Instructions of 1763

List of lands granted by the crown in the province of Quebec, from 1763 to 31st December 1890 (here in plain text):

Instructions of 1763

In taking possession of Canada, the Imperial Government took steps to avoid the inconveniences caused by large concessions of land, which then gave rise to much trouble in the other British colonies in North America.  For that purpose, the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations in 1763 sent instructions to the Canadian government, limiting grants of public land to 100 acres for every head of family and 50 acres for every other person, white or colored, composing the family, with power to extend the total area to 1,000 acres in exceptional cases.  The object of this liberality was to induce English settlers from adjacent provinces to settle in Canada.  According to these instructions, all Crown lands were to be granted in free tenure and without any other condition than the reservation of the right of the Crown to resume possession of the whole or part of the land granted in the event of its being required for military purposes.  These grants were made by means of location tickets or occupation permits.

There is, in the archives of the Registrar’s Department, no trace or rather no registration of the grants which may have been made under these instructions.  

The object of the act of 1774, the first regular constitution of Canada, was to re-establish in the country all French laws affecting the tenure of real estate.