Álvaro d'Ors Pérez-Peix
Álvaro Jordi d'Ors Rovira y Pérez-Peix (14 April 1915 – 1 February 2004) was a Spanish scholar of Roman law, currently considered one of the best 20th-century experts on the field; he served as professor at the universities of Santiago de Compostela and Pamplona. He was also theorist of law and political theorist, responsible for development of Traditionalist vision of state and society. Politically he supported the Carlist cause. Though he did not hold any official posts within the organization, he counted among top intellectuals of the movement; he was member of the advisory council of the Carlist claimant.
Álvaro d'Ors Pérez-Peix | |
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Born | Álvaro d'Ors Pérez-Peix 14 April 1915 Barcelona, Spain |
Died | 1 February 2004 88) Pamplona, Spain | (aged
Nationality | Spanish |
Occupation | academic |
Known for | scholar of law, political theorist |
Political party | Carlism |
Family and youth
The Ors family has been for centuries related to Catalonia, its origins traced back to Lerida.[1] The great-grandfather of Álvaro, Joan Ors Font,[2] was the native of Sabadell; his son and Álvaro's paternal grandfather, José Ors Rosal, settled in Barcelona and since the 1880s he practiced as doctor in the Santa Creu hospital. He married a girl from an enriched indiano family, born in Cuba though related to Vilafranca del Penedès.[3] Their son and the father of Álvaro, Eugenio Ors Rovira (1881-1954), in the 1910s emerged among protagonists of cultural life in Catalonia; he later changed his surname to d’Ors.[4] In the 1920s he grew to nationally recognized figure as publisher, essayist, art critic, writer and philosopher; in the Francoist Spain he held high jobs related to culture.[5] Currently he is considered one of key representatives of late Spanish Modernism and Catalan cultural renaissance.[6] In 1906 he married[7] María Pérez Peix (1879-1972), daughter to a successful textile business entrepreneur from Barcelona;[8] a cultured person with artistic penchant, she tried her hand in music, dance, guitar, photography and especially sculpture.[9]
The couple settled in Barcelona; they had three children, all of them sons; Álvaro was born as the youngest one.[10] He was raised in luxurious[11] and bohemian atmosphere, since childhood traveling extensively abroad due to professional assignments of his father; in 1922 the family moved to Madrid.[12] First educated by his mother,[13] in 1923-1932 he frequented Instituto-Escuela, an establishment known for its liberal profile; it is there he obtained the baccalaureate.[14] In 1932 d’Ors enrolled at law and in 1933 at philosophy and letters.[15] Outbreak of the Civil War caught him at the family estate in Argentona.[16] Fearing repression due to pro-Nationalist stand assumed in Paris by his father,[17] Álvaro opted for self-confinement. In mid-1937, he crossed the Pyrenees[18] and through France, he made it to the Nationalist zone.[19] Drafted to the army he deserted[20] and volunteered to the Carlist troops, serving in requeté units until 1939.[21] Released, the same year he graduated in law[22] and obtained a teaching contract at Universidad Central.[23]
In 1945 d’Ors married Palmira Lois Estévez (1920-2003),[24] his student and daughter to a local Galician lawyer;[25] until 1961 they lived in Santiago de Compostela, and later on in Pamplona. The couple had 11 children,[26] born between the mid-1940s and the mid-1960s. Three sons became academics: Miguel d’Ors Lois in literature (Pamplona, Granada), though he gained some recognition also as a poet,[27] Javier in law (Santiago, León)[28] and Angel in philosophy (Pamplona, Madrid).[29] Daughters became local editors, historians or art critics;[30] one daughter was mentally impaired and passed away prematurely.[31] The best known of d’Ors’ grandchildren are Laura d’Ors Vilardebo, a photographer and art critic,[32] and Diego d’Ors Vilardebó, a musician.[33] Among Álvaro's nephews, a Catholic priest Pablo d’Ors Führer is a writer and Juan d’Ors Führer a musician. Both Álvaro's brothers served as requetés and one in Division Azul in Russia;[34] Víctor gained some nationwide recognition as an architect and author of related books.[35]
Academic career
