Joseph-Rémi Vallières de Saint-Réal (October 1, 1787 – February 17, 1847) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec ...

. He was born Joseph-Rémi Vallières in Carleton in 1787, the son of a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

, and moved to Windham Township in

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North Americ ...

with his family in 1799. After the death of his father, he moved to

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, where he was tutored by Monsignor

Joseph-Octave Plessis Joseph-Octave Plessis (March 3, 1763 – December 4, 1825) was a Canadian Roman Catholic clergyman from Quebec. He was the first archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec after the diocese was elevated to the status of an archdiocese ...

, and then studied at the

Petit Séminaire de Québec Petite or petite may refer to: *Petit (crater), a small, bowl-shaped lunar crater on Mare Spumans * ''Petit'' (EP), a 1995 EP by Japanese singer-songwriter Ua *Petit (typography), another name for brevier-size type *Petit four * Petit Gâteau *Pe ...

. He studied law with Charles Thomas and then with Edward Bowen and qualified to practice in 1812. He served as a lieutenant in the militia during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

. He married Louise, the daughter of seigneur Pierre-Melchior Pezard de Champlain in 1812. He acquired property at Quebec, was the main shareholder in a toll bridge over the

Etchemin River The Etchemin River is a river in the Chaudière-Appalaches region of eastern Quebec. It gave its name to Les Etchemins Regional County Municipality. The river itself was named for the Abenaki native people of the area who the French called "le ...

, was a part-owner in a lumber business and owned a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

that he rented out in exchange for a large portion of its flour production. He was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada The Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada was the lower house of the bicameral structure of provincial government in Lower Canada until 1838. The legislative assembly was created by the Constitutional Act of 1791. The lower house consisted of el ...

for Saint-Maurice in 1814, then represented the Upper Town of Quebec from 1820 to 1829. Vallières de Saint-Réal was a moderate member of the parti canadien. He opposed the union of Upper and Lower Canada proposed in 1822 and served as speaker from 1823 to 1825 during the absence of Louis-Joseph Papineau, who went to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to present the case against the union. He helped found the

Literary and Historical Society of Quebec The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec (LHSQ) was the first historical society, and one of the first learned societies, in Canada. It was founded in 1824 by George Ramsay, Earl of Dalhousie, governor of British North America. Its headquar ...

in 1824 and served as a vice-president. In 1829, he was named provincial judge at

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...

after the death of Pierre-Stanislas Bédard. He was named resident judge in the Court of King's Bench for Trois-Rivières district in 1830. In 1836, he married Jane Keirnan, a widow, there; his first wife had died in 1829. Vallières de Saint-Réal was named to the Executive Council in 1838. He was suspended as a judge later that year because he issued a writ of

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, ...

shortly after habeas corpus had been suspended by colonial administrator Sir

John Colborne Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedi ...

. He signed a petition against the Union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840. He was reinstated as a judge in August of that year and compensated for his loss of income during the suspension. In 1842, he was named chief justice in the Court of King's Bench for Montreal district. He died at

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

in 1847.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vallieres de Saint-Real, Joseph-Remi 1787 births 1847 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada Lower Canada judges Province of Canada judges