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The purpose of this article is to analyze the legal concepts and principles that surrounded the colonization of North America as well as the relations that the French had with native Indians. Topics include a comparison between the ideas of French jurist and political philosopher Jean Bodin (1530–1596), about the political aspects of colonization, with those of jurists from the Ancien Regime, a period referring to the history of French society from the 14th to the 18th centuries, a study of official documents from the royal power in Canada at this period, and the arguments of France and Great Britain concerning the negotiating of their possessions in North America.