheritance of

5049-580: The entirety of French colonial rule without much concern. The Sovereign Council acted as the court of appeal for decisions made in the lower courts in New France. Any criminal conviction could be appealed to the Council. There was some hope in a more favourable outcome, as the attorney general who sat on the Council was the only official in New France required having formal university legal training. The Sovereign Council could also amend verdicts without overturning convictions. In 1734, an African slave burned her owner's home in protest. The local magistrate ordered

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5148-452: The estate went into succession. The distinction between separate property ( biens propres ) and community property ( biens communs, or biens de communauté ) was very important; many limitations were imposed on the alienation of separate property. Land was subject to feudal tenure and could be held in allod or fief , the latter coming in two distinct forms—either free socage ( seigneurie ) or villein socage ( roture ). Free socage

5247-461: The families of their future sons-in-law would do the same, thus taking care of their daughters. Daughters were often left out of the inheritance of land. Throughout the history of New France, peasant farmers increasingly disposed of their property while they were still living so transmission of land through the female line had practically disappeared by the end of the 18th century. Truly egalitarian distributions of land had been possible and occurred in

5346-538: The first five years of cultivation. The Council sometimes directly intervened on behalf of the peasantry, the foundation of the colony. In 1680, it decreed that one-twentieth of uncleared land be made available to peasants. In an effort to protect the peasant's most valuable commodity, the cow, a 1686 ordinance enforced Louis XIV's edict that creditors could not seize cattle for debts until the year 1692. Similarly, after complaints were made that merchant monopolies were storing surpluses of wheat and preventing its circulation on

5445-413: The former responsibilities of the council were shifted to the intendant, with the power to appoint lower court officials being granted to the position in 1680. One of the Sovereign Council's greatest achievements was its efficacy in processing civil suits. Contemporary evidence suggests that from the day defendants were summoned to court, they had one or two weeks to appear with their summons, at which time

5544-470: The geographic expanse of New France and its distance from metropolitan France. For example, the Sovereign Council allowed seigneurs to extract undue feudal tithes from peasants, which ran contrary to the Coutume de Paris until Louis XIV intervened and abolished the practice in 1717. The Sovereign Council undertook other policies aimed at the maintenance of public order with mixed success. A 1663 ordinance mandated

5643-541: The harshness of the British conquest, and bring Anglophones and Francophones closer together. The battle and its aftermath, with the fruits of the French victory snatched by the arrival of British warships, was dramatized by modernist poet F. R. Scott in, "On the Terrace, Quebec": I think of the English troops imprisoned in the broken city in the spring of 1760 waiting the first ship. Whose flag would it fly? And

5742-482: The income drawn from half of the husband's estate that could not be alienated during the husband's life or claimed by creditors after his death unless the wife formally renounced her rights, or contractual dower ( douaire préfix ), a sum of money stipulated in a marriage contract by the spouses’ respective families, with the wife's same rights applying. Dower by custom was more common among upper-class families in which both spouses held extensive assets, and contractual dower

5841-416: The left wing. At the beginning of the action the numerous British cannon kept the French attacks at bay. The French advance gained momentum when the guns began to run out of ammunition. When Murray ordered the line forward, their ammunition carts had become bogged in the snow. The British spiked and abandoned their guns in the retreat. The British army suffered 292 killed, 837 wounded, and 53 captured, for

5940-413: The legal process and have a notary draw up a contract to dissolve the marriage community by dividing their movable and immovable assets. It was difficult for women to obtain legal separation; if separation was obtained, women lacked full freedom, as they could not mortgage or alienate their fixed assets without the approval of the justice or their estranged husbands. Upon the death of a spouse, remarriage

6039-441: The legitime of one of their siblings would have to compensate that sibling appropriately. Accordingly, a parent had the right to bequeath property in a written will only if such action did not infringe on the legitimes of heirs-at-law and only for the value of movable property and one fifth of immovable property. The community property could remain unpartitioned after the death of one spouse if all interested parties consented so that

