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The following diagrams illustrate the method: 1 2 3 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre film6s A des taux de reduction diffffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est ffilmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 4 S 6 i [ADA : ) OF Quebec \ ^ / ,fl^U. 368fi5 (APPEAL SIDE.) THE LABRADOR COMPANY, {Defendants in the Court below,) APPELLANTS ; AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, {Plaintiff in the Court below,) RESPONDENT. APPELLANTS' FACTUM. 4 Fylkd 1889. ^'^ ABBOTTS, (5AMPBELL & MEREDITH, Attorneys' for Appellants. BlBLIOJKtu^ PHIL^ASbAtNO; Curnec ('ANnD.v iitift . TTim CANi ^ovlnce c {District dei ^^ m±&^ CANADA .v.„cede Quebec, DANSLACOUR SUPERIEURE. I District de Saguenay, ^ ... Malbaie, le dix-biiiti^me jour de Septembre mil huit cent quatre-vingt-huit. PRESENT -L'HON. A B. ROUTHfilR, J. C. S. 8A MAJESTY, No. l586. Demandkrbsisb ; vs. A. DKNNI8TOUN et al. D^FENDEUBS. La oour ayant euteudu les parties par leurs avocats sur le merite de I'actiou en cutte cause, sur les procedures et la preuve, et sur le tout murement d^liberS ; Cousid^raut que Sa Majesty a prouv6 les alleguSs essentiels de son action en cette cause pour la plus graude partie du territoire revt>ndique en ice He ; Cousideraut que Sa dite Majesty est proprietaire do toutos les terres lion concedees, situ^es dans les limites de la Province di* Quebec, formant partie de la Puissance du Canada, et notarameut de toute cette partie du terri- toire qui est situSe dans le district de Saguenay, sur la cote nord du lieuve St. Laurent, et qui coinpreud environ deux cent ciuquuate millcsde longueur Hur six inilles de proibndenr, avec tons les lacs et rivieres y situ6es, born^e en front uu sttd, an dit fleuve St. Laurent, en arrive au nord, au bout de la dite profon- dour d'autres terres, lacf et rivieres de Sa Majesty, k I'ouest k la riviere appolee AgwanUH alias Goyuiiih, alias Goynich, k quelques inilles ouest du 62me ddgre de longitude k la limite Est de la dite Province, sur U dit iltmvo St. Laurent, pres du oTme degr6 de longitude ; Considerant que le corps politique et incorpore " The Labrador Com- pany," compagnie del'enderesse en cette cause, s'est illegalement empard du territoire susdecrits, le ddtient et en retire les Irnits et revenues sans droit ii depnis plusiears annSes ; maintient Taction en cette cause, declare Sa dite Majeste, seule proprietaire Ugitime dn territoire ci-dessus dScrits, et condamne la compagnie sas-nommee defenderesse & rendre et restitnor le dit territoire et en remettre Sa Majesty en possession sous quinze jours de la signification du pr^ent jugement k dSfaut de ce faire la dite defenderesse, y sera contrainte par les voies de droit, le tout avec d6pens contre la dite defenderesse ; et la couT consid^rant que 8a Majesty s'est desist^e des conclusions de son action oontre les autres d^fendeurs, renvoie la dite action quant & ces derniers, sans frais. (Vraie copie,) CHAS. DU BEROBR, Pro. C. S. D. S. 10 KOVHCB] rict of OTDHS OF QDEBEO. rict of ChicontimL [tt fht Qujejew'0 ^lencTfx. THE LABRADOR COMPANY, Defendants in the Court below, APPELLANTS ; AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, Plaintiff in the Court below, RESPONDENT. APPELLANTS' FACTUM. This is an appeal instituted from a judgment of the Honorable Mr. Justice Routhier, in a petitory action instituted by the Attorney Q-eneral of Quebec, for the recovery of possession of the territory known as the ^iguiory of Terre ferme de Mingan, by which judgment a part of that Seigniory was awarded to the Crown. The pretensions of the parties may be summed up as follows : — The Crown alleges that the Company is and has been for more than 20 years, in possession, exercising proprietary rights, of and over the territory known as " La terre ferme de Mingan ;" which it describes as being an extent of land situated in the county and district of ^aguenay, 10 comprising about 400 miles in length by 6 miles in depth, bounded to the east by Cape Cormorant and to the west by the boundary of the Province ; . and contends that such possession in wrongful, the Company having no right or title to the property. The Company admit tho possession alleged by the Crown, and state that such possession has existed, not merely for 20 years, as stated by the Crown, but for more than two centuries. They allege the eastern boundary to be, as described in the title deeds, " La Crrande Ause vers les Esquimaux, " ou les Espagnols font ordinairement la p^che." And that this groat cove is the same which was sul|^sequently known as L'ause aux Espagnols, Baie 20 des Espagnols, Baie Philippeau, and now Brador Bay, and is practically bounded by the boundary line of the Province. ^m^mmmmmmmm They say that they hold the property under a grant made by the Company of the Hundred Associates, also called the Company of New France (£a Compagnie Des Cent AasocUs ; La Compagnie de La Nouvelle France) to the Sieur Francois Bissot de la Riviere on the 25th February, 1661, and they allege that from that date to the present day, their possession as proprietors has been open and continuous ; that during the whole of that period, they and their attteurs have exercised the rights of proprietors thereon ; that their title has been recognized directly and indirectly by ' the Crown itself, by numerous acts extending over the whole of that period; citing among many other instances of recognition by the Crown, 10 actions and judgments dealing with them as seigneurs ; the exercise of the droU de quint upon a corrtrputation of the seigniory ; the commutation of the seignorial tenure uudt:'r which it had been held, into free and common soccage under the Seignorial Act of 1854 ; the frequent acceptance of " foiet hommage" for 't the Uiit time, bO recently as 1837 ; the enumeration , of it in public do'^uments of all descriptions, more especially in reports to Parliament, maps and plans raade by the Crown Lands Department, and laid before Parliamtui; the mention of it in Statutes of Canada; the express recognition of it by Llio Crown of France through its minister the Comte de Maurepas, with instructionb for the grant of a new title to it 20 by that sovereign ; all of which are more particularly referred to hereafter. The Crown disputes the rig-ht of the Couipany on numerous grounds, most of them of a trivial and intangible character, the only direct alle- g-atiou against the documents and titles being, that the titles of their auteurs, and the acceptance of the foi et hommage, were obtained by fraud and in error. The remainder of the Crown's allegations mainly tend towards a negation of the Company's pretensions. They comprise such statements as : — That there never was a grant of the seigniory, but merely a fishing ' grant ; 80 That the grant originally extended only from Ile-aux-CEufs to Sept lies ; That it was re-annexed to the Crown domain in 1783 ; That it was cancelled at the conquest by the proclamation of 1768, which annexed all the property east of the St. John river to Newfound- land ; 3 That "La Grande Anse," forming the eastern boundary/is at the Agwanus river ; That it lies just east of the Natashquan river ; That it is at Clearwater point ; With many other contentions, most of which merely amount to alle- gations of evidence. The Honorable Judge in the Court below held by his judgment :- 1st. That there was a seigniory of Mingan, which had been conced- ed by the Crown, and that it extended from Ile-aux-CEufs to " La Grande Anse." 10 2nd, That the portion of it extending from Ile-aax-(Eufs to Cape Cormorant, was re-annexed to the Crown domain by the judgment of 1783. 3rd. That the remainder of the seigniory belonged to Bissot and his representatives. 4th. That " La Grande Anse " was the mouth of the river Goynish or Agwanus. He therelore dismissed the action of the Crown, in so far as it related to the portion of the seigniory lying between Cape Cormorant and the AgAvanus river ; and he maintained the action of the Crown with respect to the portion lying between the Agwanus river, and the boundary of the Pro- 20 vince, ordering, that that part of the seigniory be delivered up to the Crown. It is from the latter portion of his judgment, in so far as it applies to the territory extending to the Baie des Espagnols, that the Company have appealed. While on the other hand the Crown has appealed from the portion of it awarding the territory west of the Agwanus to the Labrador Company. The declaration in effect sets forth that the whole of the territory commonly tailed the "Terre Ferme de Mingan," was pat of the public domain, and that it was of the value of above $10,000,000. That it consisted of an extiut of land situated in the county and dis- 30 trict of Saguouay. comprising about four hundred miles in length, by six miles in depth, with the rivers and lakes therein situated, bounded iu front to the south by the river and gulf of St. Lawrence, in rear to the north by the Crown lands, to the westward by Cape Cormorant on the river St. Lawrence, and to the eastward by the eastern limit of the Pro. vince, at about the r)7th degree of longitude. ■HI That defendants for more than twenty years bad held possession of it, claiming to be the proprietors of it, and contending that they had the right to use, enjoy and dispose of it, as such ; and had retained the revenues of it, and had illegally and wrongfully acted as proprietors, by leasing, sell- ing, and offering to lease and sell, various parts of the said territory, ciaim- ing publicly and constantly, and in every way, the ownership of the pro- perty, and this by means of public notices, petitions, and public and private acts, of all kinds, the whole to the great detriment of Her Majesty ; and concluded for a judgment, declaring that Her Majesty was the exclusive proprietor, that the defendants were wrongfully in possession, and con- 10 demning them, within fifteen days of the judgmeht, to restore the pos- session to the Crown, or in default to pay to it the sum of 110,000,000. The Company pleaded that it was true, that they and their auteurs had been in possession of the territory described in the declaration, and known as the Seigniory of Mingan, for more than twenty years, namely for two hundred and twenty-three years. That a grant of it had been made on the 25th Ferruary, 1661, by the Company of New France, to Francois BisBot de la Riviere. That the original deed of grant had been lost, having been burned by the fire at Quebec which destroyed the house of one Charles Porlier, on the night of the 4th and 6th days of August, 1682 ; and that the 20 public registers, containing the registration of the grant, were destroyed by fire at Quebec in month of January, 1813, when the palace of the Intendant was burned. That the concession to Francois Bissot de la Riviere, described the property as extending from Egg Island, to a point therein described as "the great bay near the Esquimaux where the Spaniards ordinarily fish," ijusqu'd la. Grand Anse vers les Esquimaux on les Espagno/sfont ordinairement la peche) by two leagues in depth. That in fact, the said Seigniory of la terre fermede Mingan, was then composed of a tract of land extending from Egg Island to the said great bay, known afterwards as Bale des Espagnols, and later as Bale Philippeau ; and bounded in front by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 30 and in rear at a distance of six miles by the Crown domain. Thai on the 11th February, 1068, the Sieur Bissot de la Riviere rendered faith and hom- age to the Crown of France for it. That on the 12th May, 1788, in a suit between Pierre Carlier, Farmer- General for the Crown, and Francois Bissot and others, heirs of the original grantee, the portion of the Seigniory from Egg Island inclusive, to Cape Cormorant, was re-annexed^to the Crown domain, the remainder of the pro- perty remaining vested in the lepreBeutatiyes of the original grantee. That between the date of the concession of the Seigriory, and the year ITBl, the Seigniory and parts of it were the subject matter of various transactions ; and among others, of suits before the Intendant and courts of law in New France, in which the possession of the representatives of Bissot de Ik Riviere was recognized and adjudicated upon in the Courts. That among other such transactions. Dame Marie Bissot, in 1772, sold one-fourth of the Seigniory to Thos. Dunn, a judge of the prerogative Court at Quebec, and that on the 20th May, 1781, His Majesty the King, repre- sented by William Grant,' His Deputy Receiver-General, exacted and received the droit de quint, due to His Majesty upon the said sale, and that 10 seizin and possession was then and there duly granted to Thomas Dunn. On the 4th October, 1776, an acte de notoriile^ was passed in Quebec before twelve well known citizens,^ in which the loss of the titles and the undisturbed -and immemorial possession of the representatives of Bissot^ were established ; and the said acte de notoriiti was duly published and registered according to law. On the 21st January, 1779, William Grant bought under execution, from the Sheriff of Quebec, the share of Charles Joliet d' Anticosti, in the said seigniory, he having been entitled as a co-heir of Claire Bissot. '^ On the 28th of May, 1781, the then owners, one of whom was Fran9ois 20 Joseph Cugnet, member of the Conseil Superior under the French Regime, and then His Majesty's Attorney General, rendered faith and homage, in due form for the seigniory. * On the 9th September, 1808, the then owners leased the seigniory for nineteen years, to the North-west Company. " On the lt4h June, 1808, a part of the seigniory was again sold by the Sheriff of Quebec* On the 13th June, 1825, the owners again leased the property to the Hudson Bay Company from the 1st of October, 1822, to the 1st Octol)er, 1842.' On tho 9th October, 1887, the then owners rendered faith and homage for the seigniory, which was therein described as extending from Cape Cormorant to the Baie des Es/mgnols, otherwise known as Brador Bay, or 30 ' Appellant')) ex. 37. ' Ap{)elbant'i ex., 2. " Ap|)elliint'8 ex., 33. * Appellant's ex., 6. ^ Appellant's ex., 10. " Apiiellant's ex., 24. ' Ap|)ollant'8 ex., 11. M .^"-T- iS^iM^UifeiM^^Mtei #i iii Hi! m 6 .'t Philippeau Bay, by six miles in depth from its front on the river or gulf of St. Lawrence, and acte was granted of their faith and homage, by the Governor-General. ' On the 13th July, 1842, the proprietors of the seigniory ag-ain leased it to the Hudson Bay Company until the 1st of October, 1862.^ The plea fur- ther alleged that the said last mentioned lease was a continuation of the leases before referred to, and that the North-west Company, and its succes- sors, the Hudson Bay Company, held continuous possession from Septem- ber, 1803. from the first day of October, 1862, as the lessees of the seigneurs. That by 10 Victoria, Chapter 53, the tenure of the seigniory was lo changed from the seigniorial tenure to that of franc aleu roturier, and the seigniory was inserted in the cadastres of the Crown Commissioner, and the terms of commutation thereof determined, and the compensation payable to the Crown by the seignors was fixed, under protest by the seigniors, as to the eastern boundary mentioned in the cadastre. * The plea then sets up the deeds by which the present owners acquired the property, and alleges that the defendants by themselves and their auteurs have held and retained possession of the seigniory, and publicly and openly used and enjoyed the same as proprietors, and had been recogniz- ed as such throughout the entire period, by the Courts of Justice, and by oq public officials representing the government ; and during the English Regime by the legislature. They also 8«t up the following prescriptions : 1. The prescription by immemorial possesion in good faith, for more than a hundred years, that is to say for two hundred and twenty two years. 2. The prescription of twenty years. 3. The prescription of ten years. Thi>y also pleaded the general issue. The Crown, in answer to these pleas, alleged that the company could 39 not plead or maintain the prescription of one hundred years, against the Crown ; that their possession was not clothed with the qualities necessary to obtain prescription ; and that it was contrary to the titles alleged by them. That it had not been continuous, uninterrupted, peaceable, public, ' Appellant's ex., 13. ' Appellant's ex., 12. ' Appellant's ex., 69. rl1 ---■^J-^«BBIHi ' niiii ^l^i ' i !' : ■ 1 unequivocal, nor as proprietors. That the alleged original concession never existed as alleged by the Company, and that it had been entirely revoked by a judgment of the 21st March, 1663. That Francois Bisson, by his aveu, in 1668, acknowledged that the concession to him was only a concession of Egg Island, with the right of establishing ou the main land, as far as Seven Islands, certain fisheries, and in the great Bay towards the Esquimaux, where the Spaniards ordinarily fish ; with the wood and land necessary for such establishment. That the words " towards the Esqui- maux," only indicated the direction of the fisheries, and were not intended to limit the concession. That no other concession was ever made 10 to him, and that he abandoned it voluntarily for valuable consideration, as appears by the ordinance of Intendant Hocquart, on the 12th May, 1Y83. That in the interval between 1102 and 1750, the Crown granted parts of it, to divers private individuals, detailed in the plea, which grants had since fallen in, and the lauds referred to in them had become re-united to the Crown domain. That no acts of faith and homage had ever been accepted by the Crown. That since the judgment of ITSS, no new title had been acquired. That by divers judgments and ordinances, reference to which is given, the Crown appears to have had absolute right, and that no part of it had been granted to the auteurs of the company, to the land in 20 question. That in 1768, the legal advisers of the Crown declared that Bissot's representatives had no rights in the property in question. That no mention is found in the public archives of any such concession. That the Company's auteurs never had any valid title to the property. That by Royal proclamation in 1763, the whole of the land in question was placed under the administration of the Governor of Newfoundland. That on the 21st October, 1768, the latter issued a proclamation, declaring that the property in question was free to all Her Majesty's subjects, and regulating fishing and trade thereon ; and that this lasted until 1808, when it was re- united to this Province. That neither Dunnn or Grant ever alienated, or had any authority to alienate any part of the property. That none of the titles alleged by the Company were derived from any person having any valid title. That the alleged acts of ftti et hommage, were false, erroneous, and invalid. That the Sheriff's title alleged is null, as not being made upon possessors animo domini, and that the description it contains is irregular. That all the titles were the result of conspiracy, fraud and stratagems. That the sheriff''8 sale of 1789 is null, the property having 30 :,^ ■MM W • 'iii » f 8 been sold supra non domino, to deprive the Crown of the land in question, but that it constitutes res inter alios acta, and does not affect the rights of the Crown. That the seiguorial cadastre has no effect, except to regulate and determine the relations bi'tweou the seigneurs and the censitaires. To this the Company made a special replication, alleging that at the time of the alleged grants and concessions between 1'702 and 1750, the coast was imperfectly known, and the new grants were made in error, and by mistake, and in ignorance of the fact that the territory referred to was within the limits of the seigniory. That, in any case, they are null, as having been made subsequent to 10 Bissot's grant. That the Crown cannot claim any right or title in and to the seigniory under anything contained in the judgment of the Intendant Hocquart, in May, 1783, inasmuch as long after the rendering thereof, the Crown admitted the rights of the representatives and assigns of Bissot, as proprietors, and exacted the rights of the Crown, in respect of mutations of the Seigniory, and claimed and obtained the droit de quint upon sales ; and took proceedings before courts, to enforce the rights of the Crown against the said seigniory as a seigniory, and entered into acts, compromises and agreements, in respec^t of it, and more especially upon the sale of a portion of it by the Sheriff of the District of Quebec, to John Blackwood, on the 20 14th June, 1808 ; and, at divers times, accepted the faith and homage of the respresentatives of Bissot, and the auteurs of the defendants, in respect of the said seigniory, and thereby "ud in various other ways, recognized the auteurs of the Company, as the proprietors of the seigniory. Issue being thus joined, the parties proceeded to enqu^e. Some wit- nesses were examined, but the main portion of the evidence consists of copies of public documents, maps, correspondence and papers of various kinds, and of published books, having reference to the history and geo- graphy of the country. A large mass of interesting matter has been collected ; and a consent has been fyled, admitting all the documents to 30 be genuine, and available as evidence ; and leaving it absolutely to the Court to give such weight and credence to them as it may think proper, without observance of the strict rules of evidence. Many of the questions presented are largely historic al ; and relate to dates so distant, that the rules applicable to ordinary cases are scarcely appropriate. And the dis- cussion of the case must in a great degree assume a historical form. The territory in dispute between the Goverument and the Labrador m^mmmmm Company, is the eastern portion of the northern coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, lying within the Province of Quebec. This coast, for the entire distance west of Cape Cormorant to the Straits of Belleisle, is a territory of the geological formation known as Laurentiau. It is rugged, barren, and uninhabited ; except at five or six isolated points, where a few fishermen have squatted, and live during the period of cod-fishing in summer. There are several small permament posts within the region held by the company, which are maintained by the Hudson Bay Company, having been held under lease from the Labrador Company, and their auteurs, for above a century ; and there are two or three other points where a small 10 number of fishermen and hunters, manage to exist through the winter. The company, defendants, purchased the property in October, 1888, from various proprietors then in possession of it ; and although in conse- quence of the protection by the company of the fish in the rivers along the coast, the property has since somewhat increased in value, no appreci- able net revenue has yet been derived from it ; and its value at present certainly doos not exceed the one hundredth part of the amount at which it is stated by the Crown in the declaration. The territory is entirely unsurveyed to this day, and little or nothing is accurately known of the greater part of it, except what may be learned 20 of the outlines of the coast from Admiral Bayfield's charts. The imme- diate neighborhood of the posts, and of the points where fishing is carried on in summer, is of course familiar to the Company and their lessees, to the Indian traders, and to the few fishermen and sportsmen who visit the region at that season. Up to the date of Admiral Bayfield's charts, no actual survey of the coast was made, and the numerous maps which then existed, were out of proportion, and widely inaccurate, being merely rude outlines, made from informatiou obtained from the few fur traders and fishermen who passed up and down the coast by sea. These facts will account for many inaccuracies of description in the 30 older documents and maps produced in the case. The company of the Hundred Associates, or of New France, was formed in 1627 by Cardinal Richelieu and five other partners. It was en- dowed by the King with the entire rights of property, justice, and seign- iory, in all the country of New France, with the right to distribute the land of the country ; and the grant revoked all previous concessions. This company made to Francois Bissot de la Riviere, on the 26th Feb- ■lillipll mmmm wtm 't .