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D’Ors’ first academic teaching contract is dated 1939;[36] he obtained an auxiliary position at the chair of Roman law in Madrid.[37] In 1940 he left for Italy, where under the guidance of Emilio Albertario d’Ors pursued research related to his PhD dissertation. It materialized as a thesis on Constitutio Antoniniana, accepted cum laude at Universidad Central in 1941.[38] Following vacancies at the chairs of Roman law in Granada and Las Palmas he applied and emerged successful[39] over two counter-candidates.[40] Entitled to choose his seat he opted for Granada, where d’Ors was teaching Roman law in 1943–1944. In 1944 he swooped chairs[41] and moved to Universidad de Santiago de Compostela,[42] the institution he co-operated with since the early 1940s.[43]
In addition to Roman law, d'Ors was periodically teaching Civil Law and History of Law; in the late 1940s, he held the job of Library Director of the University of Santiago. During his Santiago spell he was also heading the library of the School of Law.[44] In 1948 he commenced long-lasting co-operation with University of Coimbra.[45] In 1953 he was nominated head of the Vatican-based Istituto Giuridico Spagnolo;[46] until 1973 d’Ors would lead its works.[47] Though he felt very well in Santiago,[48] in 1960 and reportedly due to influence of José María Escriva[49] d’Ors moved to the newly set up University of Navarra, a corporate work of Opus Dei.[50] Since 1961 for the following 24 years he continued as chair of Roman law; until 1972 he served also as Library Director and was responsible for setting up and managing the School of Librarians.[51] Though in the early 1980s he was pondering upon return to Santiago[52] he retired in Pamplona in 1985;[53] until 1989 he contributed as professor emeritus[54] and until death as honorary professor.[55]
Apart from strictly academic institutions, in the 1940s d’Ors was active in Centro de Estudios Históricos, Instituto Nacional de Estudios Jurídicos, Instituto Nebrija de Estudios Clásicos, and in Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.[56] During long spells he remained in editorial boards of numerous periodicals, notably Emerita,[57] Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español,[58] Revista de Estudios Histórico-Jurídicos, Revue Internationale des Droits de l’Antiquité[59] and Studia et Documenta.[60] D’Ors was member of numerous scientific organisations in Spain and abroad.[61] He kept writing throughout all his life; it is estimated that d’Ors wrote some 600–800 academic publications, plus thousands of op-eds and other pieces.[62]
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There are conflicting views on d’Ors’ didactical profile. The prevailing one is that though very diligent and ideologically uncompromising,[63] as a colleague and mentor d’Ors remained extremely fair[64] and very respectful towards his assistants and students. Perhaps even tending to excess benevolence,[65] he allowed them a great deal of research liberty.[66] According to his son, he had no personal enemies and never embarked on personal charges. However, a competitive view is that the above seems highly debatable,[67] that he was very lenient only towards his disciples while remaining intransigent if not hostile towards those considered opponents, and that his judgment was seriously impaired by ideological fanaticism.[68]
Roman law scholar
Though d’Ors remained active on many scholarly fields, he considered himself and is most appreciated today as a Roman law scholar. His interest in ancient Rome originated from juvenile visits in the British Museum,[69] but was later cultivated and developed by his academic masters José Castillejo and Ursicino Alvarez.[70] He also admitted masterly influence of Theodor Mommsen, Otto Lenel, Leopold Wenger, Emilio Albertario; the peers he was indebted to were mostly Max Kaser and Franz Wieacker.[71]
In terms of specific issues tackled, chronologically the first was the problem of Roman citizenship regulations; d’Ors offered a new view of Edict of Caracalla and challenged the previously dominating, so-called interpolationist theory.[72] Another thread of his research was contractual agreements, and particularly credit; d’Ors questioned the fourfold classification of contracts and emphasized their bilateral nature.[73] Throughout his career he dedicated much attention to municipal law, especially during the Flavian era.[74] D'Ors also focused on the reconstruction of the praetor's edicts, improving thus earlier reconstructions offered by Adolf Friedrich Rudorff and Otto Lenel.[75] He dedicated much work to Visigothic law, pursuing a territorialist thesis against personalism of Germanic law.[76] Last but not least, he offered an extensive analysis of the juridical thought of the Roman jurist Sextus Caecilius Africanus.[77]
