Joseph Honoré Gérald Fauteux

He studied at the Université de Montréal and graduated with an LL.L. in 1925. Called to the bar that year, he settled in Montréal, where he practised with his uncle, Honoré Mercier, forming the law firm of Mercier & Fauteux. From 1930 to 1936, he was Crown Prosecutor for Montréal and, in 1939, he became Chief Crown Prosecutor of the province of Quebec. In 1946, he was associated with the Royal Commission on Spying Activities in Canada, acting as a legal adviser. For 14 years, he taught criminal law as a sessional lecturer at McGill University and was dean of the Faculty of Law from 1949 to 1950. He was appointed to the Superior Court of Quebec in 1947 and to the Supreme Court of Canada on December 22, 1949. He was also one of the founders of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa, serving as dean from 1953 to 1962. On March 23, 1970, he was named Chief Justice of Canada. He served on the Supreme Court for 24 years, retiring on December 23, 1973.

Chief Justice Fauteux died in 1980. He was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Scientific category in 1978 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.