* 10 10 ruary, 1661, the grant upon which he took possession of the coast from Ile-aux-CEufs to Baie des Espagnols. The company of New France retained the administration of the coun- try until 1663, when it surrendered its rights to the King. In 1664, New France was granted by the King to the West India Company. In 1668, the West India Company made a papier terrier or land roll of the country, and in this land roll was inserted au aveu or declaration com- prising the seigniory of Mingan, made by Francois Bissot on the llth February of that year. In 16t4 the possession of the country was resumed by the king. In 16'78 a map was completed under the orders of the Intendant Duchesneau, and dedicated by him to Monseigneur Colbert, described as being ''carte pour servir « feclaircissement du papier terrier de la Nouvelle France." This map may either have been made to elucidate the papier terrier made in 1668, or a new papier terrier, made in 1678, under au arr4t of l&'ib, which instructed the new Intendant Duchesneau, to prepare a papier terrier of all existing grants. This map shows upon its face the seigniory of Mingan, under the name of " La Seigneurie du Sieur Bissot," bounded in apparent conformity with the present pretensions of the company, But not being based upon any actual survey, it is, of course, only approximate, and merely indicates the general outlines of the coast., and an approximation of the actual boundaries. No trace can be found of the papier terrier of 1668, or of that of loVS if the latter existed, but a certified copy of the map is produced in this cause. Before proceeding further with the facts established by the company, they desire to point out that thcs^' transactions all took place within the knowledge of the generation in which the grant to Fran9ois Bissot was made ; that is to say, between 1661 and 1678. -^ Thepa/>te>- terrier of 1(568 was made only seven years after the granting of the title. The map made to elucidate the paitier terrier was completed in 1678, only seventeen years alter the granting of the title, And during the whole of this period, the grant itself, and the (lovwrnment records of the period, all remained in existence. If, as the Crown lontt-nds, the grant was not a grant of the seig- niory, it would not have been inserted in Xho papier terrier at all, nor in the 20 ■■■■ ^1 11 map elucidating the papier terrier. Moreover, its extent must then have been thoroughly well-known, and could not have been otherwise than correctly described in the official map of the coast, expressly made for the purpose of making plain the contents of the papier terrier. The company, therefore, contend that in the absence of the title deed itself and of the records, the evidence furnished by the uveu of Fran9ois Bissot, its acceptance and enrollment in the papier terrier, and the descrip- tion of the seigniory in the official map elucidating the papier terrier, consti- tute complete proof of the grant and of its extent also, in so far as a con- jectural map can be regarded as final. \q This is the conclusion reached by his honor. Judge Routhier, who says : " Nous verrons plus loin quels arguments no; s en tirerons pour decider la " question des limites. Mais pour le moment nous disons, que cette carte serait inex- "plicable, si le Sieur Bissot n'edt pas obtenu anterieurement, un litre de concession " d^un fief stir la lerreferme de Mingan. En effet, le mot seigneurie, et la rif&rence ,, " au papier terrier, ne sauraient indique une simple poste de piche." In 1682 a large portion of the lower town of Quebec was burnt, and in that fire the titles, documents and records, of the Bissot family were destroyed. 20 In 1713 the palace of the Intendant was burnt, and almost all the registers of the Council of State were destroyed by that fire. For a length of time nothing is fovind in the public records respecting the seigniory of Mingan, but it is incidentally referred to in a judgment of the Intendant B6gon, in 1725, between Gastin, Payre et al.' In this judgment it is said : " Que si la pretention du Sieur Gastin avail lieu, il n'y aurait plus que tris " peu de personnes qui puissent f aire la piche de la morue, puree que la c6te du sud "dujleuve St. Laurent, se trouve avoir 614 conc4d6e d qttelques anciennes families, ' celle du nord etant de laferme du roi, les iles Mingan, Anticosti, et lerreferme „« " viS'A'vis icelles, jusqu'aux limites de la dite ferme, appurtenant aux families des ^'feus Sieurs Jolliet et Bissot." Upon this his Honor remarks : " Je ne dirai pas qu'il y a dans ce passage de rordonnauce, une reconnaissance "formelle des droits des h^ritiers Bissot sur la terre ferme de Mingan, mais ce que » 3 Ed. et oi-d., p. 221. fill; 12 " Von pent dire de moins, c'est que VIntendant considerait alors la terre fertne de " Mingan comme itant la propriiti des hiritiers Bissot." In ITSS, the heirs of Bissot and Jolliet, who by this time had become the proprietors of the seigniory, were brought before the Courts by Pierre Carlier, the King's Farmer G-eneral, and the record of that case is pre- served in full, and produced in this cause.' Mr Carlier had under his control the trading posts of the Crown commonly called Les Traites de Tadovsav, from He aux Coudres to a point two leagues below Sept lies, which includes He aux QEufs, to which the concession made to Bissot extended. 10 Mr. Carlier contended that the grant to Bissot, according to the inter- pretation of the latter, invaded the grant of Les Traites de Tadousac, and he insisted that according to the strict language of the aveu of 1668, Bissot only took the He aux CEufs itself. And that in fact the Company could not give the right of property on the main land between He aux CEufs and Sept lies, because in 1653 the domain res(>rve was declared to extend to a point two leagues below Sept lies. The Farmer General, therefore, did not contest the right of property in the He aux CEufs, but he did contest it as respects the main land between He aux CEufs and the river Moisy, which is at a point two 20 leagues below Sept lies. And in support of that contestation he urged th»t that portion of the main land had previously been reserved for the domain, and that the language of the aveu did not comprise any right of property on the main land. The Farmer General, therefore, prayed for the reunion to the Crown domain of that portion of the main laud, extend- ing from He aux CEufs to the river Moisy. The heirs Bissot and Jolliet answered that they did not use that portion of the main land, and they were willing to abandon it, in order to avoid litigation and the creation of trouble to the King's domain ; and thereupon the lutendant Hocquart, by an ordinance duly made, re-united 30 to the Crown domain the land granted to Sieur Bissot {le terrain concMi au Sieur Bissot) from He aux CEufs to C'ape Cormorant, which is a prom- inent point below the river Moisy. And as to the claim of the Bissots to the remainder of the main land, he referred them to the King for a new title. 2 Ed. et onl., |>. 346. Ilf^ '!!! 1 i 13 It is from these proceedings that the Crown contends, that if there had been a grant of the seigniory, that grant was cancelled by the judg- ment of the Intendaut Hocquart. But it is obvious that no such result was reached by his judgment. He admitted the existence of the grant contended for by the heirs Bissot and Jolliet. He took away from them and re-united to the Crown domain, with their consent ; the western por- tion of that grant, which he expressly declares to be part of le terrain con- c6d6 au Sievr Bissot ; but as respects the eastern portion, he left it to them to procure a new title from the Crown ; or in other words he left them with their rights, whatever they were. 10 This, under the seigniorial tenure, was an ordinary and well known procedurl^ which as between the Seigneur and his CensUaire, was of peri- odical occurrence under the law, and was practised as between the Seig- neur and his feudal superior when circumstances rendered necessary a more clear and dehuite description of his property. Here also his honor Judge Routhier takes the same view as the Com- pany, for he says : Mais en renvoyant les Bissots devant Sa Majesty pour Vohtention d'un nouveau tttre, on reconnaissait d'abord quHl y avait dijty un titre pour une etendue inditer' minie de terreferme, on se trouvait Vitablissement fond6 par les Bissots ; et Von vou- oq lait par le nouveau titre fixer les limites de cette itablissement, et transformer Vtxces- snire accorde par Vanciert tilre en iin principal ; c'est-il-dire en une veritable conces- sion territoriale. The distinction which the Judge draws between the eastern and western portions of the grant do not seem to the Company well founded. But as this distinction appears upon the second question in the case, namely, the extent of the Seigniory eastward, its discussion will be post- poned for the present. It mixst l)e observed that when the litigation before the Intendant began, the question raised was not as to the existence of any rights in the 30 Bissots ; but rested upon the pretention, that having their principal estab- lishment at Mingau, they were working westward and infringing on the Crown domain near the Moisy t and in order to raise the question formally, the Farmer-General demanded an exhibit of the titles. The Bissots produ(!ed their aveu, and the Farmer General then attacked it. Substan- tially he declares his willingness to admit that they were seigneurs from below the Moisy, but he says that they had no right to trade above it ; and 14 and that if they would couBent to abandon any claim they had above the Moisy, he would allow them to apply for a new title. This proposition they consented to. The judgment he rendered was merely, in effect, the granting of acle upon the admissions and consents of the parties ; and the Judge cannot be considered to have gone beyond the conclusions and admissions of record. Whatever title the Bissots had below the Moisy, therefore, was not in any way invalidated by the reunion of the remainder of the domain, or by the reference to the King for a new title ; because the Farmer General, in the pleadings, admitted that they had a title, and the Inteudant lo did not adjudicate upon it. No cou elusions were taken to expel them, or reunite the remainder to the Crown domain ; and their possession of, or title to, that portion, are therefore matters which were not in issue, and which were not adjudicated upon at the trial. It is true that they were referred to the Crown for a new title, and they petitioned for it ; but their old title stood, as is shown by subsequent judgments as well as by documents produced, until another judgment of reunion should be pronounced ; because reunion could never be effected but by a regular process at law. Everywhere throughout the " Edits '' these reunions are found, but always made in due form of law, after formal 20 statement of cause, formal notice to interested parties, formal citation of the law invoked, and formal judgment given. There was therefore no reunion of the rest of the concession. If there had been, it could be shown. Moreover, the very words used, entirely destroy the contention that the original grant did not extend down below Seven Islands. If this was the case the judgment need not have stopped short of the reunion of the whole seigneury, for Cape Cormorant is ten leagues below Seven Islands ; and the judgment therefore would purport to reunite to the domain a territory which the Crown now pretends was never comprised in any grant, and this in a judgment pronounced by the chief judicial officer of the Crown, 30 at the suit of the Farmer General of the Crown, both of whom must have been well aware of the facts. It appears that the Intendant Hocquart, in the ordinance in question, made certain recommendations as to the new title tobe granted. He says that as the land was unsuitable for settlement, " il paroit qu'il doit etre concede en censive," and he thinks that the new title should commence at a place called La Riviere des Islets, ten miles lower down (now called 15 ;: Thunder Islands); but he leaves the matter to the King ; and as a fact the bounds of the domain remained as before. This judgment disposes of all the ingenious arguments upon the phrase "Poste de Mingan," and it leaves Bissot's title for all east of Cape Cormorant just as it was before the trial. It may be remarked here that these Farmers-General were lessees of the whole Crown domain, and if the Bissots' title had not stood in the way, would have administered and enjoyed the revenue of the whole ungranted stretch of coast. That they did not is beyond all shadow of doubt. It appears, however, that on the ITth October, 1702,' the King of jo France made a concession to Augustin Legardeur, of an extent of coast, " au lieu appeU Labrador, pays des sauvages Esquimaux, A commencer depuis la riviere appeUe Kegashka, jusqu , se trouvt^ inserfee dans I'extrait de ce Terrier, et que " d'ailleurs, ce meme Bissot et ses successeurs out 6tabli ce poste, et qu'ils y " out faite la traite, la chasse et la pSche, mns aucun trouble dans un " itendue de cdte de pris de vent cinquante lieues " (the extent claimed by the Seigniors), "il est juste d'avoir dgard a toutes ces circonstances, et " elles m'auraient determine 4 proposer au Uoy de confirmer les h^ritiers ' Appellant's ex., A. 4. f- ■ .'1 t il nfffiw** L-rrWa i M wmm 18 " Bissot dans la poBsession d'une partie de cotte fetendue de cote, et de fixer "leurotat; mais but co que vous m'avez marquo do la situation ou se " trouve actuellement cette iamille, et dos discussions que pourroient y " occasionner une pareille confirmation, j'ay pris le parti que vous avez " propose, de suspendre tout reglement a ce sujet, et j'ay seulement fait " agreer au Roy que ces heritiers pourront jouir de I'etendue du " cote que vous avez dfesiffn^e par votre lettre, depuis In borne du domaine de " Tadousar. en descendant le fleuve Jun(iu'aux bornes de la concession du Sieur Lafon- " taine, sur ttdle prolbiideur que vous jugerez a propos de Irur fixer, Sa " Majest6 s'en rapportant A ce que vous ferez pour cela. Son intention n'est 10 " cependant point de laisser cette affaire sans un(^ decision definite, lilie sou- " haite que vous travaillieza arranger les heritiers Bissot entreeux pourcet " ohjet, que vous examiniez ensuite s'il conviendra de leur laisser la inline " 6tendue dt^ terrain, ou s'il ne sera pas apropos de la reduire pour y placer " d'autre concessionnaires s'il s'en pr6s<'ute, et que vous vous mt^ttiez en " 6tat de proposer un arrangement qui en assurant I'etat de ces heritiers, " concilie la justice, qui, peut leur 6tre due avec le hien general de la colonic. " Je vous prie de pourvoir k cet arrangement le plus tot (jue vous pour- " rez, et de me mettre a portee d'en rcndre compte au Roy." As already stated, the Ktamamu Rivtsr was the western boundary of 20 Lafontaine's grant. The Minister had before him the very same papers which form the Coinpauy's Exhibits A., 1, 2 and 8. He had, therefore, all the parti- culars of the trial, and the conclusion he arrives at is : " Cependant, des qu'il " parait par I'extrait du t((rrier de la compagnie des Indes ( )ccideutales que " le Sieur Bissot, pore, tenait de cette compaiiiiie ce terrain en (juestion en " seigneurie," and ^hat the land in question was " cent-cinquante lieues" of the north shore, dowuV."...u from the Imuudary of the domain. Just one hundred and fifty years au'o the King's Minister thus wrote to Beuuharuois and Hocquart, in accordance, apparently, with their own report upon the matter; and yet the court is now asked to correct these distinguished per- 80 sons in their law and in their facts. This letter alone is, and must he held to bi', equivalent to a new title ; it is a confirmation ad interim. If there had l)een no previous title, this, accompanied by possession, wouhl have been equivalent to a grant CM ,seisr«fi«n'e, for the specified trad, until the King should take further action. No further concessions west of Lafontaine's were made, as is shown on Mr. Houchette's maps, and by the maps pro- duced by the Crown. Up to that point, at least, continuous possession has w i!i :! ^fr« ' ^.WI»BlWi 19 always been maintained, and until very recently, the company held that same extent of territory through their tenants the Hudson Bay Company, and since then by themselves. What Beauharnois and Hocquart did in the matter does not appear ; but the heirs held the property until the English appeared on the scene, without disturbance or objection. Judge Routhier finds in this one of the strongest proofs of title, and next after the foi et hommage of 1837, it may well be so considered. In his notes of judgment he says : " R^Bumous cette lettre. Sa Majesty s'appuie sur le terrier pour dire " que le terrain r6clam6 par les Bissots a 6t6 concld6 en seigneurie ; elle iq " reconnait leur concession et veut la confirmer. Mais elle suspend seule- " ment cette confirmation k cause des discussions que cette confirmation " ponrrait occasioner entre les hferitiers Bissot. En tout cas, elle les con- " firme dans leur possession, et en determine I'^tendue a partir du domaiue " jusqu'd la concession Lafoutaine. " Le gouverneur et I'lntendaut ont-ils agi selon les intentions de Sa " Majestfi ? " Nous n'en savons rien, mais il u'en est pas moius av6r6 : lo. Que " cette rSpouse de Sa Majesty est une promesse de titre en propri6t6 et une " reconnaissance de possession ; 2o. Que cette promesse de titres accom- 20 " pagn6e de possession 6quivaut a line veritable concession dans notre droit, " (Code Civil, Art. 1478.) " La Couronne s'est reconnue obligfee en justice de donuer uu nouveau " titre de concession aux h^ritiers Bissot, des qu'ils pourraieut s'enteudre " entre eux. L' octroi dSfiuitif fut soulement ajourn6 jusqu'4 cet accord. " Quant k I'fitcndue que devait avoir cet octroi, elle u'^tait pas non plus " d6fiuie. Voir fin do la h'ttro du ministre plus haut cit6e ; mais la pos- " session et les 6orits postferieurs nous permettront de fixer cette 6tendue." On the 2ud May, 1786, the same Intendant Hocquart delivered an ordinance, showing that the heirs Bissot continued to occupy the seignioTy, ^^ and that the Intendant recognized the legality of that possession. The judgment is reported in the third volume of edicts and ordi- nances, page 815, and the caption is as follows : " Jugement, que sur la requite des seigneurs et dufermier de la seigneurie et " terrefertne de Mingan,fait dtfense au sieur Brouague et tout autres, de ne trailer " qWavev les sauvaget qui se trouveront sur la concession de ce dernier ; du 2ieme " mat 1786." 'i I ^.w ljjl HW PIl W IWI IIIHl l|i;^ % 20 The complainant iu this case was Volant d'Haudebourg, who declared that being about to leave for the post of Miugan, of which he was pro- prietor, partly as having married one of the heirs, and as having leased the remainder from Fran9oi8 Bissot the second, for nine years ; he had learnt that Martel de Brouague was about to stop at Mingan, and to pass along the coast to Labrador for the purpose of treating along the way with the Indians of Mingan to induce them to go to Labrador ; and therefore the complainant prayed that de Brouague should be forbidden to enter into any such treaties at Mingan and its dependencies. De Brouague appeared and stated, that he did not intend treating with jq any Indians, except those who came upon his own concession and that of La Valterie, twenty-two leagues west of Bale Philippeau, and it was only for the purpose of arriving there more quickly, that he intended passing down the coast iu a boat. Upon this the lutendaut granted acte to d'Haudebourg of de Brouague's declaration, and made the requisite order forbidding him to treat with the Indians along the coast of Miugan. These concessions of De Brouague and La Valterie were amcig the concessions west of Bale des Espaguols, of which Bissot complained to the king. 20 It will be observed that de Brouague did not in this case deny the rights claimed by d'Haudebourg. He merely denied that he proposed to invade them by making treaties with the Indians upon the coast he claimed. And that at the date at which this judgment was rendered, the petition of Bissot to the king was still pending. He remained in possession of his property and that possession was not contested ; but on the contrary was by that judgment recognized by the Inteudaut Hooquart. These facts seem finally to dispose of the pretension of the Crown that, by the judgment of 1*788, the whole seigniory was re-united to the Crown domain. It is true on the one hand that, after that judgment, the on heirs Bissot did not obtain from the Crown a formal nouveau litre to the seigniory which they asked for after that judgment, and were promised in 1788; but on the other hand the Crown left them in continuous and peaceable possession of the seigniory. During this period, and up to the cession of the country in 1768, the Crown made numerous concessions on the north coast, extending as far as from the River Etamanu to beyond the Straits of Belleisle, but after the I. i M. ^^ 21 remonstrance of Bissot in his petition of lt34, no grant was made west of the river Etamamu. If after the judgment of 1733 the Crown consider- ed the coast lying between Cape Cormorant and the Etamamu river, Crown property, how was it that no part of it was ever granted ? Though every inch of the territory on both sides of it was conceded previous to the ces- sion. In confirmation of the pretensions of the company, several arrets, regie- ments and ordonnances prove that the Bissots and their representatives con- tinued to administer the Mingan property, at the same time that the heirs Jolliet and their assigns administered the islands and islets called by the 10 same name : And that during the same period, the grantees on the north * shore of the gulf, were maintained in the enjoyment of the grants made to them, in their contestations with the heirs Jolliet who were pro- prietors of the Mingan islands. The company have now traced their title and possession of the seign- iory to the date of the cession of Canada to England. After that cession, some dispute having arisen between La Fontaine, then representing the heirs Bissot, and Q-overnor Murray, La Fontaine memorialized the Secretary of State on the subject, claiming to be pro- prietor and possessor of the seigniories of Mingan and of the isles and 20 islands of Mingan, up to the Bale des Espagnols, and his claim does not appear to have been disputed by Q-overnor Murray, who disclaimed having any idea of interfering with Lafontaine's rights in the Seigniory. Afterwards Messrs Cugnet and Tache, as representatives of the heirs Bissot and Jolliet, petitioned the King to assure to them the free and peaceable possession of the seigniories of Mingan and of the islands of Mingan to the Bale des Espagnols. The question was referred to the law officers of the Crown in England. On the documents and facts submit- ted to those gentlemen (copies of which are fyled in this cause as the ex- hibit C of the Crown) the Crown officers gave an opiniou to the eftect that 30 they had no title to these seigniories. But no doubt it became plain that the Crown officers, in giving such an opinion, had not before them the evidence necessary for its formation ; and the seigniors of the terra firma, of the islands of Mingan, and of the island of Anticosti, which were comprised iu the same reference, and on which the same opinion was given, have ever since remained in posses- sions of their respective seigniories. The titles of the seigniors of the is- ||p.p-''s^ss^S5ai ■■■■■ 22 lands, and of Anticosti, have never since been disputed, and those properties have frequently changed hands. And the same statement may be made with reference to the seigniory of the terra firma, for the period extend- ing from the reference to the law officers of the Crown, down to the insti- tution of the present action ; although for a few years previous to the com- mencement of these proceedings, persons having designs on portions of the territory, have from time to time asserted the absence of title. The only attempt that has been made by the Crown, or by any subject, to infringe the rights of the seigniors of the terra firma, was made quite recently by the Q-overnment of the Province of Quebec, when a few small lots of land sup' 10 posed to contain iron ore, were granted to Messrs. Laflamme and others, not- withstanding the objections made by the seigniors. But this grant was carefully guarded by its terms, so as to throw upon the grantees all re- sponsibility as to the title ; a course of action which is unprecedented in Crown grants in this country, and could only have been prompted by grave doubts on the part of the Government, as to its right to deal with the lots in question. The lots, however, were not utilized, and have always remained in the possession of the company. The seigniory continued in the possession of the heirs of the families of Bissot and Jolliet until towards the end of the last century, undergoing 20 during that period many changes of title amongst themselves, by inherit- ance and marriage, and occasional transfers of undivided portions of it.' After the administration of the country by England began, three English gentlemen, Messrs. G-raut, Dunn mud Stuart, at lirst apparently without concert with each other, became proprietors by deeds of sale, of the various undivided portions of the seigniory, previously distributed among the numerous descendants and assigns of the Bissots and Jolliets. And in 1789, having acquired all these rights, they came together, and by a deed signed by them all, consolidated their right of property, and estab- lished their shares in the seigniory, at one-half to Mr. G-rant, one-quarter to 80 Mr. Dunn, and the other quarter to Mr. Stuart.