Methodologically, d’Ors advocated much stricter and rigorous approach related to source criticism, especially concerning Roman legal sources; this view constituted the guiding thread of his research[78] and together with works of Álvarez contributed to a new turn in the research of Roman law in Spain.[79] His own specific approach consisted of particular focus on so far underestimated sources, namely papyrology and epigraphy;[80] in the early 1950s he collected and extensively commented on all known epigraphic fragments related to juridical order in Roman Spain, and later on followed new discoveries, esp. on so-called Lex Flavia and Lex Irnitana in the 1980s.[81]
The first major work published by d’Ors was Estudios sobre la Constitutio Antoniniana (1943), a multi-volume edition of his Ph.D. dissertation. The same year he released Presupuestos críticos para el Estudio del Derecho Romano, mostly a study on methodology and source criticism. Introducción al estudio de los Documentos del Egipto romano (1948) was relatively minor compared to Epigrafía jurídica de la España romana (1953), by some considered his most important contribution to scholarship on Roman law.[82] In 1960 d’Ors summarized his studies on Visigothic law in his monumental El Código de Eurico (1960).[83] Elementos de Derecho romano (1960) was designed as textbook for students of Roman law, and following some changes re-appeared with 10 re-issues[84] it served generations of Spanish students of law and was last published in 2017.[85] Specific problems or municipal statutes was discussed in La ley Flavia municipal (1986)[86] and Lex Irnitana (1988),[87] while Las “Quaestiones” de Africano (1997)[88] provided an all-round description of judicial ideas of Sextus Caecilius Africanus. The last major work published was a set of essays, Crítica romanística (1999).[89] D’Ors’ lesser works, mostly articles scattered across juridical press, run into the hundreds.
Theorist of law
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D’Ors’ theory of law was founded on distinction between authority (autoridad) and power (poder). Authority is derived from genuine wisdom, and this, in turn, is based not on human assertions, but may be ascertained through tradition[90] and from the natural order, the latter founded on divine rules.[91] Power, in turn, is a ruling structure; it must be based on authority, though it should remain separate from it.[92] This ideal was best embodied in early Roman Republic, but it started to crack when haruspices replaced augurs.[93] The distinction between authority and power was eventually[94] blurred following the rise of Protestantism and ensuing religious wars. Rulers assumed the role of authority; as it was no longer possible to appeal to autoridad against the injustice of poder, the result was the curtailment of liberty.[95]
Another pair was legitimacy (legitimidad, based on ius) and legality (legalidad, based on lex). According to d’Ors, the former is an order stemming from an authority, while the latter is declared by power.[96] The two are not necessarily incompatible; in fact, they should be complementary. However, due to blurred distinction between autoridad and poder, natural law[97] was challenged by positive law.[98] D’Ors confronted the law which claimed to be tantamount to legitimacy. To him, the legal system produced by contractual[99] and/or voluntarist concept was by default flawed, as he declared “social contract” and “will of the people”[100] a myth.[101] One more distinction, only marginally related to the theory of law, was this between ownership (propiedad) and possession (posesión). D’Ors challenged claims raised by modern states as unduly based on abuse of possession; he also confronted the capitalist order, based on the exaltation of property.[102]
A concept related to d’Ors theory of law was violence. He viewed it as an intrinsic part of human history, usually coming to the forefront when an existing order was cracking or collapsing. Since d’Ors at times declared himself to be a “realist,” he considered it in extremis necessary to resolve to violent means,[103] especially when defending natural order against chaos and disorder.[104] In fact, as long as violence was stemming from an authority, it formed part of ius, even in case it was not compatible with lex.[105]