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6138-399: The light infantry. Murray committed the 35th Foot from his reserve and restored the right flank of the British line. However, a bitter struggle for possession of the windmill continued. The British left flank troops captured some redoubts, but then Lévis launched a powerful counterattack with his right wing. Murray sent in his final reserve, the 3/60th to stop this attack. He also pulled out

6237-415: The manorial landlord. For example, the Custom provided for the payment of an annual feu -duty (the cens ) by villein socagers to the landlord as both revenue and as a token of submission. The entry fine ( lods et ventes  [ fr ] ) was another mandatory payment, a conveyance fee for villein socages and amounting to a twelfth of the sales price, derived from the feu-duty, as were other fees and

6336-400: The marital community property. As such, the wife was unable to make transactions without the permission of her husband. She was, however, protected from egregious control of her affairs by her husband by the customary provision that he had to secure her consent before mortgaging, selling, or alienating any of the couple's community property. Empirical evidence suggests that while this provision

6435-450: The market in 1701, the Sovereign Council ordered a committee to inspect Quebec's granaries. The committee found that merchant monopolies were unfairly keeping surpluses, and the Sovereign Council consequently ordered that the surplus be seized and sold to the poor at a subsidized rate. While the Council had to execute the King's administrative policies, it was often able to act independently given

6534-450: The marriage and transacted by the husband, as he alone could incur debts, without her consent, and the wife being unable to do so at all, without being so permitted by her husband, it must be the choice of the wife to accept or renounce the community. Accordingly, almost all marriage contracts stipulated that a widowed woman renouncing her indebted marital community could not be held accountable for any liabilities of that community. Normally,

6633-425: The marriage contract. Immovables such as land, offices, and rentcharges ( rentes constituées ) were considered separate property if acquired by one of the spouses prior to the marriage or inherited directly by either spouse. Immovable property purchased during the marriage was considered to be after-acquired property ( conquêts ) and incorporated into the marital property but would become separate property as soon as

6732-560: The married couple to Île Royale or annulling the marriage. Marriage contracts, while not required under the Custom, were a form of protecting economic interests and a form of security in the New World . Contracts of marriage community ( communauté de biens ) were significant as they contained important safeguards for widowed men and women as well as their children and orphans. Legal separations were uncommon in 18th-century rural Quebec. Typically, couples desiring to separate would circumvent

6831-511: The other army, victorious at Ste. Foy, still strong, watching. Suddenly, round the bend, masts and sails begin to finger the sky. The first question is answered. Custom of Paris in New France The Custom of Paris ( French : Coutume de Paris ) was one of France's regional custumals of civil law . It was the law of the land in Paris and the surrounding region in

6930-436: The right of laudatio ( retrait lignager  [ fr ] ). Additionally, the Custom of Paris accorded a number of privileges to lords over villein socagers who were their tenants. They included the right of soke (right to hold court), restrictions, as well as astrictions|5 such as a monopoly over mills and milling ( thirlage ), water power, hunting, and fishing ({{:wikt:piscary|piscary}}). Peasants also had to pay

7029-508: The right to alienate those goods freely and unilaterally. The essential point of the option was to protect the woman's fortune from the possible incompetence or malfeasance of her future husband. It also made the wife's nominal veto right over transactions more real in practice. However, contracts including such provisions were quite rare. The Custom included some clauses that allowed wives to evade their apparent legal and economic subjugation by their husbands, if they were inclined to permit such

7128-402: The rules of inheritance and to provide the surviving spouse and family with one or more financial safeguard(s). The most important such safeguard was dower ( douaire ), a fixed sum set aside for the wife to live on in the event of her husband's death and drawn from half of the marriage community reserved for the minor heirs. The dower could take two forms: dower by custom ( douaire coutumier ),

7227-481: The sale of alcohol to Indigenous Peoples in the early 1660s, and conflict between the Church and Jesuits on one hand and the Governor on the other is argued to have contributed to the establishment of the Council. The Council eventually agreed with the Bishop's demands, but with a fine as opposed to a harsher punishment for conviction initially, but the issue would remain open. Prohibition of alcohol transactions to Aboriginals

