Manuel Ballesteros Ríos
Manuel Egidio Ballesteros Ríos (1 September 1844 – 30 November 1914) was a Chilean lawyer, judge, legal scholar and politician who served as a member of the Senate of Chile and as a minister of state under President Germán Riesco.
Ballesteros was primarily associated with the Liberal Democratic Party, whose organization he helped develop. Later in life, he joined the Radical Party and became vice president of its Central Board.
Early life
Ballesteros was born in Santiago on 1 September 1844 to Ramón Ballesteros Riesco and Ignacia Ríos Egaña. From 1854, he studied at the Seminario Conciliar de Santiago and later attended the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile. He qualified as a lawyer on 21 April 1871.
He married Leocadia Barros y Barros in Santiago on 15 May 1871.
Ballesteros began an academic career before completing his legal studies. In 1868, he became vice rector and professor at the Liceo de Talca and was appointed its acting rector the following year. From 1888 to 1891, he taught canon law at the University of Chile, but was removed from his position following the 1891 Chilean Civil War because of his support for the government of José Manuel Balmaceda.
Legal and academic career
Ballesteros held numerous judicial positions. He became judge of Melipilla in 1872 and later served as a criminal judge in Valparaíso and as a civil judge and president of an appellate tribunal. In 1884, he served successively as a civil judge in Santiago, substitute justice of the Supreme Court of Chile and justice of the Court of Appeals of Iquique.
He again served as a substitute justice of the Supreme Court in 1889 and became a full member of the court on 16 July 1891. He was removed from office on 7 September 1891 because of his loyalty to Balmaceda's government.
Ballesteros also worked as a journalist. He assisted in the establishment of La Estrella de Chile in 1867 and founded El Talquino the following year. His legal work Ley de organización y atribuciones de los tribunales chilenos received recognition from the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Chile in 1890, while his proposed code of criminal procedure was awarded a government prize in 1892.
In 1893, Ballesteros collaborated with René Worms in the establishment in Paris of the Revue Internationale de Sociologie. He was also a corresponding member of the Société de législation comparée in Paris and an honorary member of the editorial staff of the Brazilian legal journal Direito.
Ballesteros represented the Chilean government in legal proceedings abroad concerning indemnity claims arising from the 1891 civil war and later acted for Chile in the Alsop claim.
Political career
In his youth, Ballesteros sympathized with the Conservative Party. He later joined the Liberal Democratic Party, contributing to its organization and becoming one of its leading advisers. In his later years, he joined the Radical Party and served as vice president of its Central Board.
Ballesteros was elected to the Senate for Santiago for the 1900–1906 parliamentary period. He served on the permanent committee for constitution, legislation and justice, which he chaired, and on the permanent committee for public instruction. He was also a member of the Conservative Commission during the congressional recesses of 1900–1901 and 1902–1903.
During the presidency of Germán Riesco, Ballesteros served as Minister of Justice and Public Instruction from 18 September to 18 November 1901. He later served as Minister of the Interior from 12 May to 30 October 1904.
Ballesteros died in Santiago on 30 November 1914, aged 70.