Luis Antonio Eguiguren Escudero (July 21, 1887 – August 15, 1967) was a Peruvian educator, magistrate, historian and politician. He was the director of the General Archive (File) of the Nation (1914), Alderman of Lima (1914–1920), Mayor of Lima (1930), President of the Constituent Congress (1930–1932), founder and leader of the Peruvian Social Democratic Party. He won the Peruvian presidential election of 1936, but his victory was ignored by the Congress and the then-President Oscar R. Benavides, who claimed that he had won with votes of the APRA. He presided over the Supreme Court and the Judiciary in 1953 and 1954.
Biography Luis A. Eguiguren was born in the historical San Francisco Street (now Lima Street), in the city of Piura. He was the son of Francisco Jose Eguiguren Escudero,LEÓN ZALDÍVAR, Rómulo: Las familias patricias. El Dr. Francisco José Eguiguren Escudero in High Life año II nº 7, Piura marzo 1967. honest judge, congressman, Secretary of Justice and President of the Supreme Court in 1913 and 1914, and the distinguished lady Josefina Escudero Menacho. Between 1893 and 1902, he studied at Colegio San Miguel de Piura School and then at Colegio La Inmaculada(The Jesuit Fathers School) in Lima (1902–1904). He got into the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, where he chose the academic degrees of Doctor of Letters (1913), in Jurisprudence with the thesis "The Peruvian ayllu legal status" (1914), and Political and Administrative Science (1914). His thesis of Bachelor of Political and Administrative Sciences was titled: "The Role of students in Political life", and his doctoral thesis: "The need for a diplomatic tradition in Peru". His remains were transferred to his native Piura in December 2005, in order to rest in the tomb that he ordered to be built in San Teodoro Cemetery. Law No. 24899,http://www.congreso.gob.pe/ntley/LeyNume_1p.asp promulgated on October 19, 1988, establishes that each July 21 is the Peruvian Humanist Day. It was established in honor of the magistrate, historian, journalist and Peruvian politician, Don Luis Antonio Eguiguren, on the centenary of his birth.
Career He was appointed Director of the National Archive, but he resigned because he did not receive enough support to carry out the institution that was under his charge.UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL MAYOR DE SAN MARCOS (Lima-Perú) Personajes distinguidos http://www.unmsm.edu.pe/sanmarcos/biografia/eguigurenl.htm
In the field of politics, he deployed an intense task. He was the Mayor of Lima in a short period of time, during the years of 1930 and 1931. He was elected deputy and later he presided over the Constituent Assembly. He was also president of the Supreme Court of the Republic.
In 1936 he ran for president in the Peruvian General Election as leader of the Social Democrat Party, after being convinced by the APRA to form his own party, to the detriment of Jorge Prado's Conservative Coalition. As the votes were being counted, Eguiguren appeared to be leading with a majority; the vote being finally suspended on October 21 (on the basis that members of the previously banned APRA party had voted for him) which left Eguiguren with 37.13% of the votes in comparison to Prado's 25.00%. However, due to the environment of political intolerance in Perú, the elections were nullified on the same arguments that the count was suspended: according to the government, American Popular Revolutionary Alliance support of his candidacy rendered his victory null (as he was supported by a party considered illegal for being an "international party").Elections and Events 1930-1949 The Library, UC San Diego
After his frustrated presidency, he further developed a liking for historical research with dynamism and conviction, which perhaps explains the abundant and interesting bibliographical production of his authorship.
Eguiguren's work and research includes Orígenes de la Universidad de San Marcos, the history of his alma mater, San Marcos, the oldest American college.
Other of the books he also published were Catálogo histórico del claustro de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos 1576–1800, La Universidad de San Marcos: IV centenario de la fundación de la Universidad Real y Pontificia y de su vigorosa continuidad histórica, y Diccionario cronológico de la Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Marcos y sus Colegios, vol I, vol.II and vol.III.
He is the most prolific San Marcos historian, because he has written six thousand pages of documents and texts about his university. He chaired the Committee appointed to draft the official history of San Marcos, on the occasion of its four hundred year anniversary in 1951. Luis A. Eguiguren was interested also on events and characters of Peru's Independence. Therefore, he published studies about La rebelión de León de Huánuco, Lima y Huamanga −1812, La revolución de 1814, El mártir pescador José Silverio Olaya, La sublevación de Túpac Amaru, among others.
He made an important contribution to the text Apuntes sobre la cuestión internacional entre Perú y Ecuador, in which he demonstrated that some Peru's northern territories, like Jaen and Maynas, undoubtedly belong to his country.
Luis A. Eguiguren is the only Peruvian to lead the three branches of government, the Constituent Congress (1930–1932), the Supreme Court (1953–1954) and the failed Presidency (1936).