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D’Ors’ general theory of law is by some named philosophy of law[106] and by others juridical-political philosophy.[107] It is noted that because of its implications, “it is sometimes not easy to distinguish d’Ors's political theory from his legal theory”.[108] In contrast to his romanist teachings, D’Ors theory of law and juridical order has been presented neither in systematic lecture nor structured analysis.[109] It was exposed in numerous press publications, private letters, some paragraphs and sub-chapters in his Roman law works, and above all in essays, most of them collected in separate volumes. The two which stand out are Escritos varios sobre el Derecho en crisis (1973)[110] and Derecho y Sentido Común (1995);[111] some pieces were published in more heterogeneous collections, like Papeles del Oficio Universitario (1961), Nuevos Papeles del Oficio Universitario (1980),[112] Cartas a un joven estudiante (1991),[113] and Parerga histórica (1997).[114]
Political theorist
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The cornerstone of d’Ors’ political theory is criticism of modern state.[115] He viewed it as born out of a sovereignty concept constructed in the 16th century and religious wars, enhanced by Absolutism and the French Revolution.[116] This concept was founded on abandoning the distinction between authority and power;[117] its product were mushrooming “artificial” nation-states, which confused ownership with possession.[118] In the late 20th century an alternative solution to obsolete nation-states was a system of “great spaces.”[119] D’Ors was rather vague about them; some commentators compared them to a set of global orders,[120] some to confederations[121] and some to entities resembling the British commonwealth,[122] though all agree that D’Ors subscribed neither to Pax Americana nor to Pax Sovietica concepts.[123] He tried to launch a new science he called "geodieretics," dealing with the organization of territorial order; it differed from geopolitics by discarding the nation state.[124] Instead, it advanced the theory of subsidiarity, viewed as a regulatory principle operating among social bodies.[125]
D’Ors’ recipe for organizing human communities is described as “counter-revolutionary trinomy.” Equality is replaced with legitimity, based on family, natural law, and divine Revelation as the source of truth.[126] Liberty is replaced by responsibility, founded on personal identity, law, and concept of service.[127] Brotherhood is replaced with fatherhood, this one rooted in authority, wisdom, public good, and order.[128] Contemporary scholars list 32 building blocks of the Orsian order, among them, the exaltation of tradition, “political verticalism,” piety, Christianity, religious unity, monarchy, authority, collectivism and violence, and de-emphasizing of reason, democracy,[129] parliamentarism, nationalism,[130] capitalism and others.[131]
Some historians name d’Ors a Francoist ideologue. It is underlined that his legitimization of violence and exaltation of the Crusade served the regime perfectly,[132] that he was exponent of the caudillaje theory,[133] that his focus on strong executive and religion supported the mix of nacional-catolicismo,[134] that he advocated “democracía orgánica”[135] and that after death of the dictator,[136] he judged him favorably.[137] Other scholars claim that d’Ors supported Francoism as long as the regime remained rooted in traditional values and opposed its revolutionary syndicalist current,[138] that he worked to make Traditionalism the core of Francoist ideology,[139] and that he formed the group which challenged statolatrian penchant of the regime.[140] It is also noted that after 1975, d’Ors confronted the continental order as formed by the Germany-dominated EEC and the world order as dominated by the United States,[141] both devoted to “consumismo capitalista”;[142] he was increasingly bitter about Spain becoming prey of global capitalism.[143]
D’Ors did not produce a synthetic work exposing his political theory, which he viewed as “teología política”.[144] It was presented mostly in numerous essays, scattered across various press titles and partially re-published in separate collections. Some of them formed part of books devoted to law; those which covered politics are De la guerra y la paz (1954), Forma de gobierno y legitimidad familiar (1963), Ensayos de Teoría Política (1979),[145] La violencia y el orden (1987),[146] Parerga histórica (1997),[147] La posesión del espacio (1998),[148] and Bien común y Enemigo Público (2002).[149]
