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  Researching the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
  Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada

The Administration Of Justice At The Fortress Of Louisbourg (1713-1758)

Notaries ~ General Discussion

What is a Notary? 

Notaries were responsible for drafting legal documents during the French regime. By the 1680s there were approximately 24 notaries in Canada (the St. Lawrence Valley), half of whom lived in the countryside. The notarial profession was only organized formally after the beginning of the 18th century. Regulations in 1717 and 1733 established order in the profession and settled rules that were to be followed. Technically the profession was open to men at least 25 years of age who had some knowledge of the law. [7]

For the most part, notaries were not well paid and in Canada they had multiple occupations. In Montreal, for instance, Claude Poirier was a merchant and clerk, as well as a notary. Some notaries in Canada were also doctors and merchants. "Clearly", wrote Ren6 Chartrand, "it was not a moneyed profession. [8] In Louisbourg a number of individuals combined the position of notary with other occupations. Monsieur Courville, for instance, combined the functions of notary and secretary to Captain Louis du Pont Chambon de Vergor, a former member of the Louisbourg garrison and commander of Fort Beausdjour in Acadia during the 1750s. [9] Jean La Borde, a resident of Louisbourg from 1734 to 1758, served as a royal notary and treasurer of the Marine in the 1750s while he was also outfitting ships and 10 involved in fishing. 

The royal notary held authority according to his letter of appointment - from the commissaire ordonnateur. He drafted contracts of sale, agreements, acts of apprenticeshuip, marriage contracts, deeds of gifts, post mortem inventories of estates, and wills.

[Source: Ken Donovan, Clerks, Notaries and Support Staff in Ile Royale: A Manual for Interpreters, Unpublished Report O C 62 (Fortress of Louisbourg, May, 1986), pp. 3-4]

[Endnotes: [7] Marcel Trudel, Introduction to New France, Toronto: Holt, Rhinehart & Winston,.1968, p. 215. There are a few general works on the notarial profession and administration in New France. See André Vachon, Histoire du Notariat Canadien 1621-1960, Québec: Université Laval, 1962; André Vachon, The Administration of New France, 1627-1760, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970, p. 87. For works on the administration in France see Roland E. Mousnier, The Institutions of France under the Absolute Monarchy 1598-1789, Vol. II: The Organs of State and Society, Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1984. See also the older, but useful, Ernest Barker, The Development of Public Services in Western Europe 1660-1930, Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1966 (lst pub. 1944). See in particular "The Administration of France under the Ancien Regime", pp. 6-12. ; [8] Early Notaries of Canada, with an introduction by René Chartrand, New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1877, n.[. [9] J. C. Webster, Thomas Pichon. The Spy of Beauséjour. An Account of his Career in Europe and America with many original documents , Halifax: Public Archives of N.S., 1937, p. 104.]