* These gentlemen yrrre, all- of the highest standing iu the new Pro- vince of Quebec. Mr. Dunn, who purchased one fourth share in the seigniory from Marie Bissot in 1772, was one of the Judges of the Preroga- t P > Appellant's exhibits, 16, 26, 49, 76a, 78. ' Appellant's exhibit, 29, 30, 33, 34, 36, 37, 65a. Ill>l.. ' «p 28 live Court of Quebec, aud in a position to know all the facts as well as the law in the case. And upon the transfer to him, the Crown demandtid and received the quint due under the feudal tenure, upon the mutation of a seigniory, and put him in possession.' In 1777 Mr. Dunn purchased the share of Miss Beloour de la Fontaine, daughter of Charlotte Bissot. * In 1779 Mr. Grant bought at sheriff's sale the rights of Charles JoUiet d' Anticosti in the same seigniory. ' In 1781 the son of Charlotte Bissot sold Iiis share to Francois Joseph Cugnet.* This gentleman had been councillc v in the Superior Council 10 under the French regime, and Attorney General under Governor Murray. He was the writer of the earliest published law book in Canada, printed in 1775. On the 28th May, 1781, the seigniors rendered foi el hommage for the seigniory of the terra firma? The act of fm et hommage is entered upon the public register among other similar acts, but although not apparently objected to, or cancelled, it is not signed by the Governor as is usual. The same omission, however, is to be found in the acts of foi et hommage of other seigniories in the same register, whose titles have always been un- disputed. Aud there is nothing to indicate either that there was any rea- £0 son for the omission, or that there was any objection by the Governor to its acceptance. At all events, Mr. Cugnet, who was in a position to know all about the matter, purchased for value a share of the property, five months afterwards. In 1784 a number of persons, heirs of Claire Bissot, sold their portions" to Thomas Dunn and Peter Stuart. They and Mr. Grant bought out Mr. Ougnet's share in 1786 and thus acquired the whole property. * In 1789 the consolidation and adjustment of their rights was made as above stated, by a notarial agreement executed in that year. In 1808, Messrs. Grant, Dunn and Stuart leased the seigniory of li ■ Appellant's exhibit, 37. ' Appellant's exhibit, 20. ' Appel!ant,s exhibit, 33. * Appellant's exhibit, 28. ^ Appellant's exhibit, 6. * Appellant's exhibit, 30. ^ Appellant's exhibit, 34- ' Appellant's exhibits, 10, 35. 80 f !* III ^ ''' I) i 24 Mingan, down to the River Olomansheeboo, to the North-West Company, which Company bought the stores and outfit at the stations on that portion at the time. The fisheries on the more easterly part of the seigniory were carried on by Mr. Grant and others, until the 30th April, T808, when all the posts occupied by him and his co-partners, calling themselves the Labrador Company, were sold by sheriff's sale, and bought by the auteurs of the present company.' Among the particular posts which they operated on the main land were those at Btamamu, Meccatina, Mutton Bay, St. Augustin, and Brador Bi^y. From the date of the lease in 1803, down to a very recent period, the jo North-West Company, and its successors, the Hudson Bay Company have held, under successive leases, the western portion of the seigniory down to the Kegashka River, and at this moment hold, under leases from the Company, certain posts or stations for trading purposes at different points along the whole extent of the seigniory.^ Th»' remainder of the property, the value of which consists chiefly in a number of rivers, mainly small, in most of which salmon are to be found, has been in the direct possession of the Company since ihc acquisition of the seigniory, and the Company have exercised that possession by using and leasing the rivers and bordering lauds for fishing purposes, and in one or two 20 instances have sold rivers w th the adjoining land to sportsmen for that purpose. All th(^ concessions made by the Government to La Fontaine, d'Haudebourg, La Valterie and others, east of the Etamaniu, were, for short periods of from five to twenty years, and for fishing and hunting purposes only. None of thes grants were renewed. Upon their expiry the part of the seigniory which they occupied, according to its original boundaries, fell back into the hands of the representatives of the original grantee, and we find them in the possession of Messrs, Grant, Dunn and Stuart in 1789, at which time those gentlemen carried on trading andsQ fishing over the whole extent, either by themselves, or by their lessees the Labrador Company. From that time to the institution of the present action, their possession has been uninterrupted and undisturbed. To proceed with the proof's of the recognition of the seigniory by direct acts of the Crown. An ofiicial list of the seigniorieis of Canada was pub- ApiwUant'a exhibit, 24. ' Apiwllant's exiiihiu, 11 iiiid 12. If r.': ■MUi^^^M.lilMliii I I 25 lished in 1803 by Meesrs. Vondenvelden and Charland." Vondenvelden had recently been assistant surveyor-general of the Province of Lower Canada, and Charland was a provincial land surveyor. In this list the seigniory of Mingan is included under the following descsiption : " Terra ^^firma of Mingan — Concession du 25ti f^vrier 1661, /at la cdle du nord, Jiisqu'A la Grande Anse vera les " Esquimaux, on les espagnols font ordinairement la p^che,svr deux lieues depro- "fondeur." The title of the book containing the list of titles of the seigniories is 10 as follows : " Extraits des litres des anciennes concessions de terre en fief et set- " gtieurie, faites avant et depuis la conqu^te de la Nouvelle-France par les armes " britanniques, dans la partie acluellement appeUe le Bas-Canada ; tiries des rigistres " d6pos4s au bureau du secretaire de la province, et par cet qfficier certifies virilables, " pour servir de references aux seigneuries respective^ posees sur la carte topogr't- " phique de la dite province du Bas-Cannda, avec permission dediee d Son Exce'- " lence Robert Prescott, ecuier, capitaine- general et gouverneur-en-chef des provinces " du Haul et du Bas-Canada. Le tout compile par William Vondenvelden, « ' ci-devant assistant arpenteur general de la province susdites, et Louis Charland, " arpenteur proiincial en icelle, Quebec ^ 20 Accompanying this book was a map published for the purpose of illustrating it.' This map was made by order of the Proviiu-iul Govern- ment, under the direction of Samuel Holland, Surveyor-G-eueral of the Province. The following is a translation of its title : — " Topographical " Map of the Province of Lower Canada, compiled from all the former as *' well as the latest surveys ; taken by order of the Provincial Government, " by and under the dirci'tioii of Samuel Holland, Esq., deceased, late " Surveyor-General of the said Province. Dedicated to His Jixcellcncy " Robert Pr.'scott, Esq., C\vptaiu-Gencral and Commander-in-Chief of the " Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, &c , by William Vondi'nvelden, 30 " lately Assistant Surveyor-General, and Loxiis Charland, Land Surveyor." The map did not extend to the present boundary of the Provinci', as at that time the Eastern boundary of it had been phujed under the juris- diction of Newfoundland. It I'xtends to a point near the River Agwanus, %■ 3,; ' ApiwUnnt's oxi'ibif, "a. '' A|)]ielluiit'8 exIiiMt, 8, ft '-\ m^ '-rier \G Appellant's exhibit, (19. If w %A so cadastre of the Seigniory, and issued his certificate accordingly, which coraences as follows : — ' " Je. soussign^, Henry Judah, uu des commissaires en vertu de I'acte, " Seigniorial refondu, certifie avoir fait couformement a la loi, le present " cadastre de la Seigneurie de Miuguu, ou de Terra firma de Miugau." etc. By an Act of the Legislature of Quebec, 36 Vic. cap. 30, (1871), it is enacted, "whereas the Parish of St. Pierre de la Poiute aux Esquimaux . . " has been ranonically erected by a canonical decree . . . and is by the " said canonical decree described and defined as having the extent and " boundaries hereinafter mentioned, that is to say : — 1*^ " That part of the Seigniory of Mingan comprising an extent of about five miles ia front by three miles in diipth .... " Her Majesty etc., etc., enacts as follows : — " 1. The Parishes hereinabove mentioned {i.e. the above named Parish and another) with the boundaries and extent hereinabove assigned to them " respectively, shall be and are hereby recognised erected and confirmed as " parishes for all civil purposes whatever," etc,, etc. Upon this continuous, unbroken and uninterrupted chain of title, and ofrecognition by the Government and legislature, the Honorable Judge of the Court below, decided the first ground of the matter in dispute, 20 by holding that the seigniory of terra firma of Mignan had been granted ; that it existed ; that its proprietorship had been officially recognized : and that it had remained to this day in the hands of the persons who were the proprietors of it for the time being. He did not profess to investigate th«i titles of the present Company, holding that it was not necessary for him to decide whether or no the present Company really and truly held all the rights of all the representatiA'es of the Bissots and Jolliets in the seigniory. His conclusion may be best stated in his own words : — " // me suffit cfMablir en cetfe cause, ou Sa Mnjeste ne pent revendiquer que la " terre non conced6e, qu'une certaine enlendue de la terre ferme fie Mingan, dont SO " nousfixernns plus loin lex limifes, a ite concedee par Sa Majeste, et que cette con- " cession a Hi suivie de possession, et de divers actes el documents equivalents d, des " litres recognitifs. The Company believe that it is unnecessary to dwiiU further upon the question of the existence of the Seigniory of Mingan. They consider that fi& > Appelhnt'8 exhibit, 69. , , ii 31 the titles and evidence produced, abundantly sustain tho judgment of the court below in this respect. And that in fact the ades of foi et hommage of 1837, of themselves are sufficient for that purpose. They will therefore now proceed to the consideration of the second question, namely, as to the eastern boundary of the Seigniory. It is admitted that its western boundary is at Cape Cormorant, and the rear line is laid down by all the authorities as being two leagues from the shore. The only remaining question, therefore, is that which has just been stated, namely, where is the eastern boundary ? The earliest indication of the landmark to which the seigniory lo extended, eastward, is to be found in an avowal and declaration, aveu et declaration, made on the 11th February, 1668.' This aveu was made for the purposes of the papier terrier of the West India Company, which had then succeeded to the Company of New France, and appears to have been entered in the pa/tier terrier, or used in its formation. A docu- ment, purporting to be an extract from the papier terrier, survives, and it is in a copy of that extract that the first description of the seigniory is found. It is in these words : " Est comparu : Franpois Bissot, sieur Ue la Riviire, leqvel avoue et declare tenir de nos.dits seigneurs, I'lsle-avx-CEtifs, situie au dessous de Tadousac, vers les T.Ionts Peles du cdte du Nord, quarante-neuf 20 lieues ou environ du dit Tadousac, avec le droit et faculte de chasse et d'^tablir en ter re ferine nux endroits, quHl trouvera plus commodes, lapeche' sedentaire des loufis marins, bafeines, marsouins, etauhes n^goces, depuis la dite Ile-aux-(Eufs Jusquaux Se/d Isles, et dans la Grande Anse vers les Esquimaux, ou les Espagnols font ordinairement la piche." The word " dans " has caused much discussion ; and a great part of the arguments on behalf of the Crown have turned upon it. The pretention of the Crown is, that the grant was from Isle-aux- QTufs inclusive, to Sept Isles, a distance of about twelve leagues, and that it '.hen overstepped a long line of coast, and granted the Grande Anse bj itself, at a great distance from the main body oi the seigniory. But, 30 ap'irt from the singularity and inherent improbability of such a grant, it is clearly impossible to rei^oncile this theory, either with the other pre- tensions of the Crown, or with those of the company, or with the decision of the Court below. On other occasions, in nearly all the documents that have been found, the expression is " d " or "/ws^w'fi," and that alone har- Api)ellant'8 exliil)it, A 2. K-:.. ^^i' W'f Tf* w 82 monizes with the pretensions of both parties, leaving the position of the Grande Anse to be determined. The honorable judge in the court below endeavoured to reconcile the expression with his theory of the eastern boundary, by asserting that the whole of the coast extending from Clear- water point, to some indefinite point west of Mingan Harbour, is "Li, Grande Anse." But no fact exists to support this theory. In the first place the harbour of Mingan is not a bay, it is formed by a cluster of islands which constitute its shelter. The coast there is not indented like a bay ; it is not near the Esquimaux, who were never to be found so far west as Mingan harbour; that portion of the coast having then been, and being jq now, occupied by a tribe of inland Indians called Montagnais. And there is no indication to be found, either in history, or in any document, or otherwise, that the Spaniards ever fished there, or that they ever ap- proached within a hundred miles of Mingan harbour. The use of the word " dans " is probably an error ; but, however it came there, the con- struction of it contended for by the Crown, is utterly irreconcil cable with every other known description of the property, and with all the documents, maps, facts, and circumstances, produced or developed in the case. This will more clearly appear as the examination of the question is proceeded with, and the difficulty of accepting the word " dans " as being 20 correctly inserted in the copy of the extract from the papier terrier, will become apparent, long before the statement of the facts in this connection will have been completed. Although neither the papier terrier of 16t)8, nor any document made in 1678 by Uuchesneau under the order given to him, has been found, a copy of the map which was made under his orders in 1668 is of record, to which allusion has already been made.' On this map the words " seigneurie du sieur Bis; " are printed, evidently comprising the whole territory along the coast, from the Isle-aux-CEufs down to Bale des Espagnols. It must be remembered that the map was officially made, to accompany and elucidate oq the papier terrier, and must be presumed not to have been inconsistent with it. Yet the indication of the seigniory given on the map, constitutes an abso- lute and direct contradiction of the construction of the aveu contended for by the Crown ; because the Seignieurie de Sieur Bissot, as laid down on the map, covers the space which the Crown contends was overstepped, and A|i|)ellaiit'R t>xliil)it, 4. 83 omitted from the grant. And while directly oontroverting that construc- tion, the description so given, without directly marking an eastern boun- dary of the seigniory, shows that it "must have extended far to the eastward of the Agwanus. In the pleadings in the case of Gastin, Payre, et. al, already referred to, it was alleged by one of the parties as a ground for obtaining the privilege he claimed, that if such were refused, there would be very few people who could fish for cod. because the south shore belonged to certain old families, the north being the Crown Domain, and " les ilea de Mingan, Anticoslye, et terre ferine vis a vis iceUes,jusqu'aux limites de la diteferme (du Roi) ap/iarfenanl aux 10 families desfeus sieurs Jolliet et Bissot.'' Hero the parties treat as a matter, not in controversy, but of common knowledge, that the mainland opposite the Mingan Islands, extending westward to the boundary of the King's domain, that is Cape Cormorant; and comprising the entire tract which the Crown now contends was excluded from the grant, viz., between Sept Isles and La Grand Anse ; belonged to the Bissots and JoUiets. And the In- tendant, Begon, granted Gastin's demaiid for the time being. In the suit to which allusion has already been made, between the Farmer general and the Bissots, which took place a few years after the ordonnance of Intendant Begon just referred to, the proceduri! indicates that .20 the Bissots occupied the main-land continuoujsly, far below Sept lies. The judgment itself plainly shows that, for it reunites to the King's domain, the land from Isle-aux-Q5ufs down to Cape Comorant, which is thirty miles east of Sept Isles ; and recognizes the occupation by Bissot of the coast east of that point. This is absolutely inconsistent with the theory that tht» grant only gave Bissot from Isle-aux-CEufs to Sept Isles, and overstepped the interval between Sept Isles and La Grande Anse, Again, in the same suit, the position which the Crown now assumes, was taken by Mr. Cuguet, the Attorney for the Farmer general, in his reply to Ihe defence of the Bissots. He stands by the letter of the Aveu, and urges that the Bissots could have;]0 no rights between Sept Isles and La Grande Anse, because the grant was of Isle-aux-CEufs to Sept Isles " el dam La Grande Anse, etc. His replication says, " il en r4sulte nicessairement qn'ils n'ont la faculte de /'aire les itablissements que depuis U hle-aux-(Eufs jusqii'aux Sept Isles, et dans la Bate des Espagnols, sans aucun droit de propriele dans ces deux endroils ; el qn'ils n'ont pas mc'me le droit defaire aucun MablissemenI sur le terrain qui est depuis les Sept Isles Jiiqu'd la dite Bale des Espagnols, parcequ'en maliere de litre, lout ee qui /»'// est pas post- :«' i?k i !'• I 34 tivement exprime, en est excld. This was the not unuatural pleading of a lawyer, who had before him the extract from the aveu as the only title of his opponent ; and it has been exactly followed by the Crown in this case after an interval of a century and a half But M. Hocquart, the Inteudant, did not accept that view. According to the letter of the aveu for which Mr. Cugnet contended, the right of the Bissots extended only to Sept Isles ; yet by the Ordinance of the 12th May, 1733, the Inteudant re-united to the domaine " /e dit terrain concede au " dit Steur Bissot, depuis el compns la dite Isle-aux-(Eufs jusqu'd la pointe des " Cormorans, qui est a quatre ou cinq lieues au-dessous de la rivi^e Moisy ;" that is ^^ to say about thirty miles east of Sept Isles : plainly refusing to accept the si rained interpretation which the advocate of the Farmer-G-eneral would have placed upon the grant. But this Ordinance, and the pleadings which preceded it, throw still further light upon the question of the exact Eastern Boundary, It will have been already observed that Mr. Cugnet treats the Bale des Espaguols as identical with "La Grande Anse, Sfc." for he mentions it by name several times in his pleadings. He goes further, and speaks of the occupation by the Bisso:^s of the whole coast down to that bay, and concludes that they should get a new title for it. As summarized by the Inteudant : " Que les 20 dits defendeurs et intervenant fussent tenus de prendre nouveau titre pour I'^lablissement par eiixfait an dit Maingan, d commencer au Cap des Cormorans, en allant A la baye des Espagnols, Sec, Sfc. And he refers them to His Majesty for a new title in respect of the establishment thus described This also establishes the important fact that the Bissots were in possession of the coast from Cape Cormorant to Bale des Espaguols, and that that coast con- stituted their establishment, then known as Maingan. It has already been suggested, and the remarks of the Judge in the Court below have been quoted to that effect, that the reference of the Bissots to the King for a new title, implied that a title already existed. If the ;U) Bissots had been mere trespassers upon the coast from Sept Isles to the Bay des Espagnols, as Mr. Cugnet then pretended, and as the Crown now pre- tends ; the Inteudant Hocquart would not have reunited to the Crown domain a part of the land they trespassed upon. Ho would simply have ordered them to desist from their wrongful possession, and ejected them. And he would not have referred them to the King for a new title. The proceedings between the Bissots and Martel de Brouague, as JTMi-njfr i 35 owners and lessee of the Seigniory respectively, and Volant d'Haudebourg, also establish that the Bissots held the right to the coast for a great dis- tance below the post of Mingau, and the judgment rendered on those pro- ceedings rests upon the recognition of that right. This also is absolutely incompatible with the pretention of the Crown that the coast between Sept Isles and Baie des Espagnols was not included in the grant. It would appear that the Seigniories of les Isles et Islets de Mingan, and of La terre ferme de Mingan, were not only opposite, but also conterminous to the eastward The grant of the Isles and Islets to Lalande and JoUiet, contains a very similar description of the eastern terminus, to that claimed 10 for the Seigniory of La lerrejerme} The concession, dated 10th March, 1679, describes the seigniory of the Isles and Islets as follows : Les Isles el Islets appellees Mingan, estant du cot6 du Nord, et qui se suivent j'usques a la Bai/e appel6e Lance avx Espagnols, auquelle lieux ils disiraient /aire des elablissenients de pesche de morue et loups marinsy If the identity of the description were not sufficient, the point would be rendered plain by the reglement of date the 30th Sept., 1739, rendered on the contestation between De la Gorgendiere and others, proprietors of the seigniory of the isles and i-slets, and La Fon- taine and Pommereau, temporary concessionaires of portions of the main- land opposite the eastern portion of the Islets of Mingan." La Fontaine 20 and Pommereau were two of the persons to whom small portions of the eastern end of the seigniory of La terre ferme had been temporarily conceded, of which concessions Bissot complained in his memorial to the King already referred to. That judgment recognises the fact, that the isles and ialets extended " jusqu'd la Baye appellee L'Anse aux Espagnols;" and that some of them were opposite to the concessions of Lafoutaine and Pom- mereau. A judgment rendered in 1742, condemning the widow Pom- mereau to pay rent for the Islet of Mingan opposite her post specifies the place by name, as Gros Meccatina. ' Therefore, L'anse aux Espagnols which was the boundary of the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets of Mingau wasg^ east of Gros Meccatina. But the memorials of Bissot the second to the King, and the letters of the Comte de Maurepas,' shew plainly that the concessions to Lafoutaine and Pommereau were really taken off the eastern ' AppelUuit's exhibit, 30. ■^ 2 E(). et or<1., p. 550. '2Eil. etor.l., p. 570. ' Apfellant's exhibit, A 3. '^Ti* wi >!ri? 83 portion of La terre ferme, west of the Baie des Espagnols ; and, no doubt, the same striking landmark was the eastern boundary of both Seigniories, namely the great cove or bay, called up to that time, La Grand Anse (ru