Vallarta, Ignacio L. (Ignacio Luis), 1830-1893

Mexican attorney, politician and jurist Ignacio Luis Vallarta was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico in 1830. He received a law degree from the Universidad de Guadalajara and went on to hold prominent positions in the Mexican government during the 1850s through the 1880s including deputy to the Congreso Constituyente of 1857, governor of Jalisco state, Secretary of State and Secretary of Foreign Relations of Mexico, and President of the Supreme Court of Justice. He was a contemporary of Presidents Benito Juárez and Porfirio Díaz and is remembered as a liberal reformist and strict constitutionalist. Vallarta retired from public life in 1882 upon leaving the Supreme Court of Justice. He continued to practice law privately and give legal advice until his death in Mexico City on December 31, 1893.

Mexican attorney, politician, and jurist Ignacio Luis Vallarta was born on August 25, 1830 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He was one of the oldest of many children of Isabel Ogazón and Ignacio Vallarta, a worker in the mines outside of Guadalajara. Ignacio L. Vallarta attended the Seminario Conciliar in Guadalajara and the Instituto de Ciencias del Estado before focusing on the study of political economics and law at the Universidad de Guadalajara. It was there where Vallarta received his law degree in 1854. In April of 1862 Vallarta married Francisca Lyon, a Mexican woman of French parents who had immigrated to Guadalajara. They had seven children: Isabel, Luis, Ignacio, Alejandro, Elena, Julia, and María.

Ignacio L. Vallarta’s political career began in September 1855 when, as a young attorney, he became the private secretary for Jalisco Governor Santos Degollado. During this time he also worked as a professor in Guadalajara, lecturing on the subjects of law, history, and political economics. In addition, Vallarta collaborated on the liberal Jalisco newspaper La Revolución . In 1856 he was elected deputy to the Congreso Constituyente and took an active role in writing the Mexican Constitution of 1857. He participated in the debates about trial by jury and the death penalty, both of which he argued against. Vallarta served as magistrate of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Jalisco before becoming secretary in 1858 for Jalisco Governor Pedro Ogazón, Vallarta’s cousin. During this time Vallarta collaborated on the Boletín de Ejército Federal . In 1861 Ogazón named Vallarta colonel of the Batallón Hidalgo.

Vallarta joined a group of other young Mexicans to resist the French Intervention at its onset, and because of his liberal stand he faced many obstacles in the next few years. Appointed as Mexico’s Secretary of State in 1861, he was briefly part of Benito Juárez’s cabinet but resigned due to conflict with Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, the President of the Chamber of Deputies. In 1862 he was elected as a federal deputy but was refused the office because it was determined that he had not received the majority vote. Soon after, Vallarta was also denied the elected post of Governor of Jalisco because General José María Arteaga refused to give up the office. Because of this political persecution during the Intervention Vallarta decided in 1864 to flee for over a year. He went first to Mazatlán, then Baja California, and later moved to San Francisco, California. Vallarta returned to his family and home in Guadalajara in 1865 then left for Zacatecas to join Benito Juárez and the juaristas in the 1867 triumph over the French troops and Maximilian.

Vallarta continued to practice law and work as a deputy in the Congreso General until he was again elected governor of Jalisco in June of 1871. During what was considered a strong state administration he founded the School of Agriculture and made primary education mandatory. He also established the state prison system and started the official newspaper of Jalisco, which is still published today. In April of 1875, near the end of his term as Governor, the state legislature awarded Vallarta the title of Distinguished Citizen in honor of his work.

Following his governorship Vallarta was named Secretary of State of the Republic and relocated his family to Mexico City. Soon after, General Porfirio Díaz appointed Vallarta Secretary of Foreign Relations during Díaz’s first presidential administration. Vallarta served in this position until 1878 and left a legacy of strengthening Mexico’s international relations, especially with the United States. As a result of Vallarta’s work in international law, the U.S. formally recognized Diaz’s Mexican government in April 1878.

In1878 Vallarta was elected president of Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice, the office for which he is perhaps most well-known. Vallarta held more power than ever as president of the court because the Constitution gave him executive power in the absence of the nation’s president, which equated the position to the vice-president of the Republic. He presided over the Supreme Court for five years as a strong constitutionalist and became famous for his votos as he worked to interpret strictly the Constitution of 1857. His book Votos de Vallarta recounts the decision-making process during his jurisdiction as he emphasized the points of constitutional rights in the cases brought before him.

Vallarta retired from public life in 1882 upon leaving the Supreme Court of Justice. He continued to practice law privately and worked as a legal consultant in Mexico City for the rest of his years. Ignacio L. Vallarta died in Mexico City on December 31, 1893.

Works Referenced:

"Vallarta, Ignacio L." Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society and Culture . Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997.

"Vallarta, Ignacio Luis." Diccionario Porrúa . 6th ed. Mexico City: Editorial Porrúa, 1995.

"Vallarta, Ignacio Luis." Enciclopedia de México . Mexico City: Secretaría de Educación Pública, 1987.