Foralist, canonist and taxonomist
Throughout most of his academic career, d’Ors pursued his interest in specific local legal establishments known as fueros, related to municipalities, provinces, and regions. In 1946 he took part in Congreso Nacional de Derecho Civil in Zaragoza, where he delivered a lecture endorsing foral rights; it was indirectly aimed against homogenization and centralization, favored by the Francoist regime.[150] He kept presenting his concept of subsidiarity as a form of foralism in articles, published later on.[151] He advanced the concept systematically since the early 1960, when he entered Comisión Compiladora; it was a team which worked on codification of the Navarrese regional legislation, to be titled Recopilación privada de las leyes del Derecho Civil de Navarra. The labors went on for a few years until their result was published in a series Fuero Nuevo de Navarra (1968-1971),[152] endorsed by Diputación Foral.[153] In line with the Orsian idea, the Navarrese establishments were presented as derived from autoridad[154] and as based on natural law.[155] After the fall of Francoism d’Ors became a member of Consejo de Estudios de Derecho Navarro, entrusted with work on Ley Orgánica de Reintegración y Amejoramiento del Fuero de Navarra; however, in the early 1980s, the draft proposed by the council was rejected by the local self-government. Afterward, D’Ors focused on smaller territorial entities; he helped to complete Ordenanzas del Valle de Salazar, a set of legal establishments specific for a Pyrenean community of the Salazar Valley.[156]
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D’Ors interest in jurisprudence also translated into his focus on canon law; between 1961 and 1985, he served as professor of canon law at the University of Navarra.[157] Promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law in 1983 directed him more specifically towards some legal regulations within the Catholic Church; he was interested mainly in the legal terminology used, as well as in the critical exegesis of the canons in their Latin versions. A few dedicated articles followed; the work was summarized in the revision of the Spanish translation of the Code of Canon Law, edited by Martín Azpilcueta and published by Institute of the University of Navarra (2001).[158] One more and perhaps the most holistic of d’Ors’ academic interests was related to the general classification of sciences, which he developed in the 1960s. Instead of the most widely accepted Diltheian segmentation into natural sciences (Naturwissenschaften) and human sciences (Geisteswissenschaften),[159] he proposed segmentation into Ciencias Humanas, Ciencias Naturales, and Ciencias Geonómicas. Law formed part of the first group; the third one listed grouped disciplines related to organización de la tierra.[160] The attempt was finalized as a multi-volume massive work titled Sistema de las Ciencias (1969).
Carlist: access and early years
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Though there were very distant and isolated Carlist antecedents in the Ors family,[161] his parents were members of the modernizing bohemian avant-garde.[162] In his juvenile period, d’Ors entered the same liberal path. In the late 1920s, he co-founded Juventud, an art magazine which remained in the press current “de tono progresista, socializante”.[163] During his academic years d’Ors did not engage politically; following the outbreak of the war he spent the first year reading books. He crossed via France to the Nationalist zone influenced by his father, but having deserted from the army,[164] he felt heavily attracted to volunteer requeté troops.[165] He enlisted to the requeté battalion, Tercio Burgos-Sangüesa;[166] service in this unit and since early 1939 in Tercio de Navarra[167] formed him as a Carlist.[168]
