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.
HON. CHARLES SERAPHIM RODIER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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