Salvador Minguijón Adrián (1874–1959) was a Spanish law scholar, political theorist and politician. As a lawyer he is known mostly as a longtime academic in the University of Zaragoza and briefly member of the Spanish constitutional court. As a theorist he is considered one of key representatives of Traditionalism. As a politician he is recognized as associated with Carlism, Christian Democracy, Primoderiverismo, Social Catholicism and early Francoism.
Family and youth
Juan Salvador Minguijón Adrián was descendant to an Aragonese family of petty officials and artisans. His paternal ancestors originated from the village of Terrer in South-Western Aragon, where Salvador's grandfather worked as a primary school teacher;Juan Francisco Baltar Rodriguez, Minguijón y Adrián, Juan Salvador (1874–1959), [in:] Diccionario de catedráticos españoles de derecho online, 2014, available here his son and Salvador's father, Jorge Minguijón CachoLa Unión Católica 21.05.90, available here (died 1895),El Movimiento Católico 31.12.95, available here was a local administrative clerk.Baltar Rodriguez 2014 At unspecified date he married María Antonia Adrián Martínez, herself from the nearby Calatayud. Her family originated from Visiedo in another Aragonese province of Teruel;though they lived in Calatayud, Baltar Rodriguez 2014 Salvador's maternal grandfather worked as a carpenter.Baltar Rodriguez 2014 The couple had at least two sons, though exact number of their children is not clear.
Salvador and his brother were raised in a profoundly religious ambience; his father was a local Catholic activistLa Unión Católica 21.05.90 and his brother was to become a friar.El Salmantino 05.09.17, available here Following his childhood spent in Calatayud, the young Salvador entered a diocesan seminary in Zaragoza, a path typically leading to a career of a priest or a school teacher.Gonzalo Díaz Díaz, Minguijón Adrián, Salvador, [in:] Hombres y documentos de la filosofía española, vol 5, Madrid 1995, , p. 529 Having completed the schooling at unspecified time he enrolled at Universidad de Zaragoza, commencing learning at the faculty of , where he completed the curriculum and graduated in 1896.Juan Francisco Baltar Rodriguez, Los ejercisios de oposiciones a profesor auxiliar de Salvador Minguijón, [in:] European Journal of Legal History 10 (2013), p. 72 He then moved to Madrid to pursue studies in law at Universidad Central; having been awarded a Cum Laude diploma in 1900, Minguijón continued with doctoral research.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 72
In 1903 Minguijón commenced the career of a lawyer becoming a notary in Sabiñán, a municipality in the of Calatayud. In 1905 he switched to the same role in Brea, a slightly larger location in the comarca of Aranda,Díaz Díaz 1995, p. 529 where he probably practiced very shortly as he soon commenced academic duties in Zaragoza. In 1906 Minguijón obtained PhD laurels in Madrid; his thesis, titled , was considered excellent by the jury.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 72
At unspecified time Salvador Minguijón married Ana-María Paraíso Ferruz;ABC 12.07.35, available here none of the sources consulted provides any information on his wife. The couple had four children: Carmen, Agustín, María Luisa and María Antonia.ABC 12.05.35 The family lived in Zaragoza, though in the mid-1930s they moved to Madrid.Díaz Díaz 1995, p. 530 Minguijón spent his declining years alone: his brother died in 1917,El Salmantino 05.09.17 his wife widowed him middle-aged in 1935,ABC 12.07.35 one daughter became a Discalced Carmelitan nun and has never left the monastery, the only son, a leading activist of Asociación Católica Nacional de Propagandistas,José Luis Orella Martínez, El origen del primer Catolicismo social Español [PhD thesis, Universidad de Educación a Distancia], Madrid 2012, p. 429 was executed by the Republicans in Paracuellos de Jarama in 1936,Agustín Minguijón Paraíso (1907–1936) [in:] Asociacion Catolica de Progapandistas service, available here; there is a monograph dedicated to Minguijón Paraíso, see José Vicente Rodríguez, Le troncharon en la flor de la vida. Agustín Minguijón Paraíso. Datos biográficos y martirios (1907–1936), Zaragoza 2009, while another daughter died in the mid-1940s.referred after Rafael Gambra, Aspectos del pensamiento de Salvador Minguijón, [in:] Revista international de sociologia 67 (1959), p. 85; it is not clear what happened to his third daughter Minguijón died in Zaragoza,Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 72 en route to his usual summer holiday location in Irún.Baltar Rodriguez 2014
Jurist: academic and official
