Abraham Oyanedel

Abraham Oyanedel Urrutia (Copiapó, May 25, 1874 - Santiago, January 29, 1954) was a Chilean lawyer and judge. He served as Vice President of the Republic between October and December 1932, and was Minister and President of the Supreme Court of Chile.

Family and studies

He was the son of Daniel Oyanedel Olmos and Inés Urrutia Pérez. He studied at the Liceo de Copiapó, and at the age of 17 joined the Iquique Government Junta (made up of members of Congress) during the civil war of 1891, serving as an artillery lieutenant.

Then he moved to Santiago, to study at the Law School of the University of Chile, graduating as a lawyer on September 14, 1897. His thesis was entitled «Nulity and rescission of acts and contracts; Civil Code".

He married Emma Grebe Castañón, with whom he had four children.

Judicial career

In November 1893, during his university studies, he worked as a clerk in the tax office of Luis Urzúa Gana in Santiago. In September 1895 he entered the Judiciary as a second officer of the 2nd Criminal Court of Santiago, a court in which he was promoted to first officer the following year. After obtaining his law degree, he was appointed substitute judge in the cities of Tocopilla (1901), San Felipe (1904) and Petorca (1904). In 1908 he took office as Combarbalá's titular judge.

On May 23, 1922, he moved to Valparaíso, to serve as judge of the 1st Civil Court of the port city. Three years later, in October 1925, he was appointed minister of the Valparaíso Court of Appeals. In Valparaíso he was also a procedural law professor in the Law Course.

On April 5, 1927, he was appointed Minister of the Supreme Court of Chile. On June 27, 1932, he assumed the presidency of the Court, a position he held until December 9, 1934. The next day, December 10, 1934, he retired from the Judiciary.

Vice Presidency of Chile

In his capacity as president of the Supreme Court, on October 2, 1932, he received command of the country, from the hands of General Bartolomé Blanche, assuming as Vice President of the Republic.

His only task was practically to call the general elections of October 1932, from which Arturo Alessandri Palma emerged victorious for a second term. Oyanedel handed over power to him on Christmas 1932, ruling for 82 days.

Mr. Oyanedel and his Minister of the Interior stood firm, resisted the persistent and repeated insistences and suggestions to postpone the election, dominated by the honoured purpose that the time had come to restore the rule of the Constitution and the law, giving the country legally elected authorities and effectively representing national opinion.

Arturo Alessandri Palma, My choice of 1932.

Ministerial Cabinet

The ministers of state during Oyanedel's vice presidency from October 3 to December 24, 1932, were: