José Castán Tobeñas (1889–1969) was a Spanish jurist and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. After studies in Zaragoza and a much-lauded doctoral thesis submitted in Madrid, he taught civil law at Zaragoza, Madrid, Murcia, Barcelona and Valencia. He was appointed to the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in 1933, and dismissed in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. In 1939, the

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ...

government appointed Tobeñas to a chair in Zaragoza and, in 1940, again to the Supreme Court, which he reorganised and presided over from 1945 to 1967. In addition, he led several legal reform projects and edited Spain's principal legal journal, ''Revista general de legislación y jurispridencia''. His principal works, ''Derecho civil español común y foral'' (1922) and ''Derecho civil'' (1941/42) became standard textbooks. Castán' judicial philosophy was guided by humanist and natural law ideas. He frowned on legal positivism and sought to soften the harshness of the law with individually tailored, socially responsible judgments of an independent judiciary. His work and personality caused Tobeñas to be considered Spain's leading

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

in the years after the Civil War. Even today, his name remains synonymous with Spanish civil law.

References

* 20th-century Spanish judges 1889 births 1969 deaths Presidents of the Supreme Court of Spain {{Spain-law-bio-stub