Adolphe-Basile Routhier

Adolphe-Basile Routhier studied at Laval University. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is law, literature and poetry. Employment is recorded with Laval University. Positions recorded include Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec. Works named in the authority record are O Canada. Distinctions recorded are Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Knight Bachelor.

• Honorific Prefix — Sir • Name — Adolphe-Basile Routhier • Honorific Suffix — FRSC • Born — 8 May 1839 • Birthplace — Saint-Benoît (Saint-Placide), Lower Canada • Died — 27 June 1920 • Place of death — Saint-Irénée-les-Bains, Quebec, Canada • Resting Place — Cimetière Notre-Dame-de-Belmont • Known for — Writing the lyrics of the original French version of the Canadian national anthem "O Canada" • Occupation — lawyer, author, judge, and professor • Title — President of the Royal Society of Canada • Term — 1913–1914 • Predecessor — Frank Dawson Adams • Successor — Alfred Baker

Routhier was born and grew up in Saint-Placide, Quebec, on his family's farm. He attended Séminaire de Ste-Thérèse, and later studied law at Université Laval. He graduated and was called to the Quebec bar in 1861.

Routhier practised law in Kamouraska until he was appointed to the Quebec Superior Court in 1873 (as Chief Justice from 1904 to 1906) and local judge in admiralty of the Exchequer Court of Canada (from 1897 to 1906). Routhier ran as a Conservative candidate for the riding of Kamouraska in several federal elections, but he was never elected. Routhier wrote a number of books under the name Jean Piquefort. Routhier's poem "Ô Canada" was commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony. In June 1914, Routhier was one of the three judges appointed to conduct the Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the Canadian Pacific steamship, which had resulted in the loss of 1,012 lives.

Routhier married Clorinde Mondelet on November 12, 1862, in Quebec and had one son.