José Severo Quiñones Caro (November 6, 1838 – November 6, 1909) was the first

chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico () is the Chief Justice, presiding officer of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. The post of chief justice was created by Article V of Constitution of Puerto Rico, Article V of the Constitution ...

. Born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

, he began his formal studies in

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

before continuing the study of law at

University of Seville The University of Seville (''Universidad de Sevilla'') is a university in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. Founded under the name of ''Colegio Santa María de Jesús'' in 1505, in 2022 it has a student body of 57,214,U-Ranking Universidades español ...

and Madrid Central University in Spain. After obtaining his law degree in 1860, he was admitted to the bar in Puerto Rico two years later. Between 1871 and 1898 he held several important positions in Puerto Rico's colonial administration, including acting Treasury Minister. During Puerto Rico's first and only autonomic government under Spain in 1898, Quiñones served as Secretary of Agriculture, Commerce and Industry. While that post was short-lived due to the arrival of United States troops on July 25, 1898, General John R. Brooke appointed him president of the Territorial Audience, Puerto Rico's highest court. Once civil rule was established in Puerto Rico, President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...

appointed Quiñones as the new Supreme Court's Chief Justice, a post held until his death, on his birthday, in 1909. He was buried at Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, San Juan.

Sources

*''La Justicia en sus Manos'', by Luis Rafael Rivera, 2007, 1838 births 1909 deaths 19th-century Puerto Rican people Chief justices of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico Lawyers from San Juan, Puerto Rico University of Seville alumni 19th-century American judges {{US-state-judge-stub