Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T22:38:13.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dwindling Professional Authority: Legal Elites and the Division of Governmental Labor in Chile, 1932–70

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2020

Cristian Villalonga
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The prominence of lawyers in the politics of modern state building has been recognized in both historical and theoretical scholarship. In Latin America, however, legal professionals were largely displaced from public governance by the mid-twentieth century. Using Chile as a case study, I argue that, beginning in the 1930s, the rise of the administrative state diminished the authority of elite lawyers who previously enjoyed a quasi-monopoly on statecraft. In addition to the emergence of professional competitors, lawyers lost political influence for two reasons: (1) a growing divergence between political and legal careers for law graduates and (2) internal and external constraints on the bar and the judiciary that limited the ability of legal actors to influence the political process. As a result, during a period when lawyers gained political sway in much of the world, their authority in public affairs dwindled in Chile.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Social Inquiry , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , February 2021 , pp. 226 - 251
Copyright
© 2020 American Bar Foundation

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This article is a reframed account of chapters 1 and 2 of my dissertation, “The Rhetoric of Legal Crisis: Lawyers and the Politics of Juridical Expertise in Chile,” which was presented as a requirement for doctorate degree in jurisprudence and social policy at the University of California, Berkeley. I am grateful for the comments of my dissertation committee Malcolm M. Feeley (chair), David Lieberman, and Marianne Constable. I would also thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors of Law & Social Inquiry for their suggestions on earlier drafts of this article.

