Servando Jordán

Servando Eduardo Jordán López (9 April 1927 – 30 June 2012) was a Chilean lawyer and judge who served as a justice of the Supreme Court of Chile from 1985 to 2002 and as president of the Supreme Court from 1996 to 1998. He was also a member of the Constitutional Court of Chile from 1993 to 2002.

During his presidency of the Supreme Court, Jordán was the subject of two impeachments in 1997, neither of which resulted in his removal from office. His tenure also included several legal disputes involving journalists and publications, some of which prompted public debate concerning freedom of expression in Chile.

Early life

Jordán was born in Talca on 9 April 1927, the son of Eduardo Jordán del Solar and Laura López Schott.

He studied law at the University of Chile, graduating in 1953. His thesis was titled El mercado del trabajo y la economía nacional (The Labor Market and the National Economy).

Judicial career

Jordán began his career in the Chilean judiciary on 8 March 1946 as a court officer at the Court of Appeals of Santiago. After qualifying as a lawyer in 1953, he was appointed judge of the First Civil Court of Santa Cruz. He subsequently served as a judge in San Fernando from 1956 to 1958.

From 1958 to 1959, Jordán served as a court reporter at the Court of Appeals of Santiago. In 1959, he became judge of the First Criminal Court of Santiago.

In March 1960, he was appointed a justice of the newly established Court of Appeals of Punta Arenas. He joined the Court of Appeals of Santiago in 1970.

In 1979, Jordán was appointed a special investigating judge in proceedings concerning more than 300 cases of people who had disappeared during Pinochet regime. The proceedings under his responsibility were closed and the records were transferred to the military justice system.

President of the Supreme Court

Jordán became president of the Supreme Court on 3 January 1996, succeeding Marcos Aburto Ochoa. He served until 5 January 1998, when he was succeeded by Roberto Dávila.

In 1997, while serving as president, Jordán faced two constitutional accusations before the National Congress of Chile. The accusations concerned his conduct in judicial proceedings involving Colombian drug trafficker Luis Correa Ramírez and former prosecutor Marcial García Pica. Neither accusation resulted in his removal from office.

Jordán was also involved in a number of disputes with the press. In 1998, journalists Fernando Paulsen and José Ale of La Tercera faced criminal proceedings over alleged defamatory statements concerning Jordán; both were subsequently acquitted.

Jordán later sought through the courts to require El Mercurio to publish his response to an editorial that had referred to him. His request was rejected by the Court of Appeals of Santiago, and that decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Jordán retired from the judiciary in April 2002 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Personal life

Jordán was married three times. His first marriage was to Alicia Delia Duhart Peralta, with whom he had three sons, Marcelo, Servando and Rafael. He later married Diana Jadrievic Kerber, and in 2006 married Linda Bosch.

Jordán died in Santiago on 30 June 2012 at the age of 85. His death was attributed to cardiac arrhythmia.