Jean-Thomas Taschereau was born in Quebec City, Lower Canada (Quebec), on December 12, 1814. He was the son of Jean-Thomas Taschereau and Marie Panet. After graduating from the Petit Séminaire de Québec, he began articling in 1832 with his cousin Joseph-André Taschereau and then with admiralty specialist Henry Black. Called to the bar in 1836, he went to Paris to study law at the Faculté de droit. Upon his return in 1837, he settled in Quebec City, where he practised law for 18 years. From 1855 to 1857, he taught commercial law on a part-time basis at Laval University. In 1865 he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, having served as an assistant judge since 1855. Eight years later, he was elevated to the Court of Queen's Bench of Quebec, and on September 30, 1875, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. He served on the Supreme Court for three years before his retirement on October 6, 1878. Justice Taschereau died on November 9, 1893, at the age of 78.