Rafael Fontecilla

Rafael Florencio Fontecilla Riquelme (7 August 1889 – 10 May 1976) was a Chilean lawyer, jurist, judge and professor. A specialist in criminal law, he served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Chile from 1948 to 1963 and as president of the Supreme Court from 1960 to 1963.

Early life

Fontecilla was born in Mulchén on 7 August 1889, the son of Benjamín Fontecilla Adrover and Margarita Riquelme Hermosilla. He attended the Liceo de Aplicación in Santiago before studying law at the University of Chile. His law thesis was entitled Expropiaciones por causa de utilidad pública, and he qualified as a lawyer on 11 May 1914.

Fontecilla married Ana Rosa Romero Rivera, with whom he had two children. Following her death, he married Aída Concepción Laso Correa in 1950; they had one son.

Judicial career

After briefly practising law, Fontecilla entered the Chilean judiciary in 1921 as judge of letters in Los Andes. In 1924, he was appointed judge of letters in Rancagua. He subsequently continued his career in the higher courts, eventually becoming a justice of the Supreme Court of Chile in 1948.

Alongside his judicial career, Fontecilla developed an extensive academic career in criminal law and criminal procedure. He was a professor of criminal law at the University of Chile and published several works on Chilean criminal law and procedure.

Fontecilla was elected president of the Supreme Court in 1960, succeeding Miguel Aylwin. He held the presidency for three years, during the government of Jorge Alessandri, and was succeeded in 1963 by Pedro Silva Fernández. He left the Supreme Court that same year; Israel Bórquez was appointed to the court on 24 October 1963 to replace him.

Fontecilla died in Santiago on 10 May 1976, aged 86.

Works

Among Fontecilla's published works were:

  • El proyecto de Código Penal para la República de Chile (1929)
  • La pena (1930)
  • El Código Penal Chileno ante las nuevas orientaciones de la ciencia penal (1932)
  • Derecho Procesal Penal (1934)
  • Interpretación judicial de las leyes de procedimiento penal y especialmente en torno a los vocablos: Inculpado, Reo y Procesado (1946)
  • Concurso de delincuentes, de delitos y de las leyes penales y sus principales problemas jurídicos (1956)
  • Tratado de Derecho Procesal Penal (1978)