les Espagnols font ordinairement lap4che, then L'anse-aux-Espagnols, and then La Baie des Espagnols. Subsequently it is found to be described as Baie Phelypeaux, and as the Company contend, at present, Brador Bay. The Baie de Sei>t Isles, is one of the most remarkable points on the north coast of the gulf. It is of circular form, nearly six miles in diameter with an opening towards the sea, intercepted and sheltered by seven huge boulder islands, visible thirty miles off". From thence to L'Anse auz 10 Espagnols, which is almost equally striking in character, the coast is un- interesting, the only harbour of importance being Mingan proper, which is flat and sandy. It is not unnatural that in the prevailing ignorance of the details of the north coast. Seven Islands Bay on the one hand, and on the other a large bay known as being frequented by Spaniards, as well as by the French, should be mentioned as boundaries, on a coast possessing no essential value as land, or for settlement. The contention of the Company that La Baie des Espagnols is the same which is now known as Brador Bay is not difficult to sustain, as the means of doing so are abundant. The word Anse is most correctly translated 20 by the English word '' cove," conveying the idea of a bay with a somewhat contracted and limited opening. Brador Bay is a Bay of this description, with bold and conspicuous headlands marking its eastern and western portions, at no great distance from each other. One of these points is called " Grande Pointe," corresponding to the name " Grande Anse," as applied to the Bay. In the history of the New World, by Jean de Laet, the French and the Spanish are spoken of as entering by the Strait of Belleisle for the whale iishiug ; and that neighbourhood is stated to have been the resort of Spanish as well as French fishermen, as that part of the coast abounds in sheltered harbours, whore fishermen can anchor all 30 the fishing season. This section of coast comprises only the waters east of the headland of Mecoatina, and there is no convenient harbour froia there to the post of Mingan. There is not in the whole of this distance, west of Meccatiua, any indentation of the coast answering to the descrip- tion of La Grande Anse, and especially there is no Bay of that kind at the Agwanus, where the Judge in the Court below fixed the Eastern Boundary. Nor is there along that whole distance any indication, or w II I'" 37 evidence, of the occupation of it, or of any part of it, by Spanish fisher- men. In the old documents, the words "La Grande Baye " were frequently used to designate the Labrador Coast, from Meccatina to the Straits of Belle- isle It is so described on the maps of Champlain. And in the rear of this so-called Bay, the Esquimaux are designated as the inhabitants. Champlain says, there is a place in the G-ulfof St. Lawrence called "La Q-rande Baye," near the north of Newfoundland, where the Basques come and fish for whales.' And again he speaks of the Grande Baye: " Grande Baye, ou se " fait le plus souvent la pfeche de baleine, par les Basques et Espagnols." It is within these limits that La Grande Anse must be placed, for there we 10 have the essential elements contained in its description. That is, it is " vers les Esquimaux •" AnA it is where "/es Espagnols faisaient ordinairement leur pgche." The Baie des Espagnols lies near the middle of this so-called Grande Baye, and is really the most important harbour on that part of the coast. And in all respects it exhibits the characteristics of La Grande Anse. In confirmation of this view, the Company refer to an interesting document found in the " Correspondence officielks des Gouverneurs en Canada." It is the detailed report of a " Voiage qu^a fait le Sieur de Courtemanche A la cdte des Esquimaux, depuis Kegaskaj'usqu'au Havre St. Nicholas."' The Sieur de Courte- manche was the Sieur Angusiin Legardeur de Tilly de Courtemanche, 20 the grandson of a Norman gentleman who settled in Canada early in the seventeenth century. In the year 1702 he obtained a grant from the King of a considerable extent of territory for fishing purposes, for ten years, east of the Kegashka. Afterwards, in 1714, upon obtaining a small grant at the Baie des Espagnols, the former grant having previously expired, he built a fort there, which he commanded for the King. It was called Fort Ponchartrain, and he gave the Bay the name of Baie Phelypeaux, both names being taken from Phelypeaux, Comte de Ponchartain, who was then Minister of Marine. In the voiage of this gentleman, the coast is described with much detail. Going eastward, fifty leagues :30 below Mingan, is Kegashka, the river and harbour ; then Mascourou ; then the Riviere de la Peinture (Olomansheeboo or Paint River' ; then Eta- mamu ; then Netagamu ; then Little Mecatina ; then Grand M.jcatina ; then Ha Ha Bay ; then St. Augustin ; then Esquimaux River and Esquimaux ■ 3. Voyages of 1632, p. 104. ' Appellant's exhibit, 22. m ■rT ' '^pp^wfiBiPW^w^" 38 Bay ; then comes the following : — '^Huit lieves ensuile est la Baye des Espagnols, dans laquelle la p4che de morue est tres abondante. Les Espagnols, au dire des sauvages Vy unt fail autrefois, et ftrobablement y serait encore, si ce n'etait le mauvais traitement quHls y ont repu des Esquimaux. L'on y voit encore les vestiges de leurs itablissement, fourneaux A fondre Vhuile de loups-marins, maisons, couverture< de thuile, et choses semblables. A une Heue plus bas, est la Grande Pointe." This important document was found among the papers forwarded by the Governor of Canada to France, and as has been shown, was written by a man of rank and education, familiar with the coast of Labrador. The journal gives the daily voyages, the distances traversed, and finally 10 describes unmistakably the grande anse, which was near the Esquimaux, and which was the place where the Spaniards ordinarily fished. And its identity with Brador Bay is indicated by the description of Grande Pointe, whicL to this day bears the same name as in the time of de Court(>- manche, and forms the eastern limit of Brador Bay. If more were needed, a map, compiled for the use of the King's ships, by order of M. Rouille, Minister of Marine, mentions the Bay Phelypeaux, but adds, " quelques manuscrits nomment cette Baye, la Baye des Espagnols.'" And Jacques La- fontaine dit Belcour, in his petition says, " La Bai/e des Espagnols, qui est la Baye Phelipeaux ou de la Brador."- 20 This is also the place indicated in the earliest extant deed of sale relating to the seigniory (10th July, 1*709), in which Bissot de Vincennes sold his share of the property to Francois Bissonet.' It is there described as Vitendue de la concession qui appartient atix successions de ses dit phe et m^e, situie sur la Fleuve St. Laurent, n prendre depuis risle-aux-(EuJs fusqu'au Blanc Sablon. In 1771 the Bissots and Jolliets leased the seigniory, describing its extent as jusqu'd I'anse aux Espagnoh ou Baye Phelipeau, vulgairement njqtelUe La Bradore. Mr. Bouchette, in his topography, while speaking of the "Goynish " as 30 the Eastern boundary, says, " From Capu Cormorant to Anse Sablon is the only part now contained in the Province of Lower Canada." This shows plainly that he did not know where the River " Goynish " was. He might easily be mistaken as to the locality of a small river on a comparatively < ApiifllUnt's exhibit, 27. ' lUtgpnnduiil'H «x)iil>it, A., C. and E. '' Apiwllaut'H exiiibit, lU. ITT 39 unknown coast, but he could not have been in error as to where Blanc Sabion lay. And Mr. Bouchette also insists on the identity of the eastern boundaries of the Seigniories of the Isles et Islets de Mingan and of la terre ferme.' But there is other, and quite as striking evidence on this point, directly applicable to the Seigniory of La Terre Ferme. It will be remembered that Bissot's son applied to the King of France for a new title, as he was reecommended to do by the Intendant Hocquart in his judgment in 1733. His memorials to the King, and the answer, have already been referred to, on the question of the title to the seigniory ; and they are of equal import- 10 ance with regard to the eastern boundary. In this second petition he complains of the invasion of the eastern portion of his seigniory by new concessions, made west of the Baie des Espagnols. The seconcessions are depicted on the map annexed to the report made by Bouchette, filed by the Crown,- and they show that concessions were actually made by the Crown previous to the second memorial of Bissot, which extended from the Baie des Espagnols westward to the River Etamamu. Of these concessions Bissot complained bitterly, and his remarks upon them have already been quoted. The most westerly of these concessions, then in force, which extended to the Etamamu, was made in favor of one Lafoutaine. oq And Bishot in his memorial, while complaining of the injustice done him by cutting off the eastern portion of his territory by these grants, expresses his willingness to take a new title down to that, rather than continue in his then condition. In the answer sent by the Comte deMaurepas, on the 21st April, 1739, by command of the King, to the Marquis de Vaudreuil and the Intendant, Hocquart, which has already been printed at full length, M. De Maurepaa shows plainly that he had been informed of all the circumstances ; and he takes no exception to the statement by Bissot, as to his e;istern boundary. But he mentions correctly the length of the Seiguiory. and delines the,j^^ boundaries to be expressed in the now title, that is to say, " De/niis la borne du Donuiine de T(idousmi\ en descendant lelleuvcjusquaux homes de In ivitression du Stem- La/onl^ 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WIISTIR, N.V. MSIC (7I«) •73-4S03 I/. fif 44 Notwithstanding the apparent force of the arguments above cited, on which the company rest their contention, that the Baie des Espagnols is the Grande Anst which constitutes the original Eastern boundary of the Seigniory of La terre ferme, his Honor, the Judge of the Court below, de- cided against them, and held that the Eastern boundary was the river Agwanus. In doing so, he practically adopted one of the theories of the Crown, but as the bulk of the arguments adduced by the Crown were directed towards proving that there was no Seigniory of Mingau in exis- tence, his Honor w^as forced to frame his own reasons, in the main, for the adoption of the opinion on which he based his judgment. These reasons 10 are to be found in the motives of his judgment. He commenced by stating in detail the main propositions relied upon by the company, and in doing so, he admitted most of the allegations of fact on which the company rested, namely : — 1. The company argued that La Grande Anse vers Lea Esquimaux must be situated near the country which the Esquimaux inhabited. But they as- serted that the Esquimaux did not inhabit that part of the coast which is opposite the Mingan Islands, but that part which adjoins the Straits of Belleisle. 2. They contended that the Grande Anse where the Spaniards origin- 20 ally fished, must be that which is called the Baie des Espagnols ; and his Honor admitted that it is established that the Baie des Espagnols was about the 5*7th degree of longitude, and is now called Brasdor Bay ; and he said it had been named successively the Baie des Esquimaux, Phillip- peau Bay, and Baio des Espagnols. 8. They contended that history proved that the Spaniards did fish formerly in this part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and he says that the recital of Sieur de Courtemauche's voyage in 1704, shows that at that time the remains of a fishing establishment, which had belonged to the Spani- ards, still existed at Brador Bay. 30 4. They contended that thd Seigniory of the Isles and Islets of Mingan had for their Eastern limit the same Baie des Espagnols ; that the .Tolliet heirs under that concession held in possession the Isleu and Islets on the North Shore up to the bay which is now called Brador Bay ; and that the Crown had acknowledged the lawfulness of that possession up to Brador Bay, as appears by various judgments of the Intendants of New France produced of record. I -:! >j_ 45 His Houor then proceeded to discuss these propositions in the follow- ing manner. As to the first, he said, that in his upiniuu, the phrase, vers tes Esquimaux did not signify, in the Esquimaux country ; it rather meant, on the side of the Esquimaux, in the direction of the Esquimaux, or in the neighbourhood of the Esquimaux. And he said we must not un- derstand by the words " Les Esquimaux," the regions which these savages inhabited, but that that might rather mean a point called Point aux Esquimaux, or the Esquimaux Islands, which are to the eastward and adjoining the Mingau Islands. Therefore the intention of the grant may have been, that the " Grande Anse vers les Esquimaux" was " une anse situie 10 " dans la direction, ou Is voisinage, de la Poinle amc Esquimaux, ou des ties aux " Esquimaux, — ce qui serail d'accord avec les jKr^tenlions de la Couronne." There are several perfectly conclusive answers to this reasoning. In the first place the Mingan Islands and islets have already been proved to extend to Brudor Bay. No place called Esquimaux Point, and no Islands called Esquimaux Islands, iiro to be found, on any map down to the date of Bellin's map of 1744, of which an edition in English by Mitchell is of record.' In this map and afterwards on most of the maps, a small island appears, forming one of the Mingan Islands, and called Esquimaux Island. And a small point opposite this island is, since 1*755, called Esquimaux 20 Point, on some maps. But this island called Esquimaux Island, is given in all the maps as one of the Mingan Islands, all of the larger of which have names ; and therefor*' could not possibly be referred to as indicating the eastern boundary of those islands. Des Barres, in his map, made in 1780,^ calls a small group of the Mingan Islands east of Esquimaux Point by the name of the Esquimaux Islands. De Castries, in 1784, gives one of the Mingan Islands as He aux Esquininux:^ And in this, all the recent maps concur. But De Barres ;j the only geographer who gives the name to a group of the Mingau Islands, except Bouchette, in 1816, who follows him, in opposition to Vondenvelden and CharKmd, 1803,' Admiral Bayr.eld, 30 who surveyed the coast carefully, pointed out that this was erroneous, as the only island entitled to that name was a small island forming one of the Mingan Islands, lying west of Clearwater Point.' None of the French maps commit this error. ■ Appellant'B exhibit, 17. ' RoBpoiidenl'M nxiiibit, K. ' /Wrf. * Appellant's oxhibit. 7h. " 1. Sf, Lawrence Pilot, p. 18ft. 4 Ptiiim..., i i • 1; Am i W i- i], .V 1 i> i i I 46 Esquimaax Point is a small, low spit of saudy laud at the eastern ex- tremity of Mingan harbour ; bat it only received that name about the time that the island outside of it was first called Esquimaux Island. There is no trace in any document, map or record, of any kind or description what- soever, of the name of Esquimaux Point, or Esquimaux Islands, as applied to any point or island in the neighbourhood of Mingan harbour, until the small island of that name appears in Bellin's map ; that is not until above eighty years after the grant to Bissot. It is therefore incontrovertible that what are now called Esquimaux Point and Esquimaux Island, were not known by those names in 1661, nor until three quarters of a century after- 10 wanls. And that no group of Islands near Mingan harbour were ever known as the Esquimaux Islands, and were never called by that name until so called by De Barres in error in- 1780, only followed by Mr. Bouchette in 1816, and promptly and effectively corrected by Admiral Bayfield. The whole of the reasoning of His Honor, founded on these names, therefore falls to the ground. " But," His Honor continues, " suppose by the words ' Les Esquimaux,' the country of the Esquimaux must be understood, this would not be con- tradictory to the contentions of the Crown. For," he says, " at the date of the concession of 1661, the whole of the coast from the River St. John to 20 the north-east was designated under the name of Esquimaux." And His Honor refers in support of his proposition to a map which he styles the map of Champlain, dated 1664.' In doing so His Honor fell into the same error as Mr. Bouchette, in an essay written by him on the subject, which is corrected by Mr. Dawson. The map referred to is not one of Cham- plain's maps, but was prepared in Paris, thirty years after his death, by one P. Duval, or under his directions. It is an extremely rough outline, and happens to be the only French map that places the Esquimaux in the in- terior of the country. The whole map shows an ignorance of the coast and of its proportions remarkable even for that period. And every other SO French map places the Esquimaux near the Atlantic coast. The maps actually made by Champlain, place the Esquimaux where they re&Uy were, namely on the Labrador coast, east of G-reat Meccatina, and close to what is now Esquimaux Bay. That this was the view of the Government of those days is established Kespondent's exhibit) E. \Wf- !■! ^: ^'>m 47 by the auguage of the grant to Legardeur in 1702, already referred to. This grant, it will be remembered, extended from the Kei^ashka, through the Straits of Belle Isle, to the Kesesakoi or Hamilton river on the Atlantic coast. The description of it, contained in the grant has already been quoted, viz., "aulieu appel6 Labrador, pays des Sauvages Esquimaux." This description properly places the pai/s des Esquimaux cousiperably west of the Agwanus, in Labrador, which the Agwanas is not. His Honor makes another suggestion in this connection, namely that the Grande Anse, which, he says, is opposite the Miugau Islands, and the islands called by De Barres the Esquimaux Islands, may. under this hypo-io thesis, be " La Grande Anse tiers Les Esquimaux" that is to say, "dans la direction des pays des Esquimaux.'' In this suggestion His Honor does not recognize the actual features of the coast. He calls Mingan Harbour proper, a " Grande Anse." Mingan Harbour, or roadsteaii, extends from Mingan Islands and Point St. .John on the westward to what is now called Esquimaux Point, to the eastward, a distance of about thirty miles. Point St. John does not jiroject seaward beyond Mingan Harbour, nor is it a point quoad that harbour. It is the eastern extremity of a small bay forming the mouth of the River St. .Ttihn. The coast from Point St. John to the point now called Esquimaux Point, 20 does not really recede in the form of a bay. It does not (Constitute any material indentationof the coast, and could not, by any stretch of ima other side, — the Crown, contends, that thtsy had also fished in Mingan habour 20 which he says was formerly called "L'Anse aux Basques" on account 01 the Spanish fishermen having gone there. And he adds that it is not to be doubted that what he <;alls L'Anse de Mingan was a favorite fishing ground. Upon these points the Company can only say that there is no evidence of any kind or nature whattver that the Spaniards ever fished in Mingan Harbour. That there is no map, document, or record, which has ever spoken of Mingan as a Bay or (irandc Anse. That, so far as this Company can di8(!Over, it never received thi' name of L'Anse de Mingan till His Honor made use of it in his judgment. That there is no map, document, or^Q record, or any evidence of any kind or description whatever, that Mingan Harbour was ever called L'Anse aux Basques. And that there is no evidence or authentic record of any kind or description whatever that Mingan Harbour is, or ever was, a fishing ground at all. If it is allowable to speak of what may be called a geographical feature of the country, it may be said with perfect truth that there is no fishing in the neighbourhood of Mingan. That there is not a fishing boat or a fisherman at the establish- \ 50 mmmt ment of Miugan, and that it has and always has bnen a mere trading post, where the Indians of the interior, who descend the Rivers Mingan, St. John, and Romaine, all of which enter the Gulf near the post, congregate in the bummer time for trading purposes. In fact that there is not the slightest indication or ground in the record for contending that Mingan can bo called with propriety L'Anse de Mingan, that it ever was so called ; that it ever was called L'Anse aax Basques ; that it ever was used as a place for fishing purposes, or that there was ever any fishing, properly so called, in its neighbourhood. In dealing with the «;ontention of the company, which His Honor iq classes as its third, namely, that the Seigniory of the Terre ferme extends to Brador Bay, because it is admitted to bo conterminous with the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets of Mingan, and that Seigniory extended to Bale des Espagnols ; His Honor takes the broad ground that the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets of Mingan terminated also, either at Clearwater Point, or at the farthest, at the River Ooynish or Agwanus. In assuming this posi- tion, His Honor, no doubt, felt that his theory with regard to the Eastern boundary of the Terre ferme, could be sustained in no other way. And the company are quite prepared to admit that the enquiry into the locality of the boundary of the Seigniory of the Isles et Islett, must have a 20 most important, if not actually conclusive, bearing upon that of the Terre ferme. In adopting this line of argument, he practically admits that the Seigniories are conterminous, and that the same bay which in 1661, was called La Grande Anse, etc., is the bay which in 1679, was called L'Anse aux Espagnols, and afterwards the Bay des Espagnols ; which all parties admit is now called Brador Bay. His reasoning on this point may be thus briefly stated. He says that the grant was of Isles and Islets which followed each other, " qui se suiveut jusqu'a L'Anse aux Espagnols " ; and he says that there are no Isles and Islets which follow each other so far down as Brador Bay. On the contrary, 30 he insists, that even if the group of ialands called Isles aux Esquimaux are included under the name of the Mingan Islands, as he says was done in Duchesneau's map of 1678, those islands terminate at a Grand Bay ; and that there is no group of islands within a distance from them of nearly one hundred miles. This reasoning will be found susceptible of more than one answer. In the first place, the name of the Bay forming the eastern boundary of the isles 3 11 ^ 61 et islets, is given as " La Bale appel6e L'Anse aux Espagnols. There is a bay bearing that name, or its equivalent, shewn on every map from the date of the grant downwards to the present time. And although the ignorance of the older geographers placed it further to the westward than it is ultimately found to be, there can be no doubt of the identity of the Bay itself. No other Bay bearing any name in any respect similar to it, is to be found in any map of the North shore of the Gulf, nor is there any mention or record of any such Bay. In fact the only evidence that exists of the Spaniards fishing in any particular bay, is that furnished by De Courtemanche, who sailed down the whole coast, appears to have entered every bay and river, 10 and not only makes no mention of the Spaniards fishing anywhere else, but gives with great detail the particulars of their recent establishment at Baie des Espagnols, shewing that they had habitually carried on their fishing operations there, which is implied by the description of the Bay in the grant of the Terre Fermo. There being a Bay designated on the maps of the period, and ever since continuously, by a name identical with the name contained in the g^ant ; there being no other baie or anse so named on the coast, or with a name in the remotest degree similar to it ; and the char- acteristics of the Bay being in accordance with those described in an almost contemporaneous and conterminous grant ; there would seem to be difficulty 20 in discarding the place universally known by the name contained in the grant, and in arbitrarily selecting another place, not only without any similar name, but without any of the characteristics indicating the pro- priety of such a name. In his dissent from the generally accepted theory of the eastern boundary of the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets, His Honor mainly relies upon the statement that from the group