7326-432: The senior road surveyor, le grand voyer, with local captains of the militia in charge of overseeing the quality of the roads in each seigneurie. The Council exhibited some degree of commitment to sanitation and waste management, paving central town streets to minimize weather damage and accumulation of waste. One of its greater successes was actually enforcing an ordinance mandating that inhabitants in Quebec's Lower Town clear

7425-530: The time in which it was written, the Custom's 362 articles attempted to merge feudal land tenure with the nascent town-centered commercialization of the Ancien Régime. In 1663, upon the dissolution of the Company of One Hundred Associates, New France came under direct rule by the French crown. The Custom was officially introduced in New France by Article 33 of the royal charter establishing the French West India Company in May 1664. The company retained control of

7524-414: The time. Reflecting colonial society's emphasis on righteousness and morality, the Sovereign Council mandated that every tavern-keeper provide sufficient proof of his virtuous character in order to obtain a business licence. Attempts to improve public infrastructure were met with limited success. Early ventures in constructing roads proved especially futile given the necessity and the prevalence of rivers as

7623-436: The trials were held in Montreal, indicating a higher rate of crime further away from the seat of government and closer to the frontier. Approximately a third of the punishments mandated for the various crimes were fines, and a fifth executions. A challenge that influenced the development of the Sovereign Council was the regulation of alcohol traded with Natives. Bishop François de Laval had called for an outright prohibition on

7722-425: The usual (largely nominal) rules about asking her permission applied. Marriage contracts could not be used to overcome the Custom's doctrines of male marital power and the coverture of married women. The best that an egalitarian-minded couple could do was to stipulate in their marriage contract that the wife would have the right of administration over her own goods (benefit from their returns), but then, she did not have

7821-404: The value of any of her separate property that had been alienated during the marriage without the profits of that alienation being used to purchase other property. While technically this clause applied to both spouses, it existed to protect the wife from the abuses of the husband-administrator, who would benefit from the returns on such a transaction at the dissolution of the marriage when, as part of

7920-445: The vast majority of jointures were reciprocal. In practice, the jointure allowed a widow to remove her bed, clothes, and personal effects from the marital community prior to the estate inventory, partition of the community, and payment of liabilities. The nature of the socio-economic environment in rural Quebec was conducive to marriage. In contrast to France, the social pressures for marriages into affluent and prestigious households

8019-515: The vast majority of wives with dower rights also had the right to choose their form. However, the principle that such transactions involving the dower could not be carried out by the husband without the wife's presence or written permission was not always respected. One of the most important protective mechanisms for a widow under customary law was her right to renounce community property plagued by insurmountable debt and effectively walk away with her dower. A widower did not have that right to renounce

8118-410: The widow who renounced the community could walk away with her dower, but unless the marriage contract explicitly specified otherwise, did not have the right to also retain her jointure in the case of renunciation. Therefore, almost all relevant marriage contracts contained such a specification. Finally, according to customary law, the widowed woman could claim from the community, prior to its partition,

8217-471: The widowed woman could not be held accountable for debts on her own personal property unless she had an independent business separate from her husband's and was recognized as an independent public merchant by her husband or if she decided to continue to manage the community as an undivided entity with her minor children. Therefore, it was in a creditor's best interest to insist that the wife be present for and participate meaningfully in all transactions involving

8316-408: The wife to sell land and purchase a farm and a loom in order to support herself and her children. However, Audet likely counted herself lucky, as such a favourable settlement depended on the goodwill of the husband. The evidence from notarial instruments suggests that while the value of movable goods bequeathed to children leaving the family hearth was about equal for both sexes, land was endowed in

8415-423: Was an important cause to the Church, who was fearful of Native drunkenness. However, the majority of the Council was not willing to prosecute violators to the full extent of the legislation. Led by intendant Jean Talon , the Council then legalized the trade – not for moral reasons, but to increase profits of colonial subjects. An interim period followed where the Sovereign Council refused to mete out any sentences for

8514-402: Was common and frequently occurred without great delay, which created additional complications for inheritance and property principles under the Custom. According to the Custom, a married woman was a feme covert subject to marital power , meaning she was legally considered to be a minor and so was under the guardianship of her husband. As for the husband, he was the legal "head and master" of

