Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield (February 18, 1800 – June 30, 1875) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

lawyer and politician who wrote the Civil Code of Argentina of 1869, which remained in force until 2015, when it was replaced by the new ''Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación''.

Life and times

Vélez Sarsfield was born in Amboy, a small town in the Calamuchita Valley, in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

. His parents were Rosa Sarsfield Palacios (daughter of Jorge Sarsfield), whose ancestors were Irish, and Dalmacio Vélez Baigorri, who died before his son was born.''The Guardian''
/ref> He studied at the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

college at the

National University of Córdoba The National University of Córdoba (), is a public university located in the city of Córdoba, Argentina. Founded in 1613, the university is the oldest in Argentina, the third oldest university of the Americas, with the first university being ...

, and was particularly adept at

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

s, fluently speaking English, French,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. He earned a ''

juris doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

'' in 1822. Upon finishing his studies, he married the former Paula Piñero, and became very active in politics. He was elected to the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

, and was nominated as the

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

in 1825, a position that he took up the following year, becoming the position's youngest holder, as well as a vocal supporter of President

Bernardino Rivadavia Bernardino de la Trinidad González Rivadavia (May 20, 1780 – September 2, 1845) was the first President of Argentina, then called the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, from February 8, 1826 to June 27, 1827. He was educated at th ...

and the latter's policy in favor of

centralized government A centralized government (also united government) is one in which both executive and legislative power is concentrated centrally at the higher level as opposed to it being more distributed at various lower level governments. In a national conte ...

. Vélez Sarsfield was awarded a professorship of Economics at the Law Faculty of the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

in 1826. He represented the

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

Governor

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confedera ...

in a number of legal disputes with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, as well as with

Santa Fe Province The Invincible Province of Santa Fe (, , lit. "Holy Faith") is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 2 ...

Governor

Estanislao López Estanislao López (26 November 1786 – 15 June 1838) was a ''caudillo'' and governor of the , between 1818 and 1838, one of the foremost proponents of provincial federalism, and an associate of Juan Manuel de Rosas during the Argentine Civ ...

, and was named President of the Academy of Jurisprudence in 1835. Souring relations with Governor Rosas forced Vélez Sarsfield to leave in exile to

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay, in 1842. He befriended Unitarians

José María Paz Brigadier General José María Paz y Haedo (September 9, 1791 – October 22, 1854) was an Argentine military figure, notable in the Argentine War of Independence and the Argentine Civil Wars. Childhood Born in Córdoba, Argentina, the son ...

and

Domingo Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He was a member of a group of intellectuals, known as the ''1837 generation, Generation of 1837'', who had a great influence on 19t ...

(staunch opponents of Rosas), and worked with the latter in Europe before returning. He arrived to find his home destroyed by vandals and occupied by squatters; but despite their earlier dispute, Governor Rosas had the property returned to the respected lawyer. Vélez Sarsfield allied himself with General

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of Argentine Civil Wars#National unification, unified Argentina. Mitre i ...

, a staunch advocate of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

interests, following Rosas' overthrow, and served as counsel to Mitre in his opposition to the San Nicolás Agreement of 1852 (which Buenos Aires rejected). Following the province's secession, Vélez Sarsfield drafted the

State of Buenos Aires The State of Buenos Aires () was a secessionist republic resulting from the overthrow of the Argentine Confederation government in the Province of Buenos Aires on 11 September 1852. The State of Buenos Aires was never explicitly recognized b ...

Constitution of 1854 for Governor

Pastor Obligado Pastor Obligado (August 9, 1818 – March 12, 1870) was an Argentine lawyer and lawmaker who served as Governor of the secessionist State of Buenos Aires from 1853 to 1858. Life and times Early life and career Obligado was born in Buenos Aires ...

. The province's defeat at the Battle of Cepeda resulted in its reunification with Argentina, towards which Vélez Sarsfield helped craft a series of requisite amendments to the

Argentine Constitution The Constitution of the Argentine Nation () is the Constitution, basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing Law of Argentina, law in Argentina. Its Argentine Constitution of 1853, first version was written in 1853 b ...

. Mitre's election to the presidency in 1862 made Vélez Sarsfield the nation's Finance Minister. He obtained congressional passage in 1863 of the Commercial Code he had earlier created for Buenos Aires, and in 1864 began work on his landmark

Civil Code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

. He also advanced the modernization of the

agrarian sector Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food ...

, then dominated by livestock ranching, by funding the nation's first institute of

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

. Vélez Sarsfield was appointed Internal Affairs Minister by Mitre's successor,

, in 1868. He encouraged

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as Permanent residency, permanent residents. Commuting, Commuter ...

by having the numerous, private assistance leagues merged into the Central Immigration Commission, and on September 25, 1869, had Congress approve the Civil Code by acclamation; the document, since amended, was enacted on January 1, 1871. The aging jurist retired afterwards, and founded ''El Nacional''. The new periodical coincided with the launch of Mitre's ''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

'', however, and ''El Nacional'' closed. Dr. Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield died in

in 1875, at the age of 74; he was interred at

La Recoleta Cemetery La Recoleta Cemetery () is a cemetery located in the Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Recoleta Barrios and Communes of Buenos Aires, neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, President of Ar ...

. The barrio of Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires is named after him. The Vélez Sarsfield sports club, best known for its

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team, is indirectly named after him, having taken its name from a railway station bearing his name.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Velez Sarsfield, Dalmacio 1800 births 1875 deaths People from Córdoba Province, Argentina Argentine people of Irish descent Argentine people of Spanish descent National University of Córdoba alumni 19th-century Argentine lawyers Academic staff of the University of Buenos Aires Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in San Luis Ministers of economy of Argentina Argentine newspaper founders Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Ministers of internal affairs of Argentina

Life and times

See also

References

External links