When released from the army in 1939 d’Ors did not engage in politics; having landed the academic job in Santiago in the mid-1940s he resumed his links with local Carlist groups,[169] he did not assume any position in organized structures of the movement. As Carlism was increasingly plagued by internal fragmentation d’Ors did not explicitly back any of the factions. Throughout the 1940s and the 1950s, he rather advanced his Traditionalism as a theorist of law and politics, occasionally confronting excessive Falangist zeal in the academic environment;[170] none of the historiographic studies discussing Carlism of that period mentions his name.[171] His relations with institutional Carlism became closer in the late 1950s. The young entourage of prince Carlos Hugo, at that time just entering the public stage in Spain, turned to the then Santiago academic for support. D’Ors co-drafted the address that the prince was to deliver during the annual Carlist Montejurra rally in 1958;[172] it contained bold references to local fueros, to the idea of subsidiarity, and hinted at the concept of a federative Europe.[173] In 1960 he took part in a semi-ideological conference named Semana de Estudios Tradicionalistas, held in Valle de los Caídos;[174] d’Ors’ lecture was an exposition of his political theory.[175]
At the turn of the decades in public d’Ors was not identified as a Carlist zealot; politicians from the Alfonsist camp considered him their potential ally, especially given his membership in the pro-Juanista Opus Dei.[176] When in 1960 Franco decided that further education of Don Juan Carlos, who had turned 18, should be coordinated by an academic board, the entourage of Don Juan suggested that d’Ors becomes its member.[177] The office of Franco dropped him from the candidates' list. Still, he was reinstated on the insistence of the Alfonsinos. The controversy became pointless as sounded on his membership, D’Ors declined. He pointed out that the only legitimate heir was Don Javier;[178] when pressed, he responded with “lealtad [to the Carlist dynasty] obliga.”[179]
Carlist: climax
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The early 1960s mark the beginning of d’Ors’ explicit engagement in Carlist labors.[181] In 1962 he co-worked on a document, which legally backed citizenship claims of the Borbón-Parmas;[182] it was presented to Franco during the prince's visit to El Pardo the same year.[183] D’Ors accompanied Don Carlos Hugo at the occasion,.[184] However, he was not admitted to the interview.[185] According to his later account until that point, he had genuinely believed that Franco-endorsed coronation of a Carlist pretender was possible; the interview convinced him that it was an illusion, yet he went on to support the Borbón-Parmas,[186] because of his loyalty to the dynasty.[187] There is confusing evidence, though; the same year he developed doubts about Traditionalist credentials of Don Carlos Hugo.[188]
In 1964 d’Ors prepared a set of documents to be agreed during the grand meeting at Puchheim[189] and then attended the meeting, staged the following year.[190] As a legal expert, he elaborated on the legal case of Don Sixto, threatened with expulsion from Spain and later admitted to the Foreign Legion.[191] In 1965 for the only time he spoke during the Montejurra rally;[192] discussing the legitimacy of the Borbón-Parmas,[193] he made a great impact.[194] In 1965 d'Ors was nominated to Junta del Gobierno,[195] in 1966 to the newly established Consejo Asesor de la Jefatura Delegada[196] and in the press he appeared as a member of Junta Nacional.[197] In 1968 he entered another body, Consejo Real; among some 80 candidates, he was among 4 the most-voted.[198] He kept serving as chief legal adviser to Don Javier, e.g., drafting his declaration on the planned Ley Orgánica referendum.[199]
Since the early 1960s, Carlism was increasingly divided between an emergent progressist faction centred around Don Carlos Hugo and the Traditionalist core. In the mid-1960s, the progressists were already in control of key institutions of the movement. There is no information on d’Ors’ taking part in the internal power struggle. Though ideologically he was the key representative of Traditionalist orthodoxy and spoke out against subversive, revolutionary currents, marked by the deification of democracy and human rights,[200] until 1968 he was among authors most frequently published in the carlo-huguista review, Montejurra.[201] However, in the late 1960s, he was increasingly alienated by new ideas introduced by the prince and his entourage, especially that there were already few Traditionalists left in the command layer of the organization. He declared to Don Carlos Hugo “Vuestra Alteza es republicano”, and started to distance himself from the party structures.[202] In the early 1970s, following grand carlo-huguista rallies in Arbonne, he withdrew from Consejo del Rey and terminated his links with the newly emergent Partido Carlista.[203]
Carlist: post-Franco years
