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In A Manner Of Speaking: Towards A Reconstitution Of Property In Mid-Nineteenth Century Quebec, Tom Johnson

Articles & Book Chapters

The author studies the Report of the 1843 Commission appointed to inquire into seigniorial tenure. The contrast with a previous report written in 1836 is striking and the author investigates the rupture in contemporary discourse which in less than a decade led to an official recommendation to abandon the seigniorial system. Of particular interest to the author is the way in which the 1843 Commission interpreted the answers to questionnaires it had sent to seigniors, censitaires, entrepreneurs and other interested parties. The author demonstrates how the information received by the Commission, especially from the censitaires, was recategorized with a view …