Habitant
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The term habitant refers to a farmer of New France, the French colony along the St. Lawrence River that is now part of Quebec, Canada. Initially, habitants were free proprietors, recruited from among the less advantaged classes, who worked as farmers and labourers in the colony. They were either enlisted from within the colony or brought over from France. Habitants lived on seigneuries—concessions contracted out by a seigneur or lord, to whom they paid rent and taxes. Each habitant's parcel of land was jointly owned by the seigneur and habitant. Habitants typically worked a few days out of each year for the seigneur, who in exchange served as a local arbitrator and administrator.
After Canadian Confederation in 1867, the seigneural system gradually ceased to exist. The industrialization of Quebec was another factor in the evolution of Quebec's working class, which eventually began migrating to cities like Montreal and Quebec.
They had rights such as: granted land by the seigneur, use of the local mill, use the common pasture, protected by the seigneur and to leave his land to his family.
As well, they had duties... To clear trees from the lot in order to grow crops on it, give 3-4 days of free labour to the seigneur each year, maintain his road in good condition and pay homage to the seigneur.
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Seigneur and Habitant The feudal system of landholding, which had long been established in France, was adopted in the colony. The nobles, in this case the seigneurs, were granted lands and titles by the king in return for their oath of loyalty and promise to support him in time of war. The seigneur in turn granted rights to work farm plots on his land to his vassals, or habitants. In exchange, the habitants were required to pay certain feudal dues each year, to work for the seigneur for a given number of days annually, and to have their grain ground in the seigneurial mill.
In underpopulated New France the habitants welcomed the fact that the seigneur was obligated to build a mill. They had no military duties to perform except their common defense against the Indians. There was little money and not much use for it; and so the taxes took the form of payments in chickens, geese, or other farm products. These obligations were hardly burdensome. The seigneurs were anxious that their habitants should wish to stay farmers, and there was as much land as anyone could till.