of Mingan Islands, opposite the trading post, including those he calls the Esquimaux Islands, and further to the Eastward there is no other group of islsuds, il n'p a plus de groupes (f isles, for a distance of nearly a hundred miles. His Honor is liter- 80 ally correct in this statement ; but that does not controvert the description in the grant. That instrument does not say that the islands form succes- sive groups, or even follow each other successively, to Baie aux Espagnols. It says, " les isles el islets ; the islands and islets, called Mingan, and which follow each other — ^ qui se suivent — jusqu'a la Baie, Sco. It is therefore not groups of islands, as His Honor puts it, nor even islands, but islands and islets, which follow each other, Sco. A glance at any moderately correct •H iltfiii n W(w ~ 52 chart or map, 'will make it clear that islands and islets do follow each other, practically the whole way from the post of Mingan to Baie des Espagnols. That coast is bordered in its whole length by innumerable islets, interspersed here and there with larger islands possessing names — the sole interval being at Natashquan point, which jets oat into the gulf, emerging from the islets, and shewing none on its shore. The older maps are on too small a scale to shew the islets, but Mitchell's map of 1*755 shews a continuous chain of islets and islands, with only one break of about thirty miles, from Natashquan eastward. De Castrie's map of 1*784, on a smaller scale, agrees with Mitchell ; but Bayfield's charts shew the continuous chain of small 10 islets and islands all al( ng the coast. They are indicated by dots along the land — and a comparison of his chart of the coast in question with that of Anticosti, opposite to it, will shew the peculiar characteristic of the North shore in these innumerable islets which fringe its entire extent, between the points contended for by the Company. The Company therefore contend that the islands and islets are practi> cally continuous from the Perroquets to Baie des Espagnols, and that they sufficiently satisfy the description of them contained in the grant. But it happens that during the two hundred and ten years of the peaceable and undisturbed occupation of those islands and islets, down 20 to the Baie des Espagnols, in the exercise of rights which have never before been seriously disputed ; the Seigniors of La Terre Ferme, and of the Isles and Islets, have had disputes, and have been before the highest courts to have these disputes settled. And it is thus easy to see what the Q-ov- ernment and courts of the country, at various dates since the grant, have considered to be comprised in the grant to the Seigniors of the Isles and Islets. Previous to April, 1789, a contestation arose between Fleury de la Gorgendiere and others, described in the Register as being heirs of Jolieti and as being, as such, proprietors of the Isles and Islets of Mingan, which 30 followed each other on the North coast down to the Bay known as L'Anse aux Espagnols, under the concession by Duchesneau of the 10th March, 1679, of the one part ; and La Fontaine de Beloourt and Pommereau, two tempor ary grantees on the main land, as to the right of the latter to use the Isles and Islets of the Seigniory opposite their concessions, in connection with their fishing operations.' The matter came before the Intendant Hocquart, ■ 2. Ed. et ord„ p. UO. ■^i ^liiki 68 ^m^^ who heard the parties, and referred the matter to the King, recommending^ that while maintaining the heirs in the possession of the isles and islands, they should be obliged to concede to the grantees on the main land for a rental, such of them as should be necessary for their fishing, reserving to the Seigniors however the right of hunting seals on the islands so leased. On the 2lBt April, 1*789, His Majesty, through the Comte de Maurepas, transmitted his orders to the Intendant, who thereupon in conformity with them, rendered the following judgment : — 1. That the Seigniors be ordered to concede to the grantees on the main land such of the islands and islets in front of their grants, as they 10 needed for their sedentary fisheries, for a rental of twenty-five livres for each league of frontage, but with the reserve of the right to hunt seals. 2. The concessions were only to last while the temporary grantees retained their grants, and worked the fisheries. But if the main land rights were again re-granted, the new grantees should have the same rights. The other clauses of the judgment were formal. His Honor says of the possession of the two Meccatina islands, those of Ste. Marie, Bale St. Augustin, &c.. all lying west of Bale des Espagnols, " that Us (the Seigniors of the isles et islets) n'ttvaient certainement aucun droit de tes accaparer." And disposes of the judgment just cited, and of other 20 similar proceedings, by saying : " Si les Intendants ont, dans divers arr4ts, ralifii ces empHtements, tant mieux pour eux — mais une jurisprudence aussi evidemmerU erron4e u'est pas un argument quipuissejustiJUr les m^me empi4tements sur la terreferme." It seems to the Company that the King, and his Intendant, who was very familiar with these North shore grants, and who had just beeu occupied in studying the grant of la terreferme, might be assumed to know the nature of the grant of the Isles and Islets, at least as well as a Oourt sitting a century and a half afterwards, and necessarily very imperfectly informed of the circumstances. The temporary concession of LafontaineSO was two degrees, say about eighty miles. East of the Agwanus, and that of Pommereau about three degrees or about one hundred and twenty miles East of the boundary fixed by the Oourt below. The proceeding was apparently initiated by Lafontaine and Pommereau against the heirs, as the open possessors and undoubted proprietors of the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets, and it is clear that the matter received the most careful considera- tion by the highest authorities, both in the colony and in France. And Mi 54 the result was perfectly conclnsive as to the Eastern boundary of that Seigniory, being more than forty leagues East of where the Court below has placed it. On the 4th October, 1843, a regtement was made, extending to all grantees on the main land, the same rights as had been granted to Lafon- taine and Pommereau by the judgment above referred to, in consideration of a rent or royalty of three per cent, of the value of the oil and sealskins manufactured or dealt with (''exploits") on any island. On the 80th December of the same year, a judgment was rendered in favour of the representatives of the Seignors of the Isles and Islets, con- 10 demning the grantees of the main land at Gros Meccatina to pay the three per cent, royalty on the oils and sealskins manufactured on the islands opposite the G-rant. It is probably unnecessary to search for further Royal or judicial recognition of the extent of the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets of Mingan. Those instances of such recognition to which reference has been made, must be held sufficient to establish that the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets is bounded to the eastward by Brador Bay. While apparently admitting that these judgments fixed the Bale des Espagnols as the eastern boundary of the Seigniory of the Isles and 20 Islets, His Honor took occasion to remark, that at all events they proved that the heirs Bissot could not claim that boundary for the Seigniory of la terre ferine, because Lafoutaine and Pommereau were thereby recognized as proprietors of concessions on the main laud west of Bale des Erpaguols, and the heirs Joliet did not deny it. His Honor, no doubt, overlooked the correspondence between the Bissoto and His Majesty, on the subject of the concessions f.o Lafontaine, Pommereau, and others, or he certainly would not have made that statement. His Honor's remark that if the Intendants have, in various arrets, ratified the possevssiou by the seigniors of all the islands down to Brador 30 Bay, so much the better for them — but that such a jurisprudence does not justify the seigniors of la terre ferme in " les m^mes empidtements," shews that he is forced to the conclusion that the seigniors of the islands and islets are entitled to that eastern boundary. It will not be difficult to shew by equally irresistible demonstration, that those of the terre ferme have the same right. And first it must be observed that the same bay formed the eastern boundary of both, as His Honor himself admits. Assuming that, iri'f - 1 ; I, 111 s 66 it is equally plain, that all the reasoning which applies to the one applies with equal force to the other. His Honor justly says, that in considering the meaning of the grantors, their geographical knowledge must be con- sidered as it existed at the time. That remark applies to the islands as much as to the land. But such knowledge cannot be guaged pre- cisely by the few rude maps which have been handed down to us. Much of it doubtless was derived from information received from the traders along the coast. Be that as it may, however, Intendant Hocquart was not so far from being a contemporary of the grantors, as to be entirely ignorant of the same geographical knowledge of the north coast which 10 they possessed ; or ignorant of the prominent localities on that coast, as they were then understood. In the judgment of M. Hocquart of the 12th May, 1*733, is found the first judicial mention of the Bale des Espagnols, though that bay is men- tioned in Duchesneau's map of 16*78 ; I'anse aux Espagnols is spoken of by name in the concession of the Isles and Islets in 1679 ; and L'anse Sablon, which is very near the same place, is mentioned in the deed of sale executed on the 10th July, lt09, by Bissot de Vinceniies to Brisonuet. In the Intend- ant's judgment of 1*733, the theory of the Crown that their grant did not extend along the coast down to the Baie des Espagnols is rejected, though 20 urged by the Farmer general : as is also the idea adopted and strongly urged in the motives of the judgment, that Bissot and his successors only established one fishing post, viz. : that which was known as the post of Mingan. These theories are entirely unfounded and unsupported by anything in the record. Mingan was the name of a territory — and the port at Mingan Harbour took its name from that territory or Seigniory. Father Laure's maps shew this plainly.' He gives the name of " Mingan " to the territory generally, extending eastward from the boundary of the domaine, and innumerable quotations might be made in support of this view. In the recital of the case before Hocquart this view is clearly manifested. The go property is thus described in that case. " V&ahlissement par eux faite a» " dU Maingan, a commencer de la pointe des Cormorans en altant d la Baye des "Espagnols." It is the boundary of the Seigniory of the Isles and Islets of Mingan, as has already been established — and as His Honour practically admits, though he questions the correctness of the jurisprudence establishing it. > Appellant's exhibit, 67. M. ... ..- A : .i 1:1 56 Bat jnst as the theory that Brador Bay was the original boundary of the Seigniory, harmonises with all the descriptions of that boundary, and with all the facts of the case ; so does every other theory prove, on examina* tion, to be inconsistent with those descriptions and those facts. The theory for which the Crown contends, and which has been adopted by His Honour, is, that the G-oynish or Agwanus is the original eastern boundary. But that theory does not seem to harmonise with any description or any fact, much less with all of them. It is not an an$e at all. This is established by a glance at the map. 10 There is a small estuary opening at the mouth of the Agwanus, which is itself a small and insignificant river, but Mr. Bayfield shows that this small openir- .' -'s only safe as a shelter for boats. If His Honour really means to inu;.jate, as his reasoning tends to do, that he thinks La Grande Ante extended from Point St. John, to the Agwanus, as its eastern limit ; then it is only necessary to reply that in that case. La Orande Anse would be eighty-nine miles wide, viz., from Long Point to the Agwanus, while in that whole distance the coast does not deflect more than two miles from a straight line. It is not vers les Esquimaux. There is no trace of the Esquimaux any- 20 where near it on any map, except the very defective map of Duval, said to - be Ghamplain's, though made thirty years after his death, as has already been pointed out. All other maps place the Esquimaux about, or east of, the Esquimaux River. The point lately called Esquimaux Point, and the island opposite it, lately called Esquimaux Island, are about fifty-six miles west of the Agwanus. And the group erroneously called Esquimaux Islands by D. Barres and Bouchette, are about fifty miles west of it. It is not where the Spaniards usually fished. At least there is no evidence, nor even any indication, that they ever fished there, or even ever came there at all. His Honour's idea that the name of the river may be Span- gn ish, from the similarity of its first two syllables to the Spanish word ogrua, can hardly be characterised as evidence — more especially as the riyer, being insignificant, is only noticed on comparatively modern maps, and was originally called Goznish or G-oynish, of which Agwanus appears to be a corruption. It is about 90 miles to the westward of the Lafontaine concession, and therefore could not be the boundary recognised by the King and his minister, De Maurepas, after their enquiry and investigation in 1*788-9. U in only ftlmuf 140 niilt'R oM«f. ol' CnpM (Utrmrnnhi, f»nfl lli«ir»>fV»rp, ^n.l- (MllfltitiK^ liy «liHl(mi'i', in iil limsl, 2itO tiiilcH w»'«J oC ffi« honiirlnry hh rtM'OKMistMl by fliM Kiii|»: (iii«l fiis ffiiiiisl'T ; mimI wm linw just Im'OJi HtitUfd, ttlumi IMt iiiilt'M Wf'Hl, mC (In- iiMW l»oti»nl(try lim-d by Uinrri. tt In IWiMily iiiilcR wflst •>!' Hih hfulMslrfjunri Uiv«'r, wImtc Um- HiMsotN htid l,W{» IrndihK P(»rIh, tmoh ni'rn\}U'i\ by orn^ ol' Uio finir«, fin»J which, >»» ali'twly Fihnwit, vvfif roituj/iiiRfwl l»y (Im IntntMlntif. hn licioj/ within fh'* ItinRotn' 'nn irriporbint t^r'nmdR hik»'ri ill (ho rt'HRi»iiR fil'lho ('c Miiuri'piiH Np)>alr<> iN mi iiiithioitir rt^ord on l'nyfi(nl, " Juifmnnl, »»r In rn/pt/>le d^t H«i- " trniorn, vi i/» Jermiir, //« In Sriffnnirie et terra fcrmK dp. .Minf^un, i»y whi':h De Itnmii^mt wiih r»!Htmint'd from t.mdin({ with thu IndtHnn bfttw«-<-n t.h*! p rivers. But it cannot be the Goyuish or Agwauus, as is supposed possible by the .Tiidge. That river has no bay at its mouth which is approachable by ships, the water shoaling out- side to six feet at the entrance of the river, and having only nine to twelve feet of depth at an island one and a half miles from its mouth.' If it be the Natashquan, as His Honor finally con«'ludes, following ' 8t, Lawrence Pilot, p, 182. n ■ « ^HkI ll ^■i ^ ^^H f" H'i 1 i ^^^|i 1 ; 1 1- •< ^H ^Hi iiii.... «pp 60 • Col. Bouchette, theu the Bale des Espaguols lies as designated on it, some thirty miles to the east of the Natashquau, and that bay must be admitted to be the eastern terminus of the seigniory. Both His Honor and Mr, Bou- chette insist that this is the true position of the Baie des Espagnols, and satisfy themselves of it by their own arguments. If so, how comes it that His Honor places the boundary fifty miles to the westward of that bay ? After admitting that the Bate or Anse des Espagnols is the eastern boundary ; after arguing against the position claimed for that bay by the appellant(3, and in favor of the theory that it is as shewn on Ducheneau's map, and concluding that it is so ; His Honor proceeds to fix the boundary 10 fifty miles to the west of it, in entire disregard of his own demonstration. But the (Conclusion that the large river on Ducheneau's map is the Nat- ashquau, and that the Baie des Espagnols lies 07ily thirty miles cast of it, is in view of all the undisputed facts in the record, a manifest absurdity. If that be so, then the various temporary concessions, including that of Lafon- taine, must be west of it ; whereas it has been shewn conclusively, and is admitted on both sides, that all those concessions lay east of the Etamamu, which is about ninety miles east of the Natashquau, or sixty or seventy miles east of the Baie des Espagnols, as apparently located on Duchesneau's map. The seigniory of the isles and islets of Mingan must necessarily terminate 20 there, as their eastern boundary is admitted to be judicially established at the Baie des Espagnols. But thejudgments which so establish this ^astern boun- dary, deal with islands more than one hundred miles cast of the apparent location of the Baie des Espagnols on Duchesneau's map. The distance from Isle anx Q5ufs to the apparent location of the Baie des Espagnols is only about eighty leagues from Isle aux Qiufs ; whereas Bissot and the Comte de Maurepas, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, and the lutendant, are all agreed that the actual distance is about one hundred and fifty leagues. His Honor appears to think that the mouth of the river on Duches- neau's map is the bay sought for; but this is inconsistent with the descrip-gQ tion. The great bay wliere the Spaniards ordinarily fished must be a bay approachable by shipping, and with a depth sulficient for it. But the bay or ebtnary of the Natashquau is blocked in the middle by a sandy islet, with channels on each side ; of which channels the northern one is fre- quently nearly dry, and the southern one has a depth of merely six feet.'' This estuary, therefore, cannot be the Baie des Espaguols, and the more probable iuterprctatiou of the map is that it is not intended as such, but ' St. Lawrenoe Pilot p. 180. M [1^^' 11 ! h i J ■ ! 1 1 * m 61 that the bay is opposite the middle of the name and further eastward. And this is the view taken by Mr. Bouchette. He says : — " La Bute " des Espagnoh d Vest de Vembovchure dtin plus grand cours deau, dans " leqael on reconnait facilement la grande rimire Natashquan, est Men definie." * The map to which Mr. Bouchett*^ refers, however, is not the map to elucidate the papier terrier of 1668, whieh has been discussed as Duches- neau's map. Of that map, of the application for a new title, and of the decision of the King, Mr. Bouchette knew nothing. It is a map which Mr. Bouchette says was made par le cclebre geogruphe et decouvreur JoUiet lui- m^me, im des concessionaires des iles et islets de Mingan,'' etn.' -But, iii fact, it is 10 a map drawn by Franqueliu, published in 1681,"* and very nearly identi«^al with Duchesueau's map (of which Franqueliu was also the draftismau), except that it contains no indication of any seigniory, not being made to elucidate any land roll or terrier, as JJuchcsneau's was. Its attribution to Jolliet exhibits similar ignorance to thi' quotation of Champlaiu as author of a map made by Duval thirty years after his death ; and contradicted as to the point which it was produced to sustain, by the genuine maps of the great discoverer. The Franqueliu map, like that of Duchesneau, shews a large river a little east of the longitude of the east point of Anticosti, and the Baie des Espaguols, about twenty or thirty miles east of its mouth. 20 On the other hand is the striking fact that from 1710 to the present day, every map places the Baie des Espagnols at a point much to the east- ward of its apparent location on Duchesueau's maj); and the actual grants which are of record, shew that the most westerly of them did not come within many miles of the bay as placed on Duchesueau's map. Again, the whole discussion contained in Bissot's letters, in those of the Oomte de Maun'pas, and of the Q-overnor and Intendaut, would become absolutely void of sense and absurd, iu so far as they refer to the temporary grants and to the eastern boundary proposed to be inserted in the new title All this correspoudeuce treats the temporary grants as bi'ing west of the Baie 30 des Espaguols, and the proposed east 'rn boundary as the Etamamu River — the westernmost point of th > grant to Lafontaine, His Honor himself, in his judgment in the Court below, mentioned the concession of Lafoutaiue as the eastern boundary of the Bissot seigniory in the following words: — " Au surplus, les limites de la poss ission alors alloguejs par les Bissots, et " reconnue par Sa Majeste, etaient determinees ; (s'etaiout le domaine du " Roi au Sud-Ouost, et les terres coueedees au Nord-Est, que Sa Majest6 '' Bouchette's report, p. 00. * BouohotieV report, p. 50. '^ Cartographie de la Nouvelle Trance, p. 109, ♦1. 62 " croyait etre la concession du Sieur Lafontaine." It is remarkable that His Honor himself, in this paragraph, describes accurately the eastern boundary of the seigniory as contemplated by the King, and admits also in his judgment, that the letters in question, accompanied by possession, were sufficient to constitute a title in the representatives of the Bissots. Yet, in his discussion of the actual eastern boundary, His Honor entirely overlooks the conclusion at which, in a former portion of the judgment, he had correctly arrived. Again, the characteristics of the description of the bay in the grant and subsequent instruments must not be overlooked. There is no evidence lo or indication that the Spaniards ever tished there. It is not near the well understood locality of the Esquimaux. It is contrary to the construction of the parties interested, from the earliest period. The first sale on record of any part of the seigniory was in 1709,' when Bissot de Vincennes, in his sale to Brissonet, describes the eastern boundary as Blanc Sablon, which is almost identical with Bradore Bay. "When Hocquart, and the advocates of the farmer general and of the Bissots, discussed it in 1733, it was perfectly well known that the Bale des Espagnols, which they all dealt with by name as the eastern boundary, was below the Esquimaux River. And, as has been stated, the King and his Minister, the (lovernor and the Intend- 20 ant, were fully aware of the locality of the bay in 1738. It is probable that enough has beou said to show that the large river appearing on Duchesneau's map, was in reality intended for the Esquimaux River, not the Natashquau ; and, (;ertaiuly not the Agwanus. The shape of the estuary depicted on the map corresponds with the Esquimaux River. The position of theBaie des Espaguols corresponds with its actual position relative to the Esquimaux River ; and there is nothing in the map itself indicating such a knowledge of the coast, as would prevent the probability of such an error in the longitude. In fact, a person who knows the actual outlines of the north shore of the G-ulf, would find it impossible to re<^og- 80 nize any resemblance to them in Duchesneau's map. That map is invalu- able as showing that there was a seigniory on the north coast in 1668, belonging to Sieur Bissot, and that it was so described in the official papier terrier of that year; but it is practically useless for the purpose of establish- ing any of the details of the boundaries of that seigniory. The appellants, therefore, submit that they have shewn incontrover- tibly that the only theory as to the original eastern boundary of the ' Appellant's Exhibit 16. m Ih. 63 seigniory, which is consistent wii h all the facts about which no dispute exists, is, that it was the Bale dcs Espagnols, now called Brador Bay. That in 1738, for the sake of peace and of procuring a formal new title, the representatives of Bissot were willing to act-ept as their eastern boun- dary, the Etamamu River, which was the western boundary of the Lafon- taine concession. That the propriety of thus limiting the seigniory was advocated by the Governor and Intendant in Canada, and acceded to by the King and his Minister in France, who fixed the concession of Lafontaine as the Eastern Boundary, and ordered the issue of a new title to that boundary. 