Sir Henri-Elzéar Taschereau, (October 7, 1836 – April 14, 1911) was a

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jurist and the fourth

Chief Justice of Canada The chief justice of Canada () is the presiding judge of the nine-member Supreme Court of Canada, the highest judicial body in Canada. As such, the chief justice is the highest-ranking judge of the Canadian court system. The '' Supreme Court Ac ...

Career

Taschereau was born in his family's seigneurial manor house at Sainte-Marie-de-la-Beauce,

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to Pierre-Elzéar Taschereau and Catherine Hénédine Dionne. Tashereau attended the

Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...

and was called to the

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in 1857. That same year he married Marie-Antoinette de Lotbiniere Harwood (d. 1896), daughter of Robert Unwin Harwood, and they were the parents of seven children. He married his second wife, Marie-Louise Panet, in 1897 and fathered three more children. He practiced law in

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and entered politics in 1861 when he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of what was then the

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where he opposed

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. He was appointed a judge of the

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in 1871 and to the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

in 1878 following the retirement of Jean-Thomas Taschereau (see below), and also taught law part-time at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. He was made a

knight bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

on 14 August 1902, after the honour had been announced in the

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list published on 26 June 1902. In November 1902 he became Chief Justice serving for four years until his retirement in 1906. He became a member of the British Privy Council in 1904, which entitled him to sit on the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 August ...

Family

Taschereau was the great, great grandson of Thomas-Jacques Taschereau, the patriarch of the family in Canada. He was first-cousin once-removed to the brothers Elzéar Alexandre Cardinal Taschereau and

Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

Jean-Thomas Taschereau. Jean-Thomas's son Louis-Alexandre would serve as

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. His grandson Robert Taschereau would also serve as Chief Justice of Canada. Henri-Elzéar Taschereau married at Vaudreuil, Quebec May 27, 1857, to Marie Antoinette Harwood, daughter of the Hon. R. U. Harwood, Seigneur of Vaudreuil, and his wife, Marie Louise Josephte Chartier de Lotbiniere. The couple had seven children. She died at Ottawa, June 2, 1896. Her remains were interred in the parish church of Vaudreuil. Madame Marie Louise Panet Taschereau by William James Topley

Madame Marie Louise Panet Taschereau by William James Topley

Henri-Elzéar Taschereau married at Ottawa, March 22, 1897 his second wife Marie Louise Panet, daughter of Charles Panet, Clerk of Private Bills, House of Commons, Ottawa, and his wife, Euphemie Chateauvert. Marie Louise was born in Ottawa, February 29, 1868, and received her education at the Convent of the Sacred Heart (Grey Nuns) in Ottawa. The couple lived at 363 Theodore Street, Ottawa. The couple had two sons. Charles Elzear de Montarville Taschereau was born in Ottawa on October 5, 1898. Henri Edouard Panet Taschereau was born at Ottawa, August 9, 1902.

References

External links

Supreme Court of Canada Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taschereau, Henri-Elzéar Henri-Elzéar Chief justices of Canada Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Lawyers in Quebec Canadian legal scholars Canadian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Canadian Knights Bachelor 1836 births 1911 deaths Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from Canada East Université Laval alumni Quebec candidates for Member of Parliament Candidates in the 1867 Canadian federal election

Career

Family

References

Further reading

External links