References

REFERENCES

Abbott, Andrew. 1988. The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alessandri Rodríguez, Fernando. 1951. Derecho Procesal. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria.Google Scholar
Babb, Sarah. 2001. Managing Mexico: Economist from Nationalism to Neoliberalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1987. “The Force of Law: Toward a Sociology of the Juridical Field.” Hasting Law Journal 38: 805–53.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 2015. On the State: Lectures at the Collège de France. 1989–1992. Cambridge, UK: Polity.Google Scholar
Barman, Roderick, and Barman, Jean. 1976. “The Role of the Law Graduates in the Political Elite of Imperial Brazil.” Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 18: 423–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernaschina, Mario, and Pinto, Fernando. 1945. Los Constituyentes de 1925, vol. 1. Santiago: Universidad de Chile.Google Scholar
Bravo Lira, Bernardino. 2011. Anales de la Judicatura Chilena: Durante cuatro siglos, por mí habla el Derecho. Ministros y Fiscales de los Tribunales Superiores de Justicia. 1609–2010. Santiago: Editorial Jurídica.Google Scholar
Carrasco, Camilo. 2009. Banco Central de Chile: 1925–1964. Una Historia Institucional. Santiago: Banco Central.Google Scholar
Colegio de Abogados de Valparaíso. 1901. Estatuto Colegio de Abogados de Valparaíso. Valparaíso: Imprenta Gillet.Google Scholar
Collier, David, and Collier, Ruth Berins. 2002. Shaping the Political Arena: Critical Junctures, the Labor Movement and Regime Dynamics in Latin America. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.Google Scholar
CHBA (Chile Bar Association [Consejo General del Colegio de Abogados]). 1925–70. Memorias Anuales. Santiago: Biblioteca Colegio de Abogados de Chile.Google Scholar
Couso, Javier. 2007. “When the Political Complex Takes the Lead: The Configuration of the Moderate State in Chile.” In Fighting for Political Freedom: Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism, ed. Karpik, Lucien, Holliday, Terence, and Feeley, Malcom, 315–43. Portland, OR: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
De la Maza, Iñigo. 2002. Los abogados en Chile: desde el Estado al Mercado. Santiago: Centro de Investigaciones Jurídicas. Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Diego Portales.Google Scholar
De Ramón, Armando. 1989. La Justicia Chilena entre 1875 y 1924. Santiago: Universidad Diego Portales.Google Scholar
De Ramón, Armando. 1999. Biografías de Chilenos, 1876–1973. Miembros de los Poderes Ejecutivo, Legislativo, y Judicial. 4 vols. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile.Google Scholar
Dezalay, Yves, and Garth, Bryant. 1997. “Law, Lawyers and Social Capital: Rule of Law versus Relational Capitalism.” Social & Legal Studies 6, no. 1: 109–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dezalay, Yves, and Garth, Bryant. 2002. The Internationalization of Palace Wars. Lawyers, Economists, and the Contest to Transform Latin American States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dezalay, Yves, and Madsen, Mikael Rask. 2012. “The Force of Law and Lawyers: Pierre Bourdieu and the Reflexive Sociology of Law.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science 8: 433–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estévez Gazmuri, Carlos. 1950. Manual del Abogado. Santiago: Editorial Jurídica de Chile.Google Scholar
Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas, Universidad de Chile. 1973. “Estatutos del Instituto de Estudios Legislativos, 1939.” In Disposiciones Reglamentarias de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales de la Universidad de Chile, 198–205. Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello.Google Scholar
Faúndez, Julio. 2007. Democratization, Development, and Legality. Chile: 1831–1973. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Figueroa, Virgilio. 1928. Diccionario Histórico, Biográfico y Bibliográfico de Chile 1800–1928. 5 vols. Santiago: Balcells.Google Scholar
Frühling, Hugo. 1986. “Poder Judicial y Política en Chile.” El Ferrocarril 7: 1–20.Google Scholar
Galecio, Rubén. 1966. “El juez en la crisis.” Revista de Derecho y Jurisprudencia.” 64, no. 8: 190–203.Google Scholar
Gardner, James. 1980. Legal Imperialism: American Lawyers and Foreign Aid in Latin America. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Glendon, Mary Ann. 1994. A Nation under Lawyers: How the Crisis of the Legal Profession Is Transforming American Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Guerra, José Guillermo. 1929. La Constitución de 1925. Santiago: Barcells.Google Scholar
Halliday, Terence. 1987. Beyond Monopoly: Lawyers, State Crisis, and Professional Empowerment. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Henríquez, Rodrigo. 2014. En Estado Sólido. Políticas y politización de la construcción estatal. Chile 1920–1950. Santiago: Ediciones de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.Google Scholar
Hilbink, Lisa. 2007. Judges beyond Politics in Democracy and Dictatorship: Lessons from Chile. New York: Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilton, Ronald. 1947. Who’s Who in Latin America, vol. 4, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hofstadter, Richard. 1955. The Age of Reform. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Ibáñez Santa María, Adolfo. 2003. Herido en el Ala. Estado, Oligarquías y Subdesarrollo, 1924–1960. Santiago: Universidad Andrés Bello.Google Scholar
Instituto de Abogados de Santiago. 1915. Sesión Inaugural. Instituto de Abogados de Santiago. Santiago: Imprenta Cervantes.Google Scholar
Karpik, Lucien. 1999. French Lawyers: A Study in Collective Action. 1274–1994. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Krebs, Ricardo, Muñoz, María, and Valdivieso, Patricio. 1994. Historia de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile 1888–1988. 2 vols. Santiago: Ediciones de la Universidad Católica de Chile.Google Scholar