10 But in pronouncing upon the request of Bissot, they admitted tae extent of the seigniory to have been originally one hundred and fifty leagues along the coast, which they considered he had occupied, held and maintained for a long period of years under many difficulties. That the concessions made off the eastern portion of the seigniory, were in their nature temporary ; that they created no title to the land itself, and that they had all expired long before the cession of the country to Grreat Britain. And that the representatives of the Bissots regained posses, sion of the fishing establishments along that coast by purchasing them at Sheriff's sale and otherwise. That nothing has occurred to deprive them 20 of their rights over the temporarily conceded line of coast lying between the Etamamu River and their original eastern boundary ; and that no valid reason now exists in law, why they should not be maintained in the pos- session of the seigniory as originally granted to Bissot in 1661. That on the contrary the actes de foi et horamage of 1781 and 1837, shew the recog- nition by the crown of the original and actual boundary of the seigniory at the Bale des Espagnols. The appellants do not abandon the allegation of the plea, that they have acquired a prescriptive title, but they find no necessity for discussing that point at length at present, seeing no possibility of their title by grant 30 being ignored. But they will be prepared to sustain it by authority if necessary. They, therefore, respectfully urge the confirmation of the judgment of the Court below as respects the title to the seigniory ; the reversal of that portion of it fixing the eastern boundary of the seigniory at the Agwanus River ; the establishment of that boundary at Brador Bay, and the conse- quent dismissal of the action of the Crown. Quebec, 20th November, 1889. ABBOTTS, CAMPBELL & MEREDITH, Attorneys for Appellants. *i w- I 'I m i APPENDIX. 10 DECLARATION. L'Honorable Joseph Alfred Mousseau, de la cite de Quebec, avocat, eu sa qualite de Procureur-Geueral de Sa Majeste pour la Province de Quebec, pour et au nom de Sa Majeste, se plaint de la Defenderesse, declare k cette Honorable Cour et I'informe : Que Sa Majeste est proprietaire de tout le domaine public non concede constituant la et situe dans les limites de la Province de Quebec, formant par- tie de la Puissance dn Canada et comprenaut terres et trefonds, isles et islets Heuves, rivieres et lacs ; 20 Que tout le territoiro communement appele " terre ferme de Mingan" fait partie du dit domaine public de Sa Majeste ; Que le dit torritoire consiste en une eteadue de terre situe dans les com- te et district de Saguenay, oomprenant enviro»i quatro cents milles de long et six milles de profondeur avec tons les lacs et rir'^roo - situes, borne en front uu sud au fleuve et golfe St. Laurent, en arriere au uord au bout do la dite profondeur k d'autros terros, lacs et rivieres de Sa Majeste, k I'ouest k un en- droit appele Carmarant et aussi Cormoran, corps morant ou Cap des Cormo- rants 9ur le flouve St. Laurent, k environ une distance ontro los 65 et 66 de- gres de longitude et de \k courant au nord jusqu'a six milles de profondeur, et 30 k Test k la limite est de la dite Province sur le fleuve St. Laurent, pres du 576mo degre de longitude et de \k courant nord jusqu'A six rallies de profon- deur ; Qui! tout le dit territoiro fait partie du dit domaine public non concede de Sa Majeste, lui appartiont exclusivement et est d'une valeur excedant dix millions de piastres ; Que, nonobstant, les D6fendeurs, dopuis plus de vingt ans, s'en pr6ten- dent proprietaires, preteudant avoir droit d'enjouir et disposer comrae tele, que mdme ils s'en sont illegalement empar68, on dotiennent depuis co temps la pu.sHesBion, en retieunent les fruits ot revonus, font de diverses mani^res. ill6- 40 J T 'M ■ It ifwpp 10 galomeut et sans droit quelconque actes de proprietaires, en louant et ven- daut, ofFraut de louer ou de veudre diverses parties du dit territoire, recla- maut publiqueniiut, coustamment, et de toutes manieres la dite propriete, et t e par avis publics, requites, actes prives et publics, le tout au grand detri- nunt de Sa Majeste ; Que les fruits et reveuus ainsi retires et per9us par les Dtfendeurs ex- * tvveiity-threi' years, they aud their auleurs have possess'^d the same as proprie- tors, and have, during the same period, held, used and enjoyed the same, and all the r.Mits and revenues thereof, as proprietors, publicly and openly, to the knowledge of the Plaintiff. That it is not true, as alleged in the said declaration, that the said pro- perty forms part of the public domain of Her Majesty the Queen, but on the contrarv, before the Province of Quebec became subject to the Crown of Eng. land, and while the same was a colony of the Kingdom of France, to wit, on the 25th day of February, 1661, the whole of said property so owned and pos- sessed by the Defendants, was granted and conceded by the Crown of France 1" and by persons July authorized by the Crown of France, to wit, by the Com- pany of New France, {La Compagnie de In Nouvelle France) to the Sieur Fran9ois Hissot de la Riviere, then of the town of Quebec, merchant. And Defendants allege that the deed, whereby the said property was .so granted to the said Sieur Francois Bissot de la Riviere, has been lost or des- troyed and that the Defendants are unable to find or produce the same. That in fact the said deed of grant was burned in Quebec, in the house of one Charles Porlier, of Quebeis merchant, on the night of the 4th and 5th days of August, 1682; and that the public registers containing the registration of the said deed of grant, were destroyed by Hre which consumed the Palace of the Intendant 2<> at Quebec, in the month of January, 1713, all of which the said Defendants are ready to prove and maintain, according to law, and the procedure of this Honorable Court. That in the said concession to the said Sieur Francois Bissot de la Ri- viere, the said property was described as extending from Egg Island (Isle aux Qjlufs) to a point therein described as " the great bay near the Esquimaux " where the Spaniards ordinarily fished." (" JtisqiiW la grande nnce vers fes " Esquimaux, oil les Espagnols font ordinaire inent la piche" ) by two leagues in depth ; and that in fact, the said Seigniory of la terre ferme de Mingan was then composed of a tract of land extending from, and comprising the said Egg 30 Island, to the said great bay, afterwards known as Bale aux Espagnols, and latter as Baie Philippeau, bounded in front by the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in rear, at a distance of six miles from the Q-ulf, by the Crown domain. That afterwards, to wit, on or about the 11th day of February, 1668, fealty and homage was rendered by the said Sieur Bissot do la Riviere to the represen- tative of the Crown of France in Canada, as appears by the judgment or ordi- nance rendered by Gilles Hocquart, Counsellor of the King of France aud Intendant of L« Nouvelle France, on the 12th day of May, 1733, in a cause be- tween Pierre Cariier, representing the Crown of France, and Frauvois Bissot and others. 4(t r That by the said last mentioned judgment or ordinance, the portion of the said Seigneurie de la terre ferme de Mingan, from and comprising Egg Island to Cape Cormorant, at distance of from four to five leagues below the river Moisy, was re-annexed to the Crown domain, and ceased to be the property of the representatives of the said Sieur Franyois Bissot de la Riviere, the remain- der of the said property extending from the said Cape Cormorant, remaining the property of the representatives of the said Sieur Franfois Bissot de la Riviere, as was fully and formally recognized by the said ordinance. That at divers times and periods between the said date of the conces- sion of the said Seigniory, and the twenty-eighth day of May, 1*781, the said ^^ Seigniory and parts thereof, wore the subject-matter of transactions of various kinds, and among others, of suits before he Intendant, and before the Courts of law in New France, and that the possession of the representatives of the said Sieur Francois Bissot de la Riviere of the said Seigniory, was publicly and openly recognizod, and was frequently adjudicated on, by such courts of law. That among other such transactions. Dame Marie Bissot, widow of Francois Vederique, sold one-fourth of the said Soigniory of la terre ferme de Mingan, to Thomas Dunn, one of the Judges of the Prerogative Court of Que- bec, by a deed executed before Panet and colleague, notaries, the Ist of June, '^" 1772, and thereupon afterwards, to wit, on the 20th May, 1781, Hie Majesty the King of England represented by William Grrant, his deputy receiver- general, exacted and received from him the sum of ,£8.6.8, being the droit de quint, due to His Majesty upon the said sale. And saisin and possession thereof was then and there duly granted to the said Thomas Dunn That on the fourth day of October, 1776, an acte de notnriite was passed h 'fore Sanguinot and Sainault, notaries, in the town of Quebec, in due form of law signed by twelve well-known citizens of Quebec besides the heirs and representatives of the said Sieur Francois Bissot de la Riviere ; which said ac/e ^/e «oubli(' possession of the said Seigniory, and were openly aud publicly recog- nized as the proprietors thereof, as well in their transactions with other sub- 40 11 mrf^^'' ii" • !'^ hi jeets of the rrown, as before the courts of law, aud by the represeutatives of the Crowu. That ou the 20th November, 1777, by deed of sale executed before Pauet and colleague, notaries, Dlle Magdelaino Belcourt de la Fontaine, daughter of the late Jacques Belcourt de lu Fontaine, counsellor au Coiiseil Superieur of Quebec and of Charlotte Bissot, deceased, sold to the said Honorable Thomas Dunn, her rights, in the said Seigniory of la terr>! ferme de Mingan, as will more lully appear by an authentic copy of the last mentioned deed herewith produced to form part hereof. That on the 21st January, 1779, the said William Grant bovight under Id execution from James Shepherd, sheriff of the district of Quebec, the share in the Seigniory of la terre ferme de Mingan, of Charles Jolliet d'Anticosti, as co-heir of his mother Claire Bissot d'Anticosti. That on the twenty-eighth day of May, 1781, Francois Joseph Cuguet^ as the husband of Dame Marie Joseph Belcourt de la Fontaine, Nicholas Jo- seph Belcourt de la Fontaine, Francois Belcourt de la Fontaine, William Grrant and Thomas Dunn, esquires, were in fact and in law, proprietors par indhns of the said Seigniory of la terre ferme de Mingan, by good and valid titles de- rived from the said Sieur Francois Bissot de la Riviere ; and being such pro- prietors, they did on the said las*^^ mentioned day, at the Ch&teau of St. Louis, 2n at Quebec, aforesaid, appear before The Right Honorable Frederick Haldimand Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of the Province of Quebec and its ter- ritories and dependencies in America, Vice-Admiral and Keeper of the Great Seal thereof, General and Commissioner-in-Chief of the troops of His Majesty in Quebec aud frontiers thereof ; and did then aud there declare and exhibit the titles and documents which they possesed, establishing their right of pro- perty in the said seigniory, which said seigniory is therein described as here- inbefore described ; and did then aud there before the said General Frederick Haldimand, representing His Majesty, on their own behalf and on behalf of Francois Belcourt de la Fontaine, then absent from the said Province, pray '.){) the said General Frederick Haldimand, as such representative .>f His Majesty to receive their faith and homage as proprietors of the said k! ;;;rriory ; declar- ing to hold the same as fief of His Majesty, the King of England ; and at the place and time aforesaid, having assumed the position and duty of vassals of His Majesty, their heads bare, without swords or spurs, and with one knee upon the ground, did declare, in a loud and intelligible voice, that they held and rendered into the hands of the said General Frederick Haldimand, as such representative, the faith and homage which they were bound to render and bear to His Majesty the King of England, at the said Chdteau of St. Louis at Quebec, as proprietors of the said Seigniory, which faith and homage the ^^^ :^; 6 said GeiuTiil Frederick Haldimand in his said capacity, then and there re- ceived ; whereupon (he said parties did make and subscribe, and deliver to the said G-eneral Frederick Haldimand in his said capacity, their solemn oath to well and laitht'nlly serve His Majesty, and to faithfully notify and inform him and his successors of anything which they might become aware was being done against his service, and further declared and pledged themselves to furnish their nveur. el denonibrements, within the time prescribed by the laws, customs and usages of the said Province, of all which ncte was granted by order of His Excellency the said Greiieval Frederick Haldimand, as represent- ing His Majesty, on the said last mentioned day, all which was then recorder! id and ( (Mtified on the said last mentioned day at half-past four in the afternoon, as the whole will more fully appear, reference being had to the said acle de foi et. hommage, herewith produced and fyled to form part h 'reof. And Defendants further say that, after the said act of faith and homage to wit, on the 12th day of October, 1781, by a deed of sale made and executed on the said last mentioned day before Panet and his colleague, notaries, Fran- Vois Joseph Cugnet, counsellor of the Conseil Suj/erieiir under the French regime and Attoruey-Groueral of His Majesty George the Third, for the said Province of Quebec, under the government of Governor Murray, pun^hased of Francois IJelcourt de la Fontaine, as one of the representatives of the said Sieur Francois 2n Bissot de la Riviere, all the right and title of the Fran9ois Belcourt de la Fon- taine in the Seijjneurie de la terre ferme de Mingau, as the whole will more fully appear reference being had to an authentic copy of the said deed of sale, herewith produced and fyled, to form part hereof. That afterwards, to wit, on the seventeenth day of February, 1784, by deed executed before A. Panet and colleague, notaries, the said Honorable Thomas Dunn then a member of the Legislative Council of the Province of Quebec, and one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the district of Quebec, and Peter Stuart, esquire, of Beauport, acquired all the rights of the vendors mentioned in the said deed, as descendants and representatives of :i(i Dame Claire Bissot, wife of Louis Joliette, which the said Claire Bissot posses- sed, as daughter of the said Sieur Francois Bissot de la Riviere, in the said Seigneurie de la terre ferme de Mingau, as the whole will more fully appear, reference being had to an authentic copy of the said last miMitioned deed of sale herewith produced and fyled to form part hereof. That on the 9th day of September, 1803, by virtue of divers transa(;- tions, events, deeds and instruments, the Seigeurie de la terre ferme de Min- gau had become, and was then, the property of the said William Grant and of Peter Stuart and Thomas Dunn, also of the City of Quebec, esquires, to wit, the said William Grant being the proprietor of one undivided half of the said 4(i II,! |li^ «^ yfm 1(1 Seigniory, the said Peter Stuart, of one undivided quarter of the said Seigniory and the said Thomas Dunn of the remaining undivided quarter thereof; and that on the said last mentioned day, by deed executed before Voyer and col- league, notaries, they, the said William Grant, Peter Stuart, and Thomas Dunn, did let and lease to the firm of McTavish, Frobisher and Company, otherwise known as the North-West Company, ior the period of nineteen years terminating on the first day of October 1822, the said Seigniory of la tern^ ferme de Mingan, together with all the establishments and posts erected thereon at Cape Cormorant, Mingan, Napeusipen and Masquerou, with all the stores, houses, and buildings thereon erected, as the whole will more fully appear reference being had to an authentic copy of the said de^d of lease herewith produced and fyled to form part hereof. That the said lessees continued to occupy the said Seigniory under the said lease, as the tenants of the said William Grant, Peter Stuart, and Thomas Dunn, until the thirteenth day of June, 1825, at which date the said S>'igiiiory» had become the property of John Stuart. James T. S. Stuart, Mary Stuart and William Taylor Peter Short, as the legal heirs and representatives of the said Peter Stuart, deceased, for one quarter thereof; the heirs and the representa- tives of the said Honorable Thomas Dunn, as proprietors of another quarter thereof; the legal heirs and representatives of the late John Blackwood^ 20 esquire, of Quebec, as proprietors of another quarter thereof; the said John Blackwood having acquired the said undivided quarter thereof by the pur- chase thereof on the 14th day of June, 1808, at a jvidicial sale thereof by the Sheriff of the District of Quebec, and the Honorable John Richardson, of Montreal, as proprietor of the remaining quarter thereof, as having acquired the same by the purchase thereof on the 22nd day of February, 1808. at a judi- cial sale thereof by the Sheriff of the District of Quebec That on the said last mentioned day, by a deed of lease executed sous seing privi, the said proprietors did let and lease tothe corporation of the Hud- son's Bay Company, the whole of the said Si'igneuriede la terre ferme de Min- 30 gan, with all the establishments and posts therein contained, and all the stores, houses and buildings thereon erected, with the full and ex<'lusive rights of hunting and trading with the Indians within the limits of the said Sei- gniory, and of receiving all the rights belonging or appertaining thereunto, the said lease being so made for the period of twenty years, from the first day of October, 1822, until the first day of October, 1842, and the said lease being 80 made for and in consideration of the yearly rent of five hundred pounds per annum, which the said lessees thereby covenanted and agreed to pay to the said proprietors of the said Seigniory. That on the riinth day of October, 1887, the said Seignenrje de la terre 40 vji! .:■ s*i*;. ¥r w Ltl 'I 8 I'erme de Miugau, by virtue of divers deeds, instruments, transactions, succes- sions, acts and events, had become the property oi" John G-reenshields, esquire, lor two undivided tiiirds of one undivided fourth part thereof, and James Weir, esquire, for one undivided third of one undivided fourth part thereof; and of Mary Stuart, James T. S. Stuart and William Taylor Peter Short, for one undivided fourth part thereof; Thomas Dunn, William Dunn, Catherine Dunn and Frances Sarah Dunn, for one undivided fourth part thereof; and the heirs and legal representatives of the late Honorable John Richardson, in his lifetime of the said city of Montreal, esquire, deceased, for the remaining undivided fourth part thereof; and that thereupon, the said John G-reen. I*' shiels and James Weir, as proprietors par indivis of on*; fourth of the said Sei- gniory, in furtherance of the preparation and completion of a pn/ner terrier of the domain of the Queen, in the Province of Lower Canada, appeared at the ChAteauofSt. Louis, in Quebec, before the Right Honorable Archibald, Earl of Grosford, Captain-G-eneral and (TOvt^rnor-in-Chief in and over the Pro- vinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and Vice-Admiral of the same, acting therein by Andrew Patterson, their agent and attorney, in that behalf duly authorized, who then and there declared to the said Governor-General, that they came before him for the purpose of rendering and bearing into his hands, at the said Chdteau of St. Louis, the loyal faith and homage which they, the 2o said John Greenshields and James Weir, were bound to render and bear to Her Most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by reason among other proper- ties, of the Seignenrie de la terre ferme de Mingan, and then and there repre- sented to the said Governor-General for titles to the said Seigniory, as follows namely : — 1. Authentic copy of a judgment rendered on the 13th day of May, 1783, by Monsieur Gilles Hocquart, then Intendant in this country, betwtMMi Pierre Carlier, Adjudicataire General of the TInited Farms of France and of its western territory, represented by Francois Etienne Cugnet, director of the said western domain in Cnnada, Plaintiff, of the one part; and Francois Bissot, as no well in his own name, as being in the rights of the late Sieur Francois de Val- leran, and Jeanne Rissot, his wife, and of the late Charles Bissot, Joseph Fleury de laGorgendiere, and Claire Jolliet,his wife, daughterofthe late Louis Jolliet, and Claire Franvoise Bissot, as well for them as for their co-heirs of the late Sieur (>t Dnme Jolliet, Defendants, and Sieur Jacques Gourdeau, sou of the late Jacques Gourdeau, and Marie Bissot, beneficiary heir of the late Dame Bissot, their mother, also Defendant and Intervening Party (to wit, the judgment or ordinance hereinbefore mentioned.) 2. Also an authentic copy of a judgment, rendered on the second of May, 178(1, by the said Gilles Hocquart, then Intendant of this country, 40 *! C^' ' a 9 between Sieur Volaut de Hautebourg, iu his quality of proprietor of the post of Mingau, as well as having married Marie Masse, widow of the late Sieur JoUiet Mingan, as having been the lessee for nine yoars of Sieur Fran9oi8 Bis- sot, of the one part, and Sieur Martin de Brouage, of the other part. 3. Also a contract iu the English language and form of a sale and adju- dication by James Sheppard, Esquire, Sheriff of the district of Quebec to John Blackwood, Esquire, of an undivided quarter of the fief and Seigneurie de la lerre ferme de Mingan, therein described as being situated upon the Q-ulf of St. Lawrence on the north side, commencing at Cape Cormorant, and extend- ing to the north-east as far as the Bay called la granite ance vers les Esquimaux Id oil fes Espagnols font ardinairenient la p^che, by two leagues iu depth ; said deed of sale bearing date the fourteenth day of June, 1808, at the foot of which is an acquittance by Henry Caldwell, esquire, Receiver-General for the Province of Quebec, in favor of the said John Blackwood, for the sum of .£220.2.6, for droit de quint upon the said acquisition, the said acquittance bearing date the third day of December, 1808, and conveying infeodation. 4. Also an authentic copy of the last will and testament of the said John Blackwood, by which the said John Blackwood, bequeathed to his testa- mentary executors named therein, the certain properties therein named, in which were included his share in the said Seigniory of la terre ferme de Min- 2(i gau, for the benefit of John G-reenshields, Alexander Qreenshields and Andrew Weir, to be equally divided amongst them. 5. Also an authentic copy of the holograph testament of the said Andrew "Weir, of date the ninth day of December, 1823, in the English lan- guage, by which he created his parents and his brother, Thomas Weir, his universal residuary legatees. 6. Also an act passed before Macphersou and colleague, notaries, at Quebec, on the eighth day of October, 1826, being a renunciation by Thomas Weir and James Weir to the succession of the late Andrew Weir, their brother. jjO 7. Also an act passed before Macphersou and colleague, notaries, at Quebec, on the third day of November 1828, being a sale by John Weir and Helen Weir, as wife to Thomas Weir, of the one half of the residue of the estate of said late Andrew Weir. 8. Also an authentic copy of the holograph testament of the said Thomas Weir, dated the thirty-first day of May 1828, by which among other things, ho gave and bequeathed to his brother, James Weir, his share in the immoveable property situated in the Province of Lower Canada, previously belonging to Mr. John Blackwood. 