Date Published:
January 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Banal Rights

Banal Rights, the privileges enjoyed by the seignior in pre-Revolutionary France, by means of which he compelled the censitaire to bring his grain to be ground at the seigniorial mill, his bread to be baked at the seigniorial oven, and his grapes to be pressed at the seigniorial wine-press. The only banal right which was common in New France was that of the obligatory use of the seigniorial mill; and this was a blessing to the colonists, since it carried with it the obligation on the part of the seignior to provide a flour-mill, and this flour-mill, loop-holed and barricaded, was frequently the only fortification against Indian attack.

Source: W. Stewart Wallace, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. I, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 398p., p. 150.