Honorable Lives: Lawyers, Family, and Politics in Colombia, 1780-1850

The first work in English to discuss the social and political history of lawyers in a Latin American country, Honorable Lives presents a portrait of lawyers in late colonial and early modern Colombia. Uribe-Uran focuses on the social origins, education, and careers of those qualified to practice law before the highest colonial courts—Audiencias—and the republican courts after the 1820s. In the course of his study, Uribe-Uran answers many questions about this elite group of professionals. What were the social origins and families of lawyers? Their relation to the state? Their participation in political movements and parties, revolutions, civil wars, and other political processes? Their ideas, education, and training? By exploring the lives of lawyers, Uribe-Uran is also able to present a general history of Latin America while examining the key social and political changes and continuities from 1780 to 1850—particularly the elites and state managers.

Honorable Lives features three genealogical charts detailing bureaucratic networks established by families of lawyers in different historical periods. The text also contains an abundant series of statistical tables and charts, and concise biographical information on approximately 150 Latin American lawyers. This book will appeal to Latin Americanists, students of law, and anyone interested in the lives and histories of lawyers.

“This admirable study of Colombian lawyers and their institutions in the late-colonial and early-republican periods challenges the notion that the chaotic hisory of the period was completely dominated by rogue caudillos engaged in an endless struggle for power. . . . [I]t adds greatly to our understanding of the role of lawyers in the important transitional events between colony and independence.”

---Colonial Latin American Review

“Essential reading for anyone interested in what Uribe-Uran defines as a distinct period, 1780-1850, in Spanish-American history.”

---Choice

“Victor Uribe-Uran has penned an important book that crosses the “Independence divide,” an oft-recommended passage, but one that few scholars are bold enough to take...By focusing upon the social, regional, and political activities of this citical social section, Uribe-Uran makes a significant contribution to our understanding of Colombia’s early national political clutue and the importance of lawyers throughout Latin America...a gold mine of genealogical and familial information.”

--The Americas

This is the first work in English to discuss the social and political history of lawyers in a Latin American country. By exploring the lives of lawyers, Uribe-Uran is also able to focus on a general history of Latin America, while exploring key social and political changes and continuities from 1780 to 1850.

Victor M. Uribe-Uran is associate professor of history and law at Florida International University.