Born at Pont-l'Évêque, Calvados (Normandy) to a notary father, Thouret became an avocat at the parlement of Rouen in 1773, and in 1787 produced a much-approved report on the state of Normandy.
He began his career as an Avocat at the Cour d’appel de Paris (Court of Appeal, Paris), during World War II, he was a member of the Underground Management Committee of the movement ‘Résistance’ and member of the National Liberation Movement.