Demetrio Sodi Guergué Antuñana (; October 18, 1866October 29, 1934) was a Mexican journalist, writer,

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 Un ...

and politician who served as the President of the

Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ( es, Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) is the Mexican institution serving as the country's federal high court and the spearhead organisation for the judiciary of the Mexican Federal Go ...

from 1908 to 1910, and as Secretary of Justice during the presidency of Porfirio Díaz from March to May 1911. He was also the defense attorney in the trial of

José de León Toral José de León Toral (December 23, 1900 – February 9, 1929) was a Roman Catholic who assassinated General Álvaro Obregón, then- president elect of Mexico, in 1928. Early life León Toral was born in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, into ...

, the assassin of then president-elect Alvaro Obregón.

Early life and education

Demetrio Sodi Guergué Antuñana was born on October 18, 1866, in

Oaxaca City Oaxaca de Juárez (), also Oaxaca City or simply Oaxaca (Valley Zapotec: ''Ndua''), is the capital and largest city of the eponymous Mexican state Oaxaca. It is the municipal seat for the surrounding Municipality of Oaxaca. It is in the Centro ...

Oaxaca ) , population_note = , population_rank = 10th , timezone1 = CST , utc_offset1 = −6 , timezone1_DST = CDT , utc_offset1_DST = −5 , postal_code_type = Postal ...

. He was the first son of

Carlos Sodi Candiani Carlos Esteban Ignacio María del Corazón de Jesús Sodi Candiani (; 1838–1909) was a Mexican politician, lawyer and landowner who served as Senator of the Congress of the Union for the states of Oaxaca from 1882 to 1884 and Michoacán for ap ...

and Dolores Guergué Antuñana y del Solar Campero. On his father's side he belonged to the

Sodi family The Sodi family is a Mexican political family that is prominent in Mexican politics, law, art, and entertainment. The progenitor of the family, Carlos Sodi, emigrated from Florence to the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca in the 19th century. The ...

, whose members have stood out throughout Mexican history in different fields. His mother passed away when he was six years old. He studied at the Institute of Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca where he was a student of Félix Romero, who years later would go on to become president of the

. In 1890, he graduated with a law degree with his thesis entitled "Diplomatic Law". After graduating, he opened his own law firm.

Political career

Due to the influences exerted by being known to Díaz and Romero, Sodi soon agreed to the position of prosecutor in a district court in Colima. There, he founded the magazine ''El Foro Colimense'', which was responsible for the dissemination and

opinion piece An opinion piece is an article, usually published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about a subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals. Editorials Opinion pieces may take the form of an editorial ...

s on legal issues. In 1894, Sodi was assigned to the same position but now as district attorney promoter based in

Santo Domingo Tehuantepec Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre Hispanic period ...

. The following year he moved to Mexico City to serve as an agent of the Public Ministry, in charge of the popular courts, a subject on which he focused his book published in the same year, ''The jury in Mexico''. By late 1906, Sodi was appointed as minister of the

, and two years later he was appointed President of the Court, where he voted on some occasions against the wishes of

Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...

. He held the position until 1910. On March 25, 1911, Díaz named him Secretary of Justice after the resignation of Fernando Mondoño. During his short administration, he focused on investigating, through the Public Ministry of the Federation, the failures and negligence of public servants. Sodi lasted in office until May 25 of the same year, the date when Díaz was exiled from the country. He was the writer of the letter with which Díaz resigned as president. When

Francisco I. Madero Francisco Ignacio Madero González (; 30 October 1873 – 22 February 1913) was a Mexican businessman, revolutionary, writer and statesman, who became the 37th president of Mexico from 1911 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat in February 1 ...

assumed the presidency, he was offered the position of Secretary of Justice, which he refused, arguing that the most consistent thing would be for him to reject it due to his past as a Porfirista official.

Final years and death

After his retirement from politics, Sodi devoted himself to practicing his profession as a lawyer, as well as a writer on legal topics of great importance. His most famous defense was in the trial against

, accused of perpetrating the murder of

Álvaro Obregón Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 17 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) better known as Álvaro Obregón was a Sonoran-born general in the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic centrist, natural soldier, and able politician, he became the 46th President of Me ...

and who was finally sentenced to death when Sodi denounced in his

allegation In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

s violations of due process and following hearings mired in interventions and decrying. Likewise, he occasionally worked as a professor at the National School of Jurisprudence and at

Escuela Libre de Derecho Escuela Libre de Derecho (ELD) is a law school in Mexico City founded in 1912. Since its establishment in 1912, the Escuela has had as its only mission the teaching of law, breeding from the principles of academic freedom, outside of any form of ...

, where he taught criminal law, civil law, and ethics. Sodi died in Mexico City on October 29, 1934. His remains are in the

Panteón de Dolores The Panteón Civil de Dolores is the largest cemetery in Mexico and contains the "Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres" ( en, Rotunda of Illustrious Persons). It is located on Constituyentes Avenue in the Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City, betwee ...

Personal life

In 1889, Sodi married Carmen Pallares Portillo, daughter of Jacinto Pallares López, who was a friend of his. With his wife he had a total of twelve children, of whom nine survived beyond infancy. Some of his children who stood out were: Demetrio (

cardiologist Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular he ...

), María Elena (

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

) and Ernesto (

criminologist Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and s ...

References

Presidents of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation Mexican journalists Mexican legal writers Mexican jurists 19th-century Mexican politicians 20th-century Mexican politicians Porfiriato Demetrio Mexican people of Italian descent {{DEFAULTSORT:Sodi Guergué, Demetrio