LOUET, JEAN-CLAUDE, royal notary and clerk of the admiralty court at Quebec, son of Jean Louet and Catherine Thierry, of the parish of Saint-Maclou (Rouen); b. 1681; buried at Quebec 28 July 1739.

On 15 July 1707, at Quebec, Louet married Anne Morin, widow of René Deneau. On 15 May 1717, an ordinance issued by Bégon* allowed him “in the name and as the husband of Anne Morin, widow of the late René Deneau, to choose a location in the Port-Daniel seigneury where he could engage in inshore fishing.”

On the preceding 22 March, after the death of Louis Chambalon, Louet had succeeded him as royal notary. Two years later he became clerk of the admiralty court at Quebec. In fact Louet was the first holder of this office, for Charles Guillimin, who had been appointed in 1717 when the jurisdiction was created, had refused it; it was thus only two years after the admiralty court had been constituted officially that it really began to carry out its functions.

On 16 and 20 April 1734, Louet sat as judge of the provost court of Quebec, “in view,” as the register specifies, “of the indisposition of the lieutenant-general and the king’s attorney.” After being stricken with paralysis, Louet had retired. On 14 April 1738 the minister informed the intendant that he was granting Louet a pension of 400 livres, and that he was entrusting the office of clerk of court to Bricault de Valmur, the secretary of Hocquart*. But the new incumbent died 28 June 1738 at Quebec, and Claude Louet succeeded him on 20 April 1739.

Louet senior was buried 28 July 1739. He had three children; the above-mentioned son, having become enamoured of a young English girl, had addressed three “respectful summonses” to his father, the last two of which, dated 23 and 24 Jan. 1733, begged him to grant permission for the marriage, in order that the girl’s honour might be saved. The wedding took place on 16 February following.

Hervé Biron

AQ, NF, Ord. des int., VI, 272; XXVII, 28; Paroisses, Notre-Dame de Québec; NF, Registres de la Prévôté de Québec, 16, 20 avril 1734. P.-G. Roy, Inv. Ord. int., I, 168f. “Les ‘sommations respectueuses’ autrefois,” APQ Rapport, 1921–22, 60f. L.-G. Verrier, “Les registres de l’amirauté de Québec,” APQ Rapport, 1920–21, 106–31. P.-G. Roy, “Les secrétaires des gouverneurs et des intendants de la Nouvelle-France,” BRH, XLI (1935), 104. J.-E. Roy, Histoire du notariat, I, 122, 351f.