Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield

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Monument in Cordoba

Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield (born February 18, 1800 in Amboy , † November 30, 1875 in Buenos Aires ) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who wrote the "Código Civil de la República Argentina" ( Civil Code of Argentina ) of 1869 . Most of this law is still in force today.

Life

Vélez Sársfield was born in the small town of Amboy in the Calamuchita department . His parents were Dalmacio Vélez Baigorri and Rosa Sarsfield Palacios. He studied at the "Colegio Nacional Nuestra Señora de Monserrat" in Córdoba , where Nicolás Avellaneda and José Figueroa Alcorta, among others, did their training.

He graduated at the age of 22. He moved to Buenos Aires and married Paula Piñero. He aspired to a political career and was elected as a member of the "Cámara de Diputados de la Nación Argentina", three years later he became speaker of the house, at the time the youngest holder of this position. In 1826 Vélez Sársfield became professor of political economy at the law school of the University of Buenos Aires .

The seizure of power by Juan Manuel de Rosas put a temporary end to his career. He left Buenos Aires and first moved to Córdoba, later he went into exile in Montevideo ( Uruguay ). There he worked as a legal scholar in the field of canon law and wrote the "Tratado Público Eclesiástico en Relación al Estado".

After de Rosas was overthrown, he returned to politics. In 1858, together with Eduardo Acevedo, he wrote a commercial code for the (then) state of Buenos Aires. After the national reunification of 1862 he was commissioned to draft a civil code (Código Civil). Work on it did not begin until 1864, under the presidency of Bartolomé Miter , and was completed in 1869.

During his life he was Minister of Justice of Argentina several times. He was also the founder of the daily newspaper "El Nacional", together with Miter.

He died in Buenos Aires in 1875, at the age of 75. His grave is in the La Recoleta cemetery . The district Vélez Sársfield in Buenos Aires was named after him. A museum in his memory has also been set up in his place of birth .

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