Political offices Secretario del Ministerio de Hacienda (1910–1911) during the first government (1908–1912) of Augusto B. Leguía. Concejal de la Municipalidad de Lima 1914–1920. City Councilman of Lima. Director del Archivo Nacional (1914). Director of the Peruvian National Archives Embajador Ad honorem ante el Vaticano (1924). Ad honorem Ambassador of Peru to the Vatican. Alcalde de Lima (1930–1931) Mayor of Lima Presidente del Congreso Constituyente (1931). President of the Constituent Congress Presidente electo del Perú (1936). Elected President of PeruBethell, L. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America Volume 6: 1930 to the Present, Part 2: Politics and Society (Cambridge University Press, 1995), 418–419. Vocal de la Corte Suprema de Justicia (1946). Member of the Supreme Court Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia (1952–1953). President of the Supreme Court Fundador del Diario y editorial "Ahora" (1934). Founder of the newspaper and editorial "Now (Ahora)”
Honours Gran Cruz de la Orden del Sol del Perú. Orden de San Gregorio Magno. Holy See. Orden del Libertador. Venezuela
He was named Doctor Honoris Causa of the following universities:
Columbia University. New York (1953) Georgetown University. Washington (1953) Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Santiago (1932)
Publications Source:Cf.https://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82257773/ 1908 Los símbolos de la patria: trabajo histórico presentado en la actuación patriótica de la "Escuela Técnica de Comercio"Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio En la selva Política (1933), the back cover of this work shows: OBRAS DEL MISMO AUTOR, this work is mentioned after de Guerra Separatista. Huamanga Huánuco y Lima (1812–1813) and Guerra Separatista. Huánuco (1812). Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, p.LXXXIV-LXXXV 1909 Recordando a Manuel Candamo 1909 El Pensamiento de San MartínEGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio El Pensamiento de San Martín, Imprenta el Bien Social, Lima 1909. (Conference given at the University Center. Lima. Peru) 1910 El fundador de la Universidad de San Marcos fray Tomás de San Martín 1911 Origen de la Universidad de San Marcos 1912 Actuación de los hijos de Chile en la Universidad de San Marcos (siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII)Revista Universitaria (Lima), 11, julio de 1912, p. 89-100. 1912 La Cátedra de Prima de LeyesRevista Universitaria (Lima), I, mayo de 1912, p. 467-470. 1912 Catálogo histórico del claustro de la Universidad de San Marcos 1912 Con la juventud de América 1912 La Rebelión de León de Huánuco 1913 Ensayo sobre el sistema penal incaicoThesis of Bachelor in Jurisprudence sustained on May 15, 1913. Cf. RAMOS NÚÑEZ, Carlos Augusto Historia del Derecho Civil peruano: siglos XIX y XX, PUCP, Lima 2006, p. 218. Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, pp. LXXXVIII 1913 Historia del Batallón NumanciaEGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio Historia del Batallón Numancia en Revista de Derecho, Historia y Letras, Año XV, Tomo XLIV, Buenos Aires. Argentina Marzo 1913, p. 315-322. 1913 Tentativa de segunda rebelión de Huánuco, octubre de 1812-enero de 1813 1913 Reflexiones en torno del edicto de MilánCf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, pp.LXXXII-LXXXIII. This is how the author referred to this work: "The austere religious Rev. José Cano SJ, led with unparalleled zeal the Apostolate of the Press, and as part of the directory, I was entrusted with a conference on the" Edict of Constantine "to celebrate one of its centenarians". 1914 El ayllu peruano y su condición legal (Doctoral Thesis in Jurisprudence UNMSM. Lima Peru)Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, pp. LXXXVIII-LXXXIX.The thesis was published: Luis Antonio Eguiguren, El ayllu peruano y su condición legal, Lima, Librería, Imprenta y Encuadernación de la calle del Correo Orellana y Cª., 1914. A este fin destina más de 100 páginas de su trabajo (p.145 y ss.). Las proyecciones del indigenismo jurídico sobre la propiedad andina.The chief works on modern Peruvian sociology, in addition to those already cited, and certain works to be cited later, are the following: Víctor Andrés Belaunde, El Perú antiguo y los modernos Sociólogos, Lima, 1908; Félix Cosío, La Propiedad colectiva del Ayllu, Cuzco, 1916; Luis A. Eguiguren, Ayllu Peruano y su Condición legal, Lima, 1914; José Manuel Osores, El Medio y la Legislación, Lima, 1918; Manuel A. Quiroga, La Evolución Jurídica de la Propiedad Rural en Puno, Arequipa, 1915; Cesar Antonio Ugarte, Los Antecedentes históricos del Régimen agrario Peruano, Lima, 1918; Luis E. Valcárcel, La Cuestión agraria en el Cuzco, Cuzco, 1914; Manuel V. Villarán, Condición legal de las Comunidades de Indígenas, Lima, 1907. 1914 La tradición diplomática en el PerúEGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio (1916). "Necesidad de una tradición diplomática en el Perú". Revista Universitaria I;II: 447-570;63-75 y 122-132. 1914 La rebelión del Cuzco de 1814 1915 La anexión del distrito de Castilla a la ciudad de PiuraBoletín de la Sociedad Geográfica de Lima, Lima, 1915, 31(4) p. 408-411. 1915 Intervención de los estudiantes de la Universidades en la vida políticaEGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio (1915). "Intervención de los estudiantes en la vida política". Revista Universitaria I: 130–151. 1915 La Holgazanería en el Perú 1921 Historia de la Universidad de San Marcos hasta el 15 de julio de 1647 por el Padre Maestro Fray Antonio de la Calancha 1931 Origen y legislación sobre los impuestos para desocupadosDuring his term as Mayor of Lima, Luis A. Eguiguren sought to contribute to the problem of unemployment in Lima. Due in part to the global economic crisis started around 1929. The summary of this 29-page work is: Informative note. Municipal labor exchange in favor of the unemployed. Protection of the workers who work. Decrees for houses for workers. Editorials and informative notes of "El Comercio" newspaper of Lima. 1933 En la Selva políticaPresents here his testimony on the Constituent Assembly of 1931. He was the President of the Assembly and opposed the approval of the Emergency Law requested by the Executive Power. Once this law was passed, in the absence of Eguiguren, this was the justification for apprehending a group of democratically elected representatives. Parliamentary immunity was violated. Eguiguren never consented to this abuse.