In 1904–1905 Minguijón applied to a number of secondary education institutions in Zaragoza, but his bids for chairs of geography,chairs of geografía descriptiva general de Europa y de España in Instituto de Mahón (Zaragoza) and Instituto de Baeza (Zaragoza) history,chairs of historia de España e historia universal in Instituto de Mahón and Instituto de Baeza letters,lengua y literatura castellana in Instituto de Baeza Latinchairs of Latin language in Instituto de Canarias (Zaragoza) and in Instituto de Figueras (Zaragoza) and lawchair of psicología, lógica, ética y rudimentos de Derecho in Instituto de Teruel (Zaragoza) proved unsuccessful.Baltar Rodriguez 2014 In 1905 he was accepted at temporary unpaid job of professor at Facultad de Derecho of the University of Zaragoza;Baltar Rodriguez 2013, pp. 72–73 the same year he defeated five counter-candidates and won the contest for professor ,detailed discussion of academic contest in Baltar Rodriguez 2013, pp. 71–87 assuming regular teaching duties in 1906. In 1907 he was promoted to professor .Baltar Rodriguez 2014 The same year he filled the vacancy in as assistant professor.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 73 In 1910 he applied for in Universidad de Valladolid, but it is not clear whether he took part in the usual contest for the job.Baltar Rodriguez 2014 In 1911 he emerged victorious from the contest for chair of in Zaragoza, thus terminating the period of junior assignments and assuming a major academic position.Díaz Díaz 1995, p. 529, Baltar Rodriguez 2014, p. 72
Minguijón served as head of history of law in Zaragoza for close to the following quarter of a century, his position in the national realm of jurisprudence scholars enhanced following the publication of a series of textbooks in the 1910s, and especially his major work, , issued in 1927. From the mid-1910s he was invited to be a jury member in contests for academic chairs, held across Spain.Facultad de Derecho de Santiago de Compostela (1915) and cátedra de Historia del Derecho de la Universidad de Murcia (1919), Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 73 In the early 1930s he was already a distinguished law academic, known beyond the scientific milieu thanks to his numerous press contributions. Minguijón's juridical career was crowned in 1933, when he was elected as an academic nominee to Tribunal de Garantías Constitucionales, the Spanish constitutional court.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 72 The year marked also his departure from Zaragoza; he had to abandon the university chair as the new job required his presence in Madrid.
Minguijón formally resigned from the anyway defunct Tribunal in September 1936; he returned to Zaragoza and resumed his university dutiesBaltar Rodriguez 2013, pp. 72–73 until in 1938Minguijón y Adrián, Juan Salvador [in:] Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa online, available here he was appointed to the new Francoist high court, Tribunal Supremo.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 72 Back in Madrid, in the early 1940s he chaired and at Universidad Central.Díaz Díaz 1995, p. 530 In 1940 he entered the very elite of Spanish academics, becoming a member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, pp. 73 Minguijón resigned from all academic and official duties upon reaching the regular retirement age in 1944.Baltar Rodriguez 2014 Already in the 1930s he used to collaborate with semi-scholarly institutions, notably giving lectures at Ateneo de Madrid.Gambra 1959, pp. 82–85 This activity gained momentum following his retirement, especially as he became vice-president of the 1943-established Instituto Balmes de Sociología.Jesús Tobío Fernández, Salvador Minguijón Adrián, [in:] Arbor 44 (1959), p. 217 Already in the early 1940s he engaged in works of Institución Fernando el Católico of Zaragoza.Baltar Rodriguez 2014 In 1944 he became one of the moving spirits behind the Madrid Colegio de Aragón, set up by IFC as means of sustaining an Aragon identity,Gustavo Alares López, Severino Aznar y el Colegio de Aragón (1945–1959), Zaragoza 2013, , p. 39 scaling down his engagement after 1953.he was last noted as taking part in regular meeting in 1953, Alares López 2013, p. 267, for later years see Alares López 2013, p. 268 and onwards
Writings
Minguijón's written heritage is one major work, around 20 booklets, tens of scientific articles and hundreds of press items. In terms of topics, his opus is described by a present-day-scholar as multi-faceted.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 72 It may be roughly divided into four groups: jurisprudence, political thought, social sciences and ongoing public issues.
His most recognized works are those dealing with history of law. From 1911 to the early 1920s Minguijón published booklets formatted as textbooks for students, completed as a 12-volume series titled ;Baltar Rodriguez 2014 apart from the synthesis and update of earlier works they were heavily based on own research, related in particular to medieval and foral Spanish legislation.Baltar Rodriguez 2013, p. 74 The series was the basis for a massive monograph, (1927), the 500-page work which gained Minguijón his name and scientific posture. Re-issued in several editions, until the mid-1950s it served as an academic manual for generations of Spanish students.Baltar Rodriguez 2014
Minguijón's works on political thought were formatted mostly as pamphlets and booklets hardly exceeding 100 pages. The best known one, having been also chronologically the first, was (1914), a lecture of the author's understanding of Traditionalism and its role in Spain of the era; it elevated the author to a prominent though controversial position within Carlism. It was followed by (1929), (1930), (1934), (1934) and (1936), all of them marking an attempt to transform Traditionalist outlook into a modern Christian doctrine.he also father minor works, often focusing on specific individuals like Baltasar Gracián, Antonio Maura, Juan Moneva, see e.g. El sentido de la vida en la obras de Gracián [in:] Baltasar Gracián escritor aragonés del s. XVII, Zaragoza 1926