9. Also an ade passed before Macphersou and colleague, notaries, at 4u r iv 3. / 10 Quebec, on the twenty-eighth day of June, 1826, being a sale by Alexander Greenshields to John Greejishields of the one undivided third of an undivided fourth in the Seigneurie de la terre ferme de Mingan, belonging to him under the will of the late John Blackwood. The said appearers praying that it would please the said Governor- General to receive on behalf of Her Majesty, their loyal faith and homage, in respect of the Seigneurie de la terre ferme de Mingan, held e»/>/emy?e/' of her Majesty ; and thereupon placing themselves in the position, and acting accord- ing to their duty as vassals, with heads bare, without swords or spurs, and with one knee on the ground, they declared in a loud and intelligible voice, lo that they rendered and bore to his hands, the loyal faith and homage which they were bound to render and bear to Her Most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, at the ChAteau of St. Louis, in Quebec, in respect of the said Sei- gneurie de la terre ferme de Mingan ; which faith and homage it was thereby declared, the said Governor-General received by the said act. And thereupon the said appearers made and subscribed, in the hands of the said Governor- General an oath, to well and truly serve Her Majesty, and to notify her and her successors, if they should become aware of anything being done against her service, and obliged themselves to furnish their aveux et dinombremenls^ within the time prescribed by the laws, customs, and usages of the said Pro- 2(i vince of Lower Canada, and thereof they prayed arte, which the said Governor- General thereby granted to them, — as the whole will more fully and at large appear by an authentic copy of the said last mentioned ucle defoi et hommage, herewith produced and fyled to form part of these presents. And the Defendants allege that on the said last mentioned day, also came and appeared the said Mary Stuart, James T. S. Stuart, and William Taylor Peter Short, as proprietors of one undivided fourth, amongst other Seigniories, of the said Seigneurie de la terre ferme de Mingan ; and it was thereby declared, that for the preparation and completion of a papier terrier oi' the domain of the Queen, in the Province of Lower Canada, the said appearers :-{(» had appeared before the said Right Honorable Archibald, Earl of Gosford, in his capacity of Captain-General and Governor-iu-Chief in and over the Pro- vinces of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, a<,'ting therein by John Stuart esquire, their duly authorized attorney, in that behalf, the said appearers so appearing in their quality of heirs of the late Peter Stuart, esquire, Stdguior and proprietor of one undivided fourth of the Seigneurie de la terre ferme de Mingan ; which said appearers declared that they came before the said Gov- ernor-General to render and bear, at the ChAteau of St. Louis, in Quebec, the loyal faith and homage which they were bound to render and bear to her Most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, in respect of the said Seigneurie de la 411 nn em ¥ V Hi 11 ierre ffrmo de Miiigau, and ropn'sonted to thu said Govt'rnor-G, ilirot* undivided Nixti^-iilh parlH, iind thrtv! undividt'd cij^lilicth piirtH in Ihi' Hiiid Si-if^niory, IhiTfin dnHrrihi-d an »,ht! Sfi^'iiiory of Tt'rra I'^inriii (d' Minimi, Hiliiulcfl <»ii tin- north Hh IuikI iyin^ alonj^ lh<' naid north hIiom IVoin ihf ('a|) d<'H ('<»rinora.nH to the >;rt'al hay, near thr ION(|tiiiiiaiix whi-rc fhi? Span, iardw ordinarily r,iirrifat{Ui-H, with all the rif^ht.and appiirtcnancfH ihorfunlo lii'loii^inif ; and that in and liy l.h** Haid dcrd, the title of l,h*) v^n- doi'K therein mentioned iH I'ully Hel lorth, — an the wJioIk will more fully '*• anart hereof. Thai, anerwiir, hy a deed (d' Hale, made, heiirin^ dale and executed, id the rity v hin attorney, (I'orj^e Okill Stuart, of the city (^uehec, (iueen'H ('oiiiiHel, Hold iind conveyed to naid Alexander DeiiniKtoun, a<',r:eptin}^ Iheroof, live undivided twenty-fourth partH of an undivided (|uarter of the Haid Seif^niory r Terra Kirma de Min((an ; and the <'hiiin of title of the Hai«l William Ifii^h Iinnn is in the naid 2U deed of Niile duly net forth in detail, iih the whole will more fully and at larjfe appear, refen-ncn heinj^ had to an auth-ntic copy of the Haid ItiKt men- tioned daed of Hale, herewith produced and fyled, to fr)rm |»art here(d". That afterwardn, to wit, on the lirst day ol April, \HT.i, hy a certain other deed of Hale, made, executed and hearing date at Que)» -c. aforenaid, on I he said hint miMitioned day, liefore (llapharn and colle!i(rue notarien puhlic, William Taylor, I'eter Shortt, MIhh .fane Margaret Shortt, Mins Catherine Al- liiyn Thi iidoHia Shortt, Stuart James Shortt, and Mary Stuart Shortt, they heini? the lawful heirs and rcireHeulaliveH of the said William Taylor IV'ter Shortt Hold and conveyed to t)ie Hiiid Alexander DenniHtoun, iicce[)tini^ th'-reof, in ill, .',(i one undivided (|uarter of the Hai| ] H u ^ (" 15 ■quarter of the said Seigniory of Mingan, or Terra Firma de Mingan ; iu which last meutioued deed of sale the chain of titles by whi(;h the said Alexander Thomas Patterson and Donald Lorn McDougall acquired the said one undi- vided fourth is at length described and detailed ; as the whole will more fully and at length appear, reference being had to an authentic copy of the said deed of sale, herewith produced and fyled, to form part hereof. That afterwards, to wit, on the fifteenth day of September, 1873. by a certain other deed ot sale, made, executed and bearing date, at Quebec afore- said, on the said last mentioned day, before Clapham and his colleague no- taries,, Anne Catherine Dunn, wife of William Rhodes, duly authorised by her '" said husband, sold and conveyed to the said Alexander Dennistonn. one undi- vided twenty-fourth part of the said Seigniory of Mingan, or Terra Firma de Mingan, in the said deed at length described; as the whole will more fully and at large appear, reference being had to an authentic copy of the said last mentioned deed of sale, herewith |)roduced and fyled, to form part hereof. That afterwards, to wit, on the tenth day of April 1874, by a deed of sale made, bearing date and executed, at Montreal, in Canada, the said last mentioned day, before W. A. Phillips, notary, the said Eueretta Jane Auldjo, then the wife of Edward Alexandt^r Prentice, duly authorised by her husband^ sold and conveyed to the said Alexander Dennistoun, one undividt^d eightieth share of the Seigniory of Mingan, or Terra Firma de Mingan ; the said deed of sale containing a description of the title of the said Eueretta Jane Auldjo to the said portion of the said Seigniory ; as the whole will mon^ fully and at large appear, reference beijig had to an authentic copy of the said last men- tioned deed of sale herewith produced and filed to form part hereof. That afterwards, to wit, on the twelfth day of April, 1882. by a deed of nah^ sous seing prM, execute' at Leamington Priory, in the County of War- wick, England, the said Ma Eueretta Richardson, then the wife of Henry Ogden Andrews, duly authorised by him, sold and conveyed to the said Alex- ander Dennistoun, aiu-epting thereof one undivided eightieth part of the said Seigniory of Mingan, or Terra Firma de Mingan; the said deed of sal»> con- taining the particulars of the title of the said Mary Eueretta Andrews; as the whole will more fully and at large appear, reference being had to an authentic i'opy ef the said dtsed of sale, hen^with produced and fyled, to form part hereof That, each, all and every of the said several deeds of sale have been duly etitered and enregistered at full length in the Registry olRiie of the First Division of the Countit's of Charbn'oix and Saguenay, wherein the said Sei- irniory is situate, and that under and by virtue of the said deeds of sale, the ^^ 'in HiVIIIIIIIIIP t.i »;; :. i'i j ■ ■ ; I 16 Haiti AloxandtT DiMinistoun filtered upon poKscHsion of thi^ said Seigniory of Mingan, and thereof remained in possession, until the eighth day of October, 1883. That on the said last mentioned day, by a deed of sale and couvoyrnso, made, exet;uted and bearing date, before; McLennan, notary public, at Montreal afortfsaid, the said eighth day of October, 1883, the said Alexander Dennistouii sold and conveyitd to the Defendants in this eaut-e, the said Seigniory of Miu- gan, with all the rights and appurtenances thereof; as tho whole will more fully appear, n^fenuicc being had to an authentic copy of the said deed of salts htsrewith produced and fyled, to form part hereof; which said deed of sale ^'* has b»!en duly entered and cnregister.d in the Registry office of the said Divi- sion of the Counties of Charlevoix and Saguenay. And the D >feiidants alleg,« that they and th pays ; Que les mots " vers les Esquimaux" ne laisaient qu'indiquer la direction des endroits de peche ainsi concedes et n'etaient pas delimitatifs et etaiout alors confbrmes a Tusage etabli et alors suivi en ce pays ; Que c'est la la seule concession qui ait jamais ete laite au dit Sieur Bissot ; Que bien plus le dit Sieur Bissot tel qu'il appert plus amplement par une ordonnance loutradictoire rendue par Grilles Hocquart, a Quebec, le 12 mai 1733, par ses heritiers et ayant cause, abandonna volontairemeut la dite concession, laquelle I'ut des lors par la dire ordonnance remise au domaine 20 public dont elle a toujours depuis fait partie; Que le dit abandon est de nouveau reproduit dans Tordonnance du dit Hocquart, a Quebec, du 23 mai 1733, tel qu'il appert au 2me volume des dits Edits et Ordonnances, pages 358 et suivantes ; Que le dit abandon fut fait pour valable (Consideration tel qu'il appert par les dites ordonnances en dernier lieu citees ; Que les defendeurs par eux-memes et leurs pretendus auteurs n'ont Jamais acquis aucune partie quebconque du domaine public sur la rive nord du St. Laurent et formant partie des terres en litige en cette cause. Que dans rintervalle eutre 1702 et 1750 inclusivement les dits heritiers ;{t) representants ou ayant cause Bissot etaient si p.'U proprietaires ou en posses- sion du terrain en litige que Sa Majeste en conceda la plus graude partie aux dates et de la maniere suivantes, savoir : " lo. Concession au Sieur LoGardeur au lieu appele Labrador depuis la riviere Kegashka, jusqu'a la riviere Kescakim, le temps et I'espace de dix annees consecutives pour y faire des etablissemi^nts pour la p^che sedentaire, etc " 17 octobre 1702 ; pas de profondeur donnee. " 2o. Concession auSieur de la Valtrie au lieu norame la riviere St. Au- gustin dans la cote du Labrador, de deux lieues de front de chaque cote, sur qua- tre lieues de profondeur dans les terres, ensemble les isles et islets adjacents 4(i mf' 20 ? H * iiu dit i;avre pour en jouir la vie durante et taut qu'il fera valoir la dite oou- 'ti' 1 sept. 1733 ; pas de profondeur donnee. " 4o. Cou(;es8ion au Sieur J. Bte. Pomm»^reau en une etendue de ter- rain de cinq lieues de front de la cote du Labrador, depuis la pointe du Gros Macatinot, icelle comprise, en allant au nord-est, sur quatre lieues en profon- 1'^ deur avec les isles, islets et battures qui se trouvent au devant d'icelle, avec le privilege exclusif d'y faire la peche du loup-marin,"' ei<;., etc, " pendant le temps et I'espace de dix annees consecutives." 2 mai 1738. •' 5o. Concession en continuation au dit Sieur J B. Pomrnereau d'uu terrain situe, ci-devant designe arres, de quatr.' lieues ou environ de front, allant au nord-est, a prendre au bout de ces cinq lieues a lui concedees le 22 mai 1738, jusque et y comprise la riviere Chicaajoin, sur quatre lieues de pro- fondeur, pour la dite etendue de terrain ne faire avec les cinq lieues ci-devant concedees au Sienr Pommereau qu'une seule et meme concession et en jouir pour lui pendant le dit temps, et y faire uu on plusieurs etablissements de ^0 peche ou de lovip-marin," ett^ 20 sept. 1731). " 6o. Con«-es8ion au Sieur Vincent a la cote de Labrador pour le temps et I'espatie de ntuif annees consecutives, un terrain qui se trouve non concede entre les concessions des Sieurs Pommereau et la Fontaine, trois lieues au- dessous en tirant vers le Sieur Pommer<'au sur quatn; lieues de profondeur." 15 Janvier 1740. " 7o. Concession aux Sieurs Jacques Breard Contrecoeur et Guillaurae lilstebes pour le temps et espace de neuf annees, uu terrain entre les conces- sions ci-devant accordees aux Sieurs Pommereau et la Valtrie, a la cote du nord du fleuve St. Laurent, d'environ quatre lieues de front non concedees a 30 prendre de la Chicaajoin qui est la borne du nord-est de la concession du Sieur Pommert'au, jusqu'a celle du Sieur de la Valtrie, sur six lieues de profondeur avec les isles, islots et battures qui sont au devant etc., et avec le privilege de faire a ^exclusion tie lout autre la peche du loup-raarin." 5 nov. 1748. " 8o. Concession aux Sieurs Croisellede Montesson, Daniel de Beaujeu, et G-uillaume Estebes. en continuation de la concession accordee en 1740 au Sieur Jean Baptiste Pommereau formant neuf lieues de front sur quatre lieues de profondeur pour le temps et espace de six annees, etc., 1 mai 1749. " 9o. Concession au Sieur Cheron k la cote du Labrador, au lieu appel6 St. .\ugustin, de quatre lieues de profondeur, laquelle concession appartenant 4(i 21 I'i-tlfViml nil I'Mi HiiMii (|i' 1)1 Vnllrii' pfuir I" li'inps <■( <'.«|ini>' f1" fi'-uf nnnA<'S rtj|is^i'Uliv<'H pmic y Ifiiri' In pA' Im' »Ii' Im mnrii"." 20 avril ITOO " 10(1, Cniict'NMioii mi MiiMir In I'oiitnino pour )»• fi'rfips »'f fspacf '1*^ qT(in)?« iiiiiii'"H Hciili mi'iil r(''|((i(li(i' (Ic Icrrfiin rifirnrfi^' A jihzi an T-hi' nfflrnffcy. 'i- ilt'viml iippMiti'iKiMt (iiiK Hi"iMN Kdiii /lilt "I li'iic (lul I'ntfc hi ('>n(pf>^i'>ii i\u piiNtc SI AiiyiiHtiii. iippitilf)iiiiil (Ml SI'iir 'I'' 111 Vnltrif "t '''ll'-'lii Si'-nr Mro- mi((l|l', MVl'l' l|llMtl" lii'M'H (!<• pMllVill'li'in !PillKi »|l(i !>■« \v\i>< ^■^ iy|..>s. " *>t' . cfr It'iilolii" i7"i'*. I"l i|H il iippiit plus !ii(ip|iirM fit >iiik liif' « 'lont r/.pi('« t',nt pinllllili'K I'll I fill' rilllH" , •/ill' ' liiii'iiii »|i'K ti'ii!iiii« iri< III iniiin''^ 'ii I"K 'lit>"; ' ofi' •"•'ii'in-j ^ t tr,r(t-"-! |'i iiiilii'K (III) (''li' (|i'piii« rt'iiiiii"'; lilt 'I'liriiiiM' d" S^i VFuif^"*!'' <'iit por r>')(piri?ti'iM dri li'iiipK piiiir l''|i|i I ijli"; iivdii'iil (''li'- liiili^. "^'lit piir lifl/'foiit fl n' ■ orofili'j'crfii'rif i|i"^ rnrmiilili's, (IMiiiil d'^'x pl'iiliiti'ni, fh' rnliiir.', do- <■^ flfs pttrti"s, xhnn'l'.fi .11 llMlmi' (III lllllll'MIr III , • /n'liii' iiii (|i's pi(''|('ii(|ii'< ,\i i'v. i\> \(ti it \ii]\f'i!(i(-^ pf»r la f/f'f'"ri- l|<•^l'^;^l■ ii'diil C'li' (i(( cpl^K II i I"' (iiiiiiifj |i(ir Sm Muj' stA ni p«r nwuv *'.l l»' 'lit P'riiiH/diy iSJKWdl I'tit ("tnhh nin' fii'i lip Ki-fh'iihiir" siri li'Tl iri tf| rjn'i) I'fil iiit'iilidiiiiM (hitiK rdi(hiiiiiiiii' (' (III 12 mill \li',r\ |fs droits "t l»"i ri.-ft»hOM« i! (|iii'S('R r/«pr6f!c|ilMiilK h'-yniix pom riii'iil nvoir "iis (hirm ' "t /■■tfihli^s^rn'rit, anfi— iiK'iil iippidi' " pdHtc (h' MiiittMii ' (III Kiir tdiilc iiiilri' piirtic d' hi rt'/ff dn f/^ihrfi- (hn diiiiN hi yiMiiih' iiiiKi' vi'iH \''K l'",'4(jiiim>iiix out ('to ri-v'i'^tU'< '^f *irii'triilp<« tn mh'IIIi' h'liipH ()i|i' hi ( ihk cHwion d" l'lHh'-»ux-0'iiifs. dn 2^i U-vr\<-r \W\ Icrscirc ci'lln ( (iiH'iHHioii lul rAiiiiif Mil ihifiKiiri'' orfipt'tcntc-i nof»mrfi"nt h' :^,6 i!'p>tin« i'< piiiff '>'>'!), !»• ij7 a/»f»r I7ti{ ff>ai('- l»(4 (h'K I'IdiU I't ( MfloniKiit' .'; ndjitilH ;i hi tcmtr" S-iifrif^nri;*!*'), \f i f,rf/,hT • iliU (iiK'nic Vdltinii', piiKc IHI',), h .;(i d... . inlir. I7h! iwi-utt: volumf. pi*t(" .>^»«), h> 27 M(»flM7t'J (Jhiic voltiiric, I'idit'' -t Or'loiiii(iri'»'s, f»«(i;f 470) 'jn- Ha M*|h.».f.' (»««<•. .-f nu'dw nn- ;.h:'- lie n'l'ii I'liiit Kiiii cdfi' (iiix |)r»''li'ndus auf-urs »]>• \n f>/'f»'nd'T»* •/n'l'ii Jiiiivi'T it iiovi'mhrc, I7»|H, ]*•<( rtVH>nr'< I'-s^am d" Ha Majf^fft Mivoir, \i'n I'tdi iiti'tirH el HoIIk iii'iirM i(f'rifT»iiix dn roi r| A rn(l*?f»>rr*' aI^t* rftJTTiAnf piir nil tii|i|Miil dlii( ill dmri'iit luit it rh.iii . ojijc >-nt pr'xinifr d^-t U'cr-'nt qt»»». h'N (litM In'titii'iM I't ti'pit'H.'iitiiiitH h'-tf!»nx (In dif HinMot n'»7Ai>'nr. -ta^nn titf n: n m 9') Ml droit quolconque a la propriete, ni la possosiou du terrain en litige en cetti! cause ; Et la Demaudtifesse ajoute : — quo jusqu'a la dito aunee 1733 les archives publiqucs ne lout am une mentiou dc la preteiidue conceHsion du terrain en litige, malgre les ordonnauees frequentes qui auraieiit obliiie les pretendus proprietuires du dit terrain, soit en lief, soil en rotun-, de I'aire euregistrer leurs titres et de rendre I'oi t't hoinmage au Souverain et notamment les ordonuanees du 24 deeernbre 1722, 24 mai 1724, et 14 Janvier 1725, ee a quoi n'auraieut pu inanquer les dits pretendus eoneessionnaires s'ils eussent possede de tels titres mais ee qu'ils n'ont pas fait. !•' Que ni sous la domination traufaise, ni depuis, la Ueienderesse n'a ianiais eu aueuns titres valables au dit ttsrrain en litige. Que par proclamation royale en 1703, tout h; terrain en litigi^ entr'au- tres, a et4 mis sous radministration du Crouverneur de Terre-neuve ; Que le 21 octobre 17<58, <"e dt^rnier emane dument uue proclamation de- clarant entr'autres le terrain i'.n litige libre a tons les sujets britanniques, y regularisant la i)eehe et le commerce et ee sans reclamation de la part de la Del'enderesse ni de ses auteurs. Que cet etat de choses dura Jusqu'en 1808 alors que le dit terrain en litige hxt reuni au domaine de la Province de Quebec ; 2(i Que Jamais Thomas Dunn ni William Grant n'ont aliene ni eu autorite pour alieuer, en I'aveur de la Del'enderesse ni d'aucuu de ses auteurs aucune partie du terrain en litige en cette cause ; (^u'aucun des til res allegues i)ar la Del'enderesse n'est I'emanation d'un titre du terrain en litige ni d'aucune partie d'icelui consenti par autorite com- l)etente ii aucun des auteurs pretendus d'; la Del'enderesse. Que les preteiulucs declarations de Ibi et hommage allegues par la De- l'enderesse sont I'ausses, erronees, entachees d'erreur, non revStues des tbrmali- tea voulues et n'ont pu conl'erer loianie dc I'ait dies n'ont conl'ere k la Del'i'n- dcressc ni a aucun de ses auteurs, aucun titrc valablf i)()nr auiunc part if du ,';(i terrain en litige en >elte cause. Que le pretendu acte de vente du Sheril du 21 Janvier 177(1, est nul I omme n'etant pas d'un imnieuble apjiartenant alors ni possede animo dumini par les delwudeurs dans la lause otl il aurait ete veiidu, et (ju'a cette date au- eune partie du dit terrain n'appartenait a la ilile Delenderesse, et que le dit titre est encore nul comnn' «'>tant de ehose incertaine, d'un imnieublc> nnn de- crit i)ar tenants et about issants, ni par aucune description de contenance. Que le (lit pretendu titre du yiieril'et les contrats allegues par la Delen- deresse en autant (jue Sa Majeste pent le eonstater par les doi \inienls publics^ \i'h lermes des actes, la position des parties et les circonstaiices gedto have l)een made by the Crown within the limits of the Seigniory of In terir ffrnir tk MiHgan, the Defendants say that the said grants and concessions, if over made (ol' which the Defendants are ignorant,) were so made by the Crown by error and mistake. That at the time when the said alleged grants and concessions were made, the geography of the north coast of the CuH was imperfectly known to the olhcials concerned in making the said grants and coiicossions, and that the sa grants and concessions were made in ignorance )f the liict thnt the lo Mi III 24 t.'rritory to which they referrod was within the limits of the said Seigniory of la terre ferine de Mingan And the Defendants further say, that even if the said grants and eon- cessions were so made, yet that having been made subsequent to the grant and con(H'ssion of the Sr'igniory of la lerreferme de Mingan, as set forth in the Defendants' plea, they are null and void to all intents and purposes. And Defendants further say that it is not true, as alleged iu the said special answer, that the said Francois Bissot ever ai'knowledge that the con- cession of la lerreferme de Mingan was only a concession of territory from Isle (iux (Eufs to Seven Islands with the right of hunting and fishing, as alleged 10 in the said special answer ; and further deny that the said Francois Bissot ever abandoned the said concession of la terre ferine de Mingan for any cause or con- sideration whatt!ver, and further that the said grant was not revoked or an- nulled by the ordinance of Gilles Hocquart of the 12th May, 1*733 as falsely alleged in tht; said special answer. And Defendants furtht;r say that the Plaintiff in this case cannot, by law, claim any right or title in the territory comprised in the said Seigniory iti la terre Jerme de Mingan, by reason of anything contained in the said ordi- nance of the said Gilles Hocquart, or in any order or judgment whatever in respect thereof; inasmuch as the Defendants allege that long after the rend- 2i> cring of the said judgments and ordinances the Sovereign admitted the right ol the representatives and assigns of the said Francois Bissot as proprietors of the said Seigniory ol la terre ferine de Mingan, and exacted, from time to time, the rights of the Crown, in respect of the mutations thereof, and among othtM' things, claimed iind obtained payment of the droit de quint upon sales of the said Seigniory, and instituted and took proceedings before the ordinary Courts of Justice of the said Province to enforce payment of the rights of the Crown in respect of the said Seignioiy as a Seigniory, and entered into divers acts, t;ompromise8 and agreements in respect thereof, and more especially upon the sale of a i)ortion of the said Seigniory, made by the Sheriff of the District ofp.o Quebec to John Bhukwood, Esquire, the deed of sale whereof bears date the 14th day of June, 1808, and on divers other occasions ; mid accejited the faith and homage of the representatives and assigns ul the said Francois Bissot. in manner and form, and at the several dates and times mentioned in Defendants' plea, and in divers other modt>8 and at divers times between the date of the said coiK ession and the institution of the present action, recognized, directly and indirectly the fact of the existence of the said Seigniory as private pro- perty, and the rights of th? Defendants and ol' the anteiirs of the Defen- dants thereto. Wherefore, the Defendants pray the dismissal of the said special answer 40 5,''|'\S'! [ip B I 25 with .osts, and iurthor pray as iu and by their said plea they have already prayed. Montreal, 10th October, 1884. ABBOTT, TAIT & ABBOTTS. Attorneys for Defendunln. DEFENDANTS' EVIDENCE. 10 •id Present: -THE HONORABLE Mil. JUSTICE A. B. ROUTHIER. And on this fourteenth day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty- live, personally came and appeared the Honorable Jonathan S. C. Wurtele, ot the City of Montreal, witness produced on behalf of D.tendant, who being lirst duly sworn, doth depose and say : , .. ,• .u I am not r. lated, allied, or of kin to, or in the e.nploy ol any ot th. parties in this cause. . Question-Please state what position you held in connection with the commission for the commutation of the Seignorial tenure? Answer-1 was the Chief Clerk in the Otfice of the Commission, at Montreal ^, . . „ ,. ,, Question-Do you know any thing of the nature ot the information obtained by the Commissioners as to the Eastern Boundary of the seigniory of the Terreferme de Mingan, upon which they based their description ot that boundary given in the Cadaster of that Seignory. And state in what your knowledge consist? ,. . o • ■ i ■>,. Answer-I was requested by Mr. Henry Judah, one ot the heignor.al ..i) Commissioners to prepare the Cadastres of the Seigniories mentioned in the 10th Section of the A.t 19 and 20 Victoria, chap. 5B, which included the Seig- niory of Mingan, for the purpose of establishing the dilference m value ot these Seigniories, in consequence of the tenure thereof, having been con- verted into franr. aleu routurier, and the vakv of the casual dues and otlier rights of the Crown. 