Kronman, Anthony. 1995. The Lost Lawyer: Failing Ideals of the Legal Profession. Cambridge MA: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Kurtz, Markus. 2013. Latin America State Building in Comparative Perspective: Social Foundations of Institutional Order. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lira, Elizabeth, and Loveman, Brian. 2014. Poder Judicial y conflictos políticos (Chile 1925–1958). Santiago: Lom.Google Scholar
Lomnitz, Larisa A., and Salazar, Rodrigo. 2002. “Cultural Elements in the Practice of law in Mexico: Informal Networks in a Formal System.” In Global Prescriptions: The Production, Exportation, and Importation of a New Legal Orthodoxy, ed. Dezalay, Yves and Bryant, G. Garth, 209–48. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Medina, López, Diego. 2004. Teoría Impura del Derecho: La transformación jurídica latinoamericana. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes.Google Scholar
Medina, López. 2012. “The Latin American and Caribbean Legal Tradition.” In The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Law, ed. Mauro Bussaini and Ugo Mattei, 344–67. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowenstein, Steven. 1970. Lawyers, Legal Education and Development: An Examination of the Process of Reform in Chile. New York: International Legal Center.Google Scholar
Martines, Lauro. 1968. Lawyers and Statecraft in Renaissance Florence. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mirow, Matthew. 2004. Latin American Law: A History of Private Law and Institutions in Spanish America. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Novoa Monreal, Eduardo. 1968. “La Renovación del Derecho.” Revista de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales 143–44: 3–28.Google Scholar
Novoa Monreal, Eduardo. 1972. “La crisis del derecho y de la profesión de abogad, 1970.” Boletín de Docencia e Investigación Jurídica 10: 38–68.Google Scholar
Orrego Vicuña, Francisco. 1970. “La Relación entre Derecho y Desarrollo: El Caso de Chile.” Anales de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales: Universidad de Chile 10: 101–240.Google Scholar
Pardo Valencia, Fanny. 1969. Ética y Derecho de la Abogacía en Chile. Santiago: Editorial Jurídica de Chile.Google Scholar
Pérez-Perdomo, Rogelio. 2006. Latin American Lawyers: A Historical Introduction. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Pierry, Pedro. 2002. “Transformaciones del Derecho Administrativo en el Siglo XX.” Revista de la Facultad de Derecho de Universidad Católica de Valparaíso 23: 377–404.Google Scholar
Preusser Taylor, Adriana. 1927. De la profesión del abogado y su legislación. Valparaíso: Imprenta Universo.Google Scholar
Pumpin, Guillermo. 1972. “El Problema del Abogado en Chile. Formación y Ejercicio Profesional.” Boletín de Docencia e Investigación Jurídica 10: 8–10.Google Scholar
Ruschmeyer, Dietrich. 1973. Lawyers and Their Society: A Comparative Study of the Legal Profession in Germany and the United States. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Schneider, Ben Ross. 2004. Business Politics and the State in Twentieth Century Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepúlveda, César. 1979. “Los Juristas y la Crisis Actual del Derecho en México.” Boletín Mexicano de Derecho Comparado 35: 487–96.Google Scholar
Serrano, Sol. 1994. Universidad y Nación: Chile en el siglo XIX. Santiago: Editorial Universitaria.Google Scholar
Shamir, Ronen. 1995. Managing Legal Uncertainty: Elite Lawyers in the New Deal. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Sierra, Lucas, and Fuenzalida, Pablo. 2014. “Tan Lejos tan cerca: La Profesión Legal y el Estado en Chile.” In Una vida en la Universidad de Chile. Celebrando al Profesor Antonio Bascuñan Valdés, ed. Atria, Fernando et al., 417–69. Santiago: Thomson-Reuters.Google Scholar
Silva, Patricio. 2009. In the Name of Reason: Technocrats and Politics in Chile. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Silva Bascuñán, Alejandro. 1972. “La crisis del derecho y de la profesión de abogado.” Boletín de Docencia e Investigación Jurídica 10: 53–68.Google Scholar
Steiner, Henry. 1971. “Legal Education and Socio-Economic Change: Brazilian Perspectives.” American Journal of Comparative Law 19: 39–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swartz, David. 1997. Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago. University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tomassini, Luciano. 1972. “Derecho y cambio social en América Latina.” Revista de Derecho Económico 37–38: 19–42.Google Scholar
Trubek, David. 1972. “Max Weber and the Rise of Capitalism.” Wisconsin Law Review 3: 720–53.Google Scholar
Universidad de Chile. 1954. Anales de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales de la Universidad de Chile, vol. 1, Enero 1952—Dic. 1954. Santiago: Universidad de Chile.Google Scholar
Urzúa, Raúl. 1972. “Sociedad y Sistema Legal: El Papel del Abogado.” Cuadernos de la Realidad Nacional 11: 104–16.Google Scholar
Urzúa Valenzuela, Germán, and García, Ana María. 1971. Diagnóstico de la Burocracia Chilena (1818–1969). Santiago: Editorial Jurídica.Google Scholar
Valencia Avaria, Luis. 1986. Anales de la República. Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello.Google Scholar
Varela, Raúl. 1957. “Discurso Segundo Congreso Nacional de Abogados.” Revista de Derecho Universidad de Concepción 101: 381–92.Google Scholar
Velasco Letelier, Eugenio. 1965. “Entrevista al Nuevo Decano Eugenio Velasco Letelier.” Revista de Derecho Público 4: 125–35.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1946. “Politics as Vocation.” In From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, ed. Gerth, H. H. and Wright Mills, C., 77–128. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar