Hon. Michel Mathieu

Hon. Michel Mathieu has engraven his name high upon the list of Montreal’s eminent jurists, but has now retired from active connection with the profession, spending the evening of life in the enjoyment of well earned rest. He has passed the seventy-fifth milestone, having been born at Sorel, province of Quebec, December 20, 1838, a son of the late Joseph and Edwidge (Vandal) Mathieu. His education was acquired under private tuition and in the College of St. Hyacinthe, followed by a professional course in Laval University. He was admitted to the notarial profession in 1864 and was called to the Montreal bar as an advocate in 1865. His practice of his profession has been combined with active public service. In 1866 he was chosen sheriff of Richelieu and continued in that position for six years. He successfully practiced his profession at Sorel and while at the bar was closely associated with journalism bearing upon his profession, being the publisher of La Revue Legale, together with some annotated reports. In 1880 he was created king’s counsel by the Marquis of Lorne. He became widely known as an educator, for in 1886 he became a member of the law faculty of Laval University, receiving in that year the degree of LL. D., and becoming dean of the faculty, which connection he still retains.

It is a well known fact that members of the bar more than representatives of other professions are prominent in public office. The reasons for this are obvious and need no amplification here, for the qualities which fit one for success in law practice also prepare him for the thorough understanding of involved problems affecting the public welfare, and the habit of analytical reasoning is as forceful and valuable in one connection as in the other. Judge Mathieu sat for Richelieu in the house of commons, representing the conservative interests from 1872 until 1874. He was then defeated but represented the same constituency in the local parliament from 1875 until 1878. He took his place upon the bench as puisne judge of the superior court on the 3d of October, 1881, and for twenty-eight years interpreted law in opinions which were notably free from partiality and bias. His decisions indicate strong mentality, careful analysis and a thorough knowledge of the law. The judge on the bench fails more frequently, perhaps, from a deficiency in that broad-mindedness which not only comprehends the details of a situation quickly and that insures a complete self-control under even the most exasperating conditions than from any other cause; and the judge who makes a success in the discharge of his multitudinous, delicate duties is a man of well rounded character, finely balanced mind and of splendid intellectual attainments. That Judge Mathieu is regarded as such a jurist is a uniformly accepted fact. He figured also in public life as a royal commissioner to inquire into certain matters concerning the good government of the province in 1892. He presided at the celebrated Shortis case for murder in the ’90s; in 1910 he lectured on the Canadian constitution and in July of that year he was appointed a royal commissioner to revise, consolidate and modify the municipal code of Quebec.

Judge Mathieu was married in 1863 to Marie Delina Thirza, a daughter of the late Captain St. Louis of Sorel, province of Quebec. She died in 1870 and in 1881 Judge Mathieu wedded Marie Amelie Antoinette, a daughter of the late Hon. D. M. Armstrong, M. L. C. The death of Mrs. Marie A. A. Mathieu occurred in April, 1898. Judge Mathieu now resides at The Marlborough in Montreal. His religious belief is that of the Roman Catholic church. Something of his standing is indicated in the words of Dr. J. Reade, who spoke of him as “much esteemed, especially by the students and younger members of the bar,” while the Montreal Gazette said of him, “He is a judge, painstaking and capable and with a grasp of the law and its meaning that few can equal.” His influence has been far-reaching and beneficial; it has touched the general interests of society along many lines and has been a factor in maintaining the legal status upon which rests the stability and prosperity of a country, the life and liberty of the individual.