1 took my information, as to the extent and boun^hiri.s of the Seigniory of Mingan or Terre ferme d- Mingan. from the Typo- ..raphical Dictionary of the Province of Low.r (Canada, of the late Jos,.ph Souchette, published in London in eighte mi hmidr mI and thirty-two, which gave its extent to be - from Cap Cormorant, along ih. Northern Shore ot the m m ^ i5 )li 26 "Labrador Chauuel, to the Rivor Groynish. " 1 attached uo importauce to the })oundaries, as the object we had in view was to establish the amount to be paid by the owners to the Crown, as an inderanitication for the loss of its Seigniorial Rights in consequence of the abolition of the Seigniorial tenure. Question — Did yon make any other inquiry or examination to ascertain the Eastern Boundary of the Seigniory, or was any made bei'ore the Cadastre you prepared was adopted ? Answer — I think, in the best of my recollection, that I spoke to some persons in Montreal, whom I thought would have had some knowledge of the Seigniory, but they could give me no information, and I decided to abide 1" by the information which I had obtained in Mr. Bouchette's work. Mr. Judah signed thi' Cadastre after reading it, without taking any steps to ascer- tain or verify the Eastern Eoixndary. (Cross-Exam I NED.) Question — Do you know from whom Mr. Bouchette himself had his in- in formation ? Answer — No, I do not. Question — And you consulted no other document than that book ? i" Answer — I also looked at a small work rompiled by William Vouden- velden and Louis Charland (of which an extract is fyled in this case), but at that tim(> I did not know that there was any difference between the River Qoynish and La frrande Arise vers les Esquimaux ou les Espagnofs font ordinaire- iiient leur piche. Question — The description given under the head " title" by Mr. Bou- chette and the one given by Mr. Vondenvelden are idcnitical, are they not 'i And both refer to Registres des foi et hommage. No. 78, folio 355 ? Answer — Yes, and both niter to the Registres des foi et hommage, No. 78, folio 355. y,i) Question — Did you then refer to the Registres des foi et hommage in question ? Answer — No. Question — And you were not aware then that that acte de foi et hom- mage was not signed by the Governor ? Answer — No. I was not. I sec the original Register containing this acte de foi et hommage for the first time to day. Question— When you had i)repared the Cadastre, did Mr. Judah make liny search to verify the titles or extent of the Seigniory ? Answer — No. He did not. He trusted entirely to me in the matter, -lo "%. ^. Q^. '^.'^> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) :/- (A 2a 1.0 I.I 1.25 Iff i^ IIIIIM I ^ Ilia. :r 1^ 12.0 1.4 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WIBSTIR, NY. 14580 (716) S73-4503 m V iV A \ 4 \ i^ f/j <\ 6^ %• : 1 J'. 27 Quest ion— What was your object in uiakiug out the figures that appear in the Schedule of the Cadastre aforesaid? Answer — As the Seigniory was one of those mentioned in the Statute I have referred to as being unsettled and in the possession of the owners, the object of making the Cudastrt; was to ascertain and establish its value and the amount to be paid to the Crown for the loss of its Seigniorial rights. The indemnity for the loss of the droit de. quint was established ])y taking the average of the receipts of twenty-live years capitalizing such average and then dividing such average and capital among the whoh^ of the Seigniories according to their resp<'ctive value as ascertained in the respective Cadastres thereof. For in this purpose the value of Mingan was lixed by me at ten cents an arpent. I took that ligure as a nominal price as the Seigniory was not settled. And further deponent saith not, and this his deposition having been read over to him, he declares the same to contain the truth, persists therein and hath signed. (Signed) J. S. C. WURTELE. Sworn before me at Quebec this 14th March, 1885. (Signed) II, FliEDETTE. Dep. P.S.C. iij 2ti CONSENT AND ADMISSION OF PAIiTIES. In order to save costs and expense and to procure a decision of this cause upon a fair and equitable basis, and for the purpose of avoiding the dilliculties arising from lapse of time; (he parties respectively admit and con- sent US follows — THE PLAINTIFF AND DEFEND.VNTS ADMIT m 1, Thai I he several lixhibits I'yled by the Plainlill' and by the De- fendants, whether certilied or not are true copies of the originals of which they purport to be copies ; and it is consented that each of them shall be re- ceived in lieu and st(>ad of (he said originals, and shall have the same ellect lis said originals would have if i>roduced, •1. The Plaintill'and Defendants consent (hat reference be hatl in (his cause to all books of history, biography, geography and travels, and to all published maps and to all maps, plans, blue books, reports and ollicial docu- ments issued 1)y the Departments of the late Province of Lower Canada, or by in 28 the Departments ol" tho late Piovince of Canada, or of the Domiuiou of Canada, :ind all the printed Cadastral Reports of the Commissioners under the Sei- iuiiiorial Tenure Act of 1854, applirable thereto, provided said books, maps, maps, reports and documents be fyled in the cause, or quoted at the argument said hooks, maps plans, reports and documents to be received in evidence with suth weift-ht and of such value as to the Court shall deem just. 8. The Plaintiff admits that Defendants' Exhibit No. 1, is a copy of a list of the Seigniories of the Province of Quebec prepared by the late Christo- pher Duukin, Esquire, Queen's Counsel, afterwards Judge Dunkin, and sub- mitted to the Seigniorial Court under the Seigniorial Tenure Act of 1854. 1" 4. That Defendants' Exhibit No. 7A. is a true extract from a work of William Vondenvelden, Assistant-Surveyor of the Province of Lower Canada, and Louis Charland, Deputy Provincial Surveyor, published at Quebec in 1803, and entitled " Extraits des litres des anciennes concessions de terre en liefs et seigneuries dans le Bas-Canada," being a copy of the title page thereof :ind of the descriptions amongst others of the Seigniories of Terra Firraa of Mingaii, and of the Islivs and Islets of Mingan. 5. That the original deeds of lease and sale, Defendants' Exhibits Nos. 1:2 & 44, were duly executed by the parties whose names they bear, and that their signatures are genuine, and that the several lessees of the property in ■'^" question, possessed the said property under the; different leases fyled in this cause according to their terms. (j. That Plaintiffs Exhibit B. is produced only to indicate some of the pretensions of tho parties, and not as a true copy of Bayfield's map, and that the last map annexed to Mr. Bouchette's Report also contains Plaintiffs pre- tensions or some of them as to divers con(!8 Feb. 11 —Authentic copy certified by the Custodian ot the Colonial Archives at Paris, of an extract from the Papier lerrier, of the Co'y des Indes Occi- dentales being the " avm et dedaratUm" made on the 11th day of February, 1668, before M. Louis Theandre Chartier, Conseiller du Roi/ et Lieutenant' Gi'n&ral Civil et Criminel t\ Qu^liec, by Francois Bis- sot de la Riviere, re8pei;ting the seigniory of 30 Terra Firma de Mingan No. A. '2. 1078 —Photographic copy of a map in the depot des Cartes et Plans at Paris, entitled " Carte pour servir k I'eclaircissement du Papier Terrier de Nouvelle-France," which acccompanied the Pa- pier Terrier sent to Franco by the Intendaut in 1678 and dedicated by him to Monseigneur Col- bert ; and photographic copies on an enlarqfed scale of parts ol' the same map No. 4. H»7H March 10— Authentic copy of the concession by the Frenih 40 ;i h ' r B.,X Hi 30 Crowu of the Seigniory of les isles et Islets de Mingan, to Sieurs Jacques Lalaude et Louis Jol- liet, as entered in the Registres de foi et hom- mage dated 10th March, 1679, and certified by the Deputy Commissioner of Crown Lands No. 1tJ84 March !• —Copy of a certificate of Duchesneau late Intend- ant, of the burning of certain papers in a fire on the 4th and 5th of August, 1682, as entered in Liber A. Imperial Commissions, folio 220 archi- ves of the Dominion of Canada. Certified by L. A. Catellier, Deputy Registrar General of Canada... No. lt;88 — Fac-simile copy of a part of a map in the Library of Parliament at Ottawa, entitled "Carte de I'Amerique Septentriouale, par Jean-Baptiste Louis Franquelin, en I'annee 1688." Certified by L. P. Sylvain, Deputy Librarian of the Library of Parliament at Ottawa No. 1(5)^H — Fac-simile copy of a map in the Library of Par- liament at Ottawa, entitled : " Carte de la partie orientale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle-France, par le P. Coroni'lli. 1688.'" Certified by L. P. Sylvain, Deputy Librarian of the Parliament at Ottawa No. 1702 Ott. 17 —Authentic copy of grant to Legardeur, dated 1702. Certified by the Deputy-Provincial Re- gistrar No. 170;} — A map styled " Carte du Canada, par Ouillaurae de risle, premier Geographe du Roy," published at Paris in 1703 No. 1704 — Copy, certified by the Keeper of the Ar 16. 2nch Goverumiut and the Governors and Intendants of Canada, relating to the Seigniorial Tenure req d i.y an address of the Legislative Assembly, 1851 173« March 15— Authentic copy of lease of the S^Mgniory of Min- gan, before Beaulet, N. P., dated 15th March, 1736, from Francois Bissot et uxw; to L. V. Dau- debourg and wife, certified by the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, Quebec 173H April It —Authentic copy, certified by the Custodian of the Colonial Archives of France at Paris, of a letter dated the 9th April, 1738, from M. le Comte de Maurepas, Minister of Colonies at Versailles, to the Marquis of Beauharuois and M. Hocquart, then respectively Governor and Inteudant, di- recting them to report to the heirs Bissot for the issue of a brevet confirming them in their right of property, possession and enjoyment of the land remaining to them after the abandonment of the Western portion under M. Hocquart's judgment, and also of a second letter from M. de Maurepas to the Governor and Intendant, dated 21st April, 1739, acknowledging the receipt of their report, declaring that although M. Bissot was unable to produce the original grant, yet, that as it appeared by the extract from the terrier of the Compagnie A. 8. 10 55 11 2(1 •Hi 30 40 17^4, 83 d«'is Indes Otfideiitiili-B, thut Sicur Binsot, pere, held Irom that Company, the land in qm-stiou en set- f>neufie, and that he and his roproHcntatives had Hin«;e occupied it without any disturbance for an extent of about one hundred and fifty leagues, he had determined to advise that they should be lonhrmed in the possession of part of that extent, and that the King had agreed that they should enjoy the extent of coast betw«'en the boundary of the Crown Domain, (Cape Cormoranf) iinH. the boundary to thc^ concession to Sieur Lafontaine, etc., etc -A map styled " New <'hart of the coast of New England, New France, etc., done from the origi- nal published in I'aris, by Mons. Bellin, Engineer to the Marine Ofiice, in Paris, A.I). 1744," dated 1744 11. '>n. —Map entitled " Suite de la Coste reduitsdu Golfe 8t. Laurent, faite par ordre de Mons. Rouiile, Secretary of State, at/ant le lUpartcmml da la marine, for use of the ships of the French King, pub- lished Paris, 175.-5 17t)t) Oct. 4 — Copy of the Acte de Notoriete passed before Sun- guinet and his colltjagues at Quebec, on the 4th October, 176(3, to prove the loss of the title deeds of FVan^ois llissot de la Riviere, by lirt* at Quebec, on 5th January, 1718, as re(;ord>'d in Liber A, Im- perial Commissions, folio 19H, archives of the Dominion of Canada. Certified by L. A. ('atel- lier, Dep'y lieg'r Genl of Canada I7tl!i Dec. 4 — Authenti<' copy of an act of cession of his rights in the Seigniory of Terra Firma of Mingan, from Antoine llelcourt de La F'ontaine to Antoiue Grise, before Hautraye, Notary Public, 4th De- cember, 1769. ('ertilied by the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, Montreal 1771 July 4 — Authentic copy (»f cession of rights in the Sei- gniory of Mingan, before Quesnel, N. P., from Noel Allain et nxm, to Jean-Marie AUain. Certi- fm \ in A. 4. 17. 2(1 27. ;tii 7H (a) 40 SB "m V.) 84 tied by the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, Quebec 1772 Tune Ist —Authentic «opy of a deed of sale before Pauet and hiB colleague, N. P., from Daine Marie Bisso^ of one quarter of the Seigniory and posts of Min- gan to Thomas Dunn, dated 1st June 1772, and .certified by the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, Quebec •^'^ 1771 Feby. « —Authentic copy of an act de foi et hoinmage for the fief and Seigniory ofBeltBil *>3 1" 1774 Nov. 2;} —Authentic copy of sale by Dame Louise Therese Fleury de Lagorgendiere, marquise de Vaudreuil, of her rights in the Seigniory of Terra Firma of Mingau, to Michel Charretier de Lotbiniere be- fore d'Auteuil and his colleague, notaries, at the Chatelet in Paris, 23 November 1774 7H 1778 Dec. 3 —Copy of a judgment rendered in the Court of Common pleas at Montreal, on 3rd December, 1779. in a case between Gabriel Elzear Tasche- reau, el nl., and Michel Charretier de Lotbiniere, granting a retrait lignager in favour of the former of certain properties and amongst others of interests in the Seigniory of Terra Firma de Mingan. C.-rtifii-d by the Prothonotary 71 1777 Nov. 20 —Authentic copy of a Notarial Act of cession before Panet and his 7 May 1st —Last will and testament of the late Peter Stuart, Esquire, dated 1st May, 179*7, in English form with probati" thereof. Certified by the Protho- notary, Superior Court, Quebec t>5 1801 Aug. T) —The last will and testament of the late Thomas Dunn, in holograph form dated 5th August 1801, with probate thereof. Certified by the Protho- notary, Superior Court, Quebec '""^ 1H0;;5 —Photographic copy of part of a map of Lower Canada, made by order of the Provincial Govern- ment by "William Vondenvelden, lately Assistant- Surveyor-General and Louis Charland, Land Surveyor. Certified by the Assistant-Keeper of the Department of Maps in the British Museum Extracts from a book entitled " Extraits des titres des anciennes concessions de terre en fief et Sei- gneurie dans le Bas-Canada, by William Von- denvelden, lately Assistant Surveyor-General, and Louis Charland, Land Surveyor, published in :i<> Queb(!c, 1803, containing the title page, and the descriptions of the Seigniories of la terre ferme de Mingan and les iles et Uets de Mingan 7 («) 1803 Sept. 9 — Authentii- copy of a notarial lease of the Sei- gniory of Terra Firma of Mingan, by Wm. Grant and others to Messrs. McTavish Frobisher & Co. before J. J. Beck, notary public, dated 9th Sept. 1803 ^*' 1805 July 31 —Copy of a list of Seigniories in the Province of Quebec, prepared in the Surv<>yor General's 40 2(1 i 1 37 Office in 1805 and certified by the Deputy Com- missioner of Crown Lauds 1805 Aug. 7 — Copy of au opposition by the Attorney-General for the mutation fine on the sale of a share in the Seigniory of Terra Firma de Miugau by the Sheriff" in a cause in the Court of King's Bench wherein Ralph Rosslewiu, et al., were Plaintiff's, and Matthew Lymburner et al., were Defendants. Certified by the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, Quebec 1805 Oct. 1st —Copy of Sheriff's return to above case. Certified by the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, Quebec 1806 Feb. 1st — Authentic copy of deed of reference before J. H. Plante, and his ( oUeague, Notrries, between the Honorable Thomas Dunn, Matthew Lymburner, Esquire, John Willis Wolsey and the Honor- able Jonathan Sewell, Attoruey-Greneral where- by it was agreed that the latter should with- draw his opposition aboA-e mentioned, and that the amount of (/uint should be determined by re- ference to Jean Antoine Panet, Esquire, Advo- cate ; the award of said Panet, under said deed of compromise, dated Quebec, February Ist, 1806. 1808 Feby. 22 —Office copy of Sheriff^'s deed of ',5 shares in the Seigniory of Mmgau, to John Richardson, dated 22ud February. 1808 1808 Apl. 30 —Deed of sale in English form, from James Shep- pard, Esq., Sheriff" of the Distri t of Quebec, to the Hon. John Richardson and others of the Sei- gniory of the Isles et Islets of Mingan in a suit in the Court of King's Bench, wherein Patrick Langan, Esquire, was Plaintiff^, and John Richard- son, in his quality of Curator of the estate of the late William Grant was Defendant, dated the 30th day of April, 1808 1808 Apl. 30 — Copy of deed of sale by Sheriff"of District of Que- bec, of fishing stations on the North Shore of the Gulf, 30th April, 1808 808 June 14 —Copy of a deed of sale by the Sheriff" of the Dis- 70 46 {a) li> 46 (6) '2(t 47 48 ;!o 56 24 4(t « I mmmmmmm 38 trict of Quebec, to Blackwood, of one undivided half of the Seigniory of Mingan, dated 14th June, 1808, containing a receipt by Henry Caldwell, Esqr., Receiver-General for Lower Canada, of ■£229.2.6, being the mutation fine or droit de quint upon said sale and certified by the Deputy Registrar General 25 1805 Fac-simile copy of the North-East part of a map of the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, by Joseph Bouchette, published by W. Faden, Lon- 10 don, 1815. Certified by L. P. Sylvain, Deputy Librarian, of the Library of Parliament, at Ot- tawa ^^ 1819 July 23 —Exemplification of will of the late John Black- wood, Esq («) 1823 March 14— Deed dated 14th March 1823 from Executor of late John Blackwood to John Greenshields et al., of his interest in the Seigniory of Terra Firraa de Mingan (*) 1823 Dec, 9 —The last will and testament of the late Andrew 20 Weir, Esquire, dated 9th December, 1823, in J English form, with probate thereof. Certified by ' the Prothonotary, Superior Court, Quebec 66 1825 June 13 —Copy of original lease sous seing prive, certified by a public Notary rec'd by the Lord Mayor of London, from J. Stuart and others to the Hud- son's Bay Company of the Seigniory of Terra Firma of Mingan, dated 13 June, 1825 11 1826 June 28 — Authentic copy of a notarial deed of conveyance, before Lindsay and McPherson, N. P., from Alex- 30 ander to John Greenshields, of an undivided one third of an undivided one quarter of the Sei- gniory of Terra Firma de Mingan, dated 28th June, 1826, and certified by the Prothonotary of the Superior Court, Quebec 32 1828 May Slst —Authentic copy of probate of will of late Thomas Weir. Certified by the Prothonotary of the Su- perior Court, Quebec 31 («) 1828 Nov. 3 —Authentic copy of a notarial deed of conveyance, before McPherson, N.P., an undivid.d quarter of 40 39 10 Seigniory of Terra Firma ) Dunlevy's Map, Crown Lands Department under Representation Act, 16 Vic. cap. 152. (f.) And Crown Lands Maps showing division of Lower Canada into counties, 1853. Exhibits 51, 52. (d) Map, Exhibit 4, A. D. 1678, made under orders of Duchesneau, Intendant, " pour servir a reclaircisseraent du papier terrier." {e) Extracts fiom a list of Seigniories in Lower Canada, published in 1803, by Messrs. Vondeuvelden & Charland, Defendants' Exhi- bit 7 (a.) (/) List of Seigniories in Lower Canada, made in 1803. Defendants* Exhibit 7 (b.) ig) Vondenvelden & Charland, Map of 1803. Defendants' Exhibit 8. ^'^ (h) Surveyor Gren'l Bouchette's Map, 1853. Exhibits 20, 59. (./) Official Map issued by Commissioner of Crown Lauds, 1852. Exhibit 9. (k) Official Map laid before the House, 1829. made by William Saxe. P.L.S. Exhibit 19. (/) Map made by Re . Father Laure, 1733. Exhibits 15, 51, referred to in Edits et Ord. II. 361, &c. 3. — Miscellaneous Authorities 30 (1.) List of Seigniories in Lower (!anada, made by Hon. C. Dunkin 1856. Exhibit 1. (2.) Report of Hon. J. O'Kill Stuart on the title to the Seigniory. Exhibit 5. (3.) Report of Mr. S. E. Dawson. Exhibit No. 74. 40 ^■B ■■B ■^a 45 II— DEFENDANTS ARE THE OWNERS. (a) Titles from original grantee. (b) Titles from persons who rendered homage in 1781. (c) Titles from persons who rendered homage in 183*7. (d) By Sheriffs titles. (e) " 100 years' prescription. (f) " 30 years' prescription. {a) " 10 years' prescription. (A) Title from Grantee, Fran^iois Bissot. 10 His heirs were his children ; Fran9ois the second. His only child Marie Vederique inherited his share and sold it to Thomas Dnnn. Exhibit 37. Charlotte, married Belcourt de Lafontaine. Their children : — (a) Antoinc Belcourt de Lafontaine sold his share by notarial deed .,„ to Antoinc Grrise. Antoine Grise sold to William Grant by deed before Hautraye, N.P. 1779. Recited in Exhibit No. 35. {b) Madeleine sold her share to Thomas Dunn, 20 Nov. 1777. Ex- hibit 29. (t) Nicolas-Joseph — see under letter B. {(I) Marie-Joseph married Frs. Jos. Cugnet — see under tetter B. Claire-FrauQoise married Louis JoUiet. Their children : — ;>i) (1) Charles Jolliet d'Anticosti. His children : — («) (b) (2) Marie-Joseph married Pierre Sert. Charlotte married Vital Caron. Parties to suit in which SherifFsold to Wm. Grant. See Exhibit 32. Claire married de Lagorgendiere. Their children : — Ignace Fleury de Lagorgendiere's widow married Wm. Grant. 40 46 (6) Louis-Therese married Marquis de Vaudreuil, aud sold to Michel Charretier de Lotbiuiere. by deed before Lepot d'Au- t.;uil and his colleague, Notaries at the Chatelet, in Paris, 23rd November, 1774, recited in Exhibit 35. DeLotbiniere was sued en relrait Hgnager by Gabriel Elzear Taschereau aud Wm. Grant who obtained judgment. Exhibit 79. Taschereau afterwards sold to Wra. Grant by deed before Panet, N. P. Recited in Exhibit 35. (3) Jean JoUiet Mingan. His children : — Claire married N. G. Boisseau. Marie married Noel Allain, and ceded to Jean Marie Allain. Ex- hibit 49 Marie-Anne married Jean Tache. Their children ; — Pierre, Charles, Pascal, Marie- Joseph, Augelique. («) (6) (^•) > Sold to Dunn & Stuart. Exhibit 36. Sold to Dunn & Stuart. Exhibit 30. 10 (B) Title from those who rendered Foi et Homaoe in 1781. 211 See Exhibit 6. 1. Francois-Joseph Cugnet and his wife sold to Grant, Stuart & Dunn. Exhibit 34. 2. Joseph Belcourt de Lafontaiue sold to Grant, Stuart & Dunn. Exhibit 34. 3. Nicolas Joseph de Lafontaine sold his share in 1788 (Exhibit 64) to Wm. Lymburner, whose interest was sold by Sheriff's ;;(i sale to J. Richardson. Exhibit 48. 4. Fraufois de Lafontaine sold to Frs. J. Cugnet (Exhibit 28) who sold to Grant, Stuart & Dunn. Exhibit 34. WILLIAM GRANT, 1 PETER STUART, THOMAS DUNN, Were thus owners in 1789, of about J & ^ & i respectively. See Deed of Accord et Conventions. Exhibit 35. Wm. Grant.— His share was sold by Sheriff to John Blackwood and P. Lan- gan, to the latter of whom John Ric'uardson was substituted. 40 H ' 47 10 .Tohu Blackwood by will, Ist June, 1819 (Exhibit ) be- queathed his share to A. Greoushields, J. Greeiishiolds aud And. Weir. A. Greenshields sold to J. Greeiishields. Exhibit 32. J. Greenshields (sec under letter C.) A. Weir, made his will 9th Dee., 182.'}. Exhibit 66, aud be- queated his share to John, Helen and Thomas Weir. John and Helen sold to Thomas, ;5rd Nov., 1828. Exhibit 31. See under letter C John Richardson ditd 1831, intestate; recited in Exhibit 38. His heirs were his children : — («) Aiine Kit, Histoiri> du Nouveau-Monde. Seorsby, Arctic Regions. Fortier's Report on th<' Fisheries of th.' Gulf LaHontan, Meinoires. Champlain, Voyages. llarrise. Notes pour servir k I'histoirc, A la bibliographic et k la carto- graphie de la Nouvelle-France et des pays adjacents. Carte pour servir A 1 edaireissement du papier-terrier de la Nouvelle- France. Memorandum of the Honorable G. O. Stuart, respecting the Seigniory of Terra Firm a of Mingan. General Statement of grants en fiefs et seigneuries, and of those en roture. in the Province of Quebec. ^,, 30 50 21, 22. 23. 24. 25. 2G. 27. 28. 2!). .'JO. 31. 82. 33. 34. 35. 3fi. 37. Map ol' Lower Canada, by Motss. Voudorveldeu & Chartrand. Appoudix to Roport of Commissiouer of Crown Lauds, Part II, 1857. Blue Book coutaiuiug oorrespoudvuce relatiug to the Seiguiorial Tenure between the French Grovernmeut and the Governor and Inteudauts of Canada. Carte du Domaine du Roy eu Canada, par le Pere Laure, Versailles, 1733. Nt'w Chart of the coast of New England, New France, etc., done from the original published in Paris, by Mons. Bellin, engineer to the Marine Office in Paris, 1744. 10 Carte geuerale de la France Septentrionale, coutenaut la decouverte du pays des Illinois par le Sieur Jolliet. Report of Special Committee on roads and other interior communica- tions. Map of Canada by Josi-ph Bouchette, Ekq., Surveyor-aeneral, 1853. Carte du Canada par Guillaume de Lisle, premier geographe du Roy, Paris, 1703. Memoire du voyage qu'a fait le Sieur de Courtemanche a la coste des Exquimaux. depuis Kegason jusqu'au Havre St. Nicholas. Suite de la carte reduit.> du Golfe St Laurent, fait par ordre de Mons. 20 Renille, Secretaire d'Etat, Paris, 1753. Atlas containing Maps of the .ounties in Upper and Lower Canada 1853. Carte de cette partie du pays, depuis la Baye d'Hudson a I'ouest jusqu'A Mingan a I'est, par le Pere Laure, S. J., 1731. Carte do la partie orientale du Canada ou de la Nouvdle-France, par le Pere Coronelli. 1688. Bayfield's Chart of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Cadaster of the Seigniory of Mingan. Recis et Documents relatifs a la Tenure Seigneuriale, demaudes par une 3<> adresse de I'Assemblee Legislative, 1851. Malbaie, 14th March, 1885. ABBOTT, TAIT & ABBOTTS, Attys. for Defendants. 4(» Q^ i»r+ } i'\.. 4.- ■^T: ■^^m No. in % C0urf 0f ^nm'% §mt^, (AF>PH>AL SIDS ) THE LABRADOR COMPANY, (De/endanti in the Court below), AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, (Pknntiff m the Covrt hdovo), APPELLANTS' FACTUM. fyled 1889. \mtl NT, SEN, ), m. 9.