They Do Not Submit Themselves to the King's Law: Amerindians and Criminal Justice during the French Regime
![handle is hein.journals/manitob28 and id is 385 raw text is: They Do Not Submit Themselves To The
King's Law:
Amerindians and Criminal Justice
During the French Regime
DESMOND H. BROWN
W HEN MONARCHS OF THE RENAISSANCE appointed captains-general of
colonies-to-be overseas, their commissions gave their appointees ample
powers to govern the new jurisdictions. Typical of the genre was the document
issued by Frances I to Jean-Frangois de la Roque 9 March 1540, for the govern-
ance of New France.' La Roque was given authority to journey to Canada, Ho-
chelaga, Saguenay and, inter alia,
put them in our hand, as much by way of amity or friendly agreements, if that may be
done, as by force of arms, strong hand, and all other hostile means, to create ... cap-
tains [and] justices ... in our name, and [do] whatever shall seem necessary to him for
the maintenance, conquest and protection of the said countries and to attract the peo-
ples of them ... to settle and hold these in our obedie*nce, to make laws, edicts, stat-
utes, and ordinances, ... to cause [all persons] to keep, observe, and maintain [them]
by all ways and means seemly and reasonable, or other exemplary punishment, [and] to
remit and pardon misdeeds to those who require it ....2
Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Alberta. I would like to thank Dr. Howard
Welch and Professor Gerhardt Ens who read this paper in draft and whose comments were
detailed and cogent.
Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine navigator and explorer in the service of France, ap-
parently coined the name New France (Novo Gallia) for use on a map made c. 1527, now
lost. W.A. Morley, Giovanni da Verrazzano in Dictionary of Canadian Biography (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1966-1994) vol. I at 657 [hereinafter DCB].
J.P. Baxter, A Memoir of Jacques Cartier (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1906) at 317-318. See
also the similar commissions issued by King Emmanuel of Portugal to Gaspar Corte Real in
1500, by Henry VII of England to Richard Warde and his companions in 1501, and by
Queen Juana of Castile to Juan de Agramonte in 1511; H.P. Biggar ed., The Precursors of
Jacques Cartier (Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau, 1911) at 35-37, 41-59, 113-115.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/manitob28&div=22&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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They Do Not Submit Themselves to the King's Law: Amerindians and Criminal Justice during the French Regime
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