A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
History
A Cyclopædia of Canadian Biography: Brief biographies of persons distinguished in the professional, military and political life, and the commerce and industry of Canada, in the twentieth century
Canada -- Biography
=Lemieux, the Honorable Sir François-Xavier=, Chief Justice of the
Superior Court of Quebec, was born at Levis on the 9th of April, 1851,
the son of Antoine and Henriette (Lagueux) Lemieux. From the Levis
College he entered the Quebec Seminary and afterwards graduated from
Laval University, in 1872, taking the degree of LL.B. In the same year
he started on his career as a lawyer in the city of Quebec, taking rank
almost immediately as an efficient pleader in the criminal courts of the
Lower St. Lawrence districts. His eloquent fluency and finesse as a
defender brought him into a lucrative practice; and there were in time
few prominent cases of criminality brought into court in which his
services were not sought after. Nor did his legal acumen in winning
cases arouse any envious feeling against him among his legal brethren,
since in 1896 he was elected Batonnier of the Quebec Bar, and in the
following year Batonnier-General of the Provincial Bar. Turning his
attention to politics, he sat as member of Levis in the Legislative
Assembly for nine years, and afterwards as member for Bonaventure, for
three years. As an orator, he has a marvellous faculty on the hustings
of carrying any large audience with him in his argument. At length the
widest fame came to him when he was called upon to defend Louis Riel,
the rebel leader of the half-breeds and Indians in the North-West, in
1885. The charge of high treason against the culprit was sustained, but
his legal defender was nevertheless acclaimed as one of the shrewdest
lawyers that could have been engaged to defend him. Subsequently, in
1892, he was chosen to defend the Honorable Honore Mercier, Premier of
Quebec, before the criminal court, under charges of maladministration.
Mr. Mercier was honorably acquitted. Five years after the subject of
this biography was appointed Puisne Judge in the district of Arthabaska
and afterwards in Sherbrooke. From Sherbrooke, he was finally removed to
Quebec where he holds the office of Chief Justice for the Province of
Quebec. The literary talents of Sir François have been proven by his
lectures and essays. His acumen as a judge has been openly acknowledged
by his professional associates. He is a citizen well worthy the honor
conferred upon him by King George and by Laval University, in the one
case of Knighthood and in the other an LL.D. His father-in-law, the late
Justice Plamondon, was a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, Miss
Diana Plamondon becoming his wife in 1874.
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