8613-452: Was considered 'noble' (but the owner did not have to be a member of the nobility) and the latter 'peasant'. Under feudal tenure, a fief could not be owned outright but was instead divided into competing interests known as estates in land ; thus, a single tract of land could be held both in villein socage by a tenant and in free socage by the lord of the manor . Villein socage was subject to a number of real burdens and feudal incidents owed to

8712-399: Was done if the liabilities outweighed the value in the property that she was inheriting. Under such an agreement, the widow also retained control of her dower, which then became quite valuable and important for her to be able to get back on her feet. It was unavailable to widowers as they were typically the partners that incurred and held marital debt. Both spouses had the option to put aside

8811-421: Was especially pronounced in the early years of settlement: the average age for girls was 12, boys 14. Furthermore, the vast availability of land acted as an incentive for marriage. Local administrators facilitated young marriages despite the lack of parental consent and reprimands from the central government and the local Sovereign Council . The Sovereign Council would punish clandestine marriages by either exiling

8910-465: Was important to have a notary take inventory of the family estate in the event of the death of either spouse. To have some control over the process of inheritance and to provide safeguards for the widow and surviving family (to deviate somewhat from customary provisions as would best suit the family's needs and preferences), the couple could choose to specify the structure of family inheritance, to an extent, in their marriage contract. If no marriage contract

9009-418: Was inherited unequally with half going to the eldest son and the rest being divided equally among his siblings. In the case of the death of one spouse in a childless couple, the Custom stipulated that the half of the marital community normally reserved for the children of the family could go to a male cousin, a brother, or even the manorial landlord . The financial well-being of a deceased person's children

9108-556: Was made, on the death of either the husband or wife, the surviving spouse would retain half of the assets and liabilities of the marital community. The other half would be split evenly among the surviving children. Children were entitled to a legitime , whether they were male or female, and could access their inheritances at 25, the legal age of majority. They could not be disinherited. Estates in free socage ( seigneuries ) were subject to different rules of inheritance, and estates in villein socage had to be partitioned equally. A free socage

9207-407: Was much more common in general and used almost always by lower-class families. Ultimately, the couple's children would inherit the dower property, but a widow had the right to live on its income for the duration of her life. Additionally, a widow could elect to walk away from the marital community on the death of her husband and therefore not be responsible for any of its assets or liabilities. This

9306-433: Was not as pronounced in the new colony, which allowed for greater leniency in gaining parental consent. Sailors and soldiers from France required the approval of their superiors to marry in the colony. Parental consent as required under the Custom became problematic when parents were unwilling to consent to young marriages. The imbalance of the sexes in the new colony led to a great number of marriages between youths, which

9405-400: Was safeguarded in the Custom by the legitime, a sum equal to half of what each child would have received in an equitable division of the marital community property if no gifts or bequests had previously diminished it. Every child heir of the deceased parent had a right to that minimum amount of inheritance, and children who had been previously gifted from the family estate to the detriment of

9504-399: Was strictly obeyed, it was largely a formality, and there is no evidence that a wife ever officially exercised her power of veto over a transaction initiated by her husband. Of the importance of the marriage community to the implications of the Custom of Paris for early modern women living in New France, historian Allan Greer says: The relationship between the spouses was clearly unequal, but

9603-407: Was the "head and master" ( seigneur et maître ) of the community property; the wife could not alienate property or conduct any other property transactions without her husband's approval. However, the husband was also required to get his wife's consent to undertake a transaction involving any of their community property. Essentially, the community as a legal entity, rather than either spouse separately,

9702-410: Was the owner of the marital property. It was possible to marry out of community of property if both prospective spouses elected in a marriage contract to separation of property. Alternatively, the right to administer the community property could be awarded by a court to a wife who could prove that her husband was unfit in some way to administer their property. Marriage contracts were often used to alter

9801-462: Was viewed as prestigious since it was the capital, so it began to be refined between the 13th and 15th centuries as part of a project of codification of all French custumals decreed by King Charles VII in the Ordinance of Montil-les-Tours  [ fr ] in 1453. It was first compiled in 1510 and subsequently revised in 1580 by order of King Henry III , following a period of disuse. A symptom of

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