Person
Fernández de Leiva, Joaquín (1775-1814)Other forms
Santiago (Región Metropolitana de Santiago, Chile) 1775 - Lima (Perú) 1814-06-11
He was a judge and government representative. He was the son of Lucas Fernández de Leiva and his third wife, Loreto Endoyza. He was the half-brother of Manuel Rodríguez, an essential figure in the processes of Chilean independence. He studied at the Royal University of San Felipe where he graduated in Canons and Law; he later obtained a doctorate in Law. He was a consultant to the miners' guild "Mining Court" in 1803 and from 1806 to 1808. In the latter year he was posted to Spain to defend the interests of the Santiago de Chile town hall. After a long journey he arrived in the Iberian Peninsula in 1810 where he became a member of the Cádiz Cortes (parliament). There, he was characterized by the defense of liberal principles, as well as his active participation, both with regard to the organization of the Cortes and in the drafting of the constitutional text of 1812. He was a strong defender of the freedom of the press, as well as the granting of wider rights to American Indians and castes. Although he was loyal to the Spanish Crown, he demanded a greater presence of Latin Americans in the political sphere and equal treatment between them and peninsular people in regards to the job distribution or the granting of honors. In 1812, he requested a permit to return to America and join the position of judge at the Royal Court of Lima for which he had been proposed the previous year and which he held until his death. He married Dolores Vergara, although they had no children.
Date of the event: 1810 - 1813
Date of the event: 1813 - 1814
Diccionario biográfico de parlamentarios españoles. 1, Cortes de Cádiz, 1810-1814 [Madrid]: Cortes Generales, Servicios de Publicaciones. 1 disco (CD-ROM). 978-84-7943-386-4 .
García León, José María. Los diputados doceañistas : una aproximación al estudio de los diputados de las Cortes Generales y Extraordinarias (1810-1813). José Mª García León. [Cádiz]: Ayuntamiento de Cádiz. 2 v. (808 p.). 84-89736-51-0.