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Since the early 1970s, d’Ors stayed clear of official Carlist structures, controlled by the carlo-huguistas; he was also greatly disappointed by the position taken by the claimant, Don Javier,[204] who apparently condoned proto-socialist endeavors of his son, Don Carlos Hugo.[205] However, he did not engage in open confrontation. In 1976 and encouraged by his daughter, he attended the annual Montejurra rally; according to his own account, he was unaware that the Traditionalists chose the event to confront Don Carlos Hugo and his followers. When the gathering turned into a melee he withdrew; however, some press titles claimed later that d’Ors instigated Traditionalist militants towards violence. Afterwards he visited some of them, like Arturo Márquez de Prado, during their brief incarceration period.[206]
Close to nothing is known about d’Ors’ Carlist engagement at the turn of the decades. In the early 1980s, he maintained private relations with Traditionalist activists like Márquez de Prado, Javier Nagore Yárnoz or Miguel Garisoain and pundits like Antonio Segura, Rafael Gambra or Frederick Wilhelmsen; at times he took part in semi-scientific conferences or public rallies, e.g., the one commemorating the fallen requeté at Isusquiza.[207] As numerous Carlist grouplets tried to overcome the period of fragmentation, d’Ors remained highly supportive; during a unification rally of 1986, which gave rise to Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista, he was present and got elected to its executive, Consejo Nacional.[208] However, he was more of a patriarch than an active politician,[209] and did not take part in day-to-day party activities.[210] The exception were elections to the EU parliament, staged in 1994. He agreed to stand as the last candidate on the CTC list, his presence tailored to lend his personal prestige to other Carlist candidates running. The bid ended in total failure.[211]
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As an octogenarian d’Ors considered Carlism a politically lost cause; according to his 2000 letter, the role of CTC was “to save principles of the Tradition against democratic correctness, which rules today”.[212] It is not clear what was his opinion on another breakup, namely when followers of Don Sixto set up their own organization and left CTC.[213] According to some sources, until death d’Ors remained in the CTC executive.[214] In 2002 d’Ors became target of heavy criticism on part of the Sixtinos; it was following his article, which presented the Carlist theme "Dios Patria Rey" as somewhat obsolete. D’Ors suggested that religious question became largely a private issue, that patriotism was mostly down to defense of foral order, and that a king became a symbol of monarchy rather than a specific person or a dynasty.[215] The Sixtino leader, Rafael Gambra, vehemently rejected the theory and charged d’Ors with the intention of reducing Carlism to “one more christian-democratic grouping”.[216]
Reception and legacy
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D’Ors established his position among the best Spanish experts in Roman law following the 1953 publication of Epigrafía jurídica. However, he became known nationally upon receiving Premio Nacional de Literatura in 1954, the award which acknowledged his De la Guerra y de la Paz essays. In the 1960s, he was already the top national Roman law scholar. He was awarded Premio Nacional de Investigación (1973), Cruz de Alfonso X el Sabio (1974) and Gran Cruz de San Raimundo de Peñafort (1997), and honorary degrees by the universities of Toulouse (1972), Coimbra (1983) and La Sapienza (1996).[217] D'Ors also was awarded honors by the University of Navarre,[218] Eusko Ikaskuntza[219] and Navarrese self-government.[220] However, since the 1980s, he complained about having been increasingly isolated as a result of “revanchismo político.”[221]
Currently d’Ors is counted among European scholars responsible for renaissance of studies in Roman law,[222] most influential Roman law scholars of the 20th century,[223] best Spanish jurists of the period,[224] and best world romanistas of the last 150 years.[225] In terms of theory of politics, he is counted among best European scholars of the 20th century[226] and among greatest Traditionalist thinkers.[227] However, it is noted that d’Ors was hardly known beyond Spain,[228] the result of his decision to write in castellano only.[229] His memory is cherished in the University of Navarra, which consider him a central figure in the development of the university.[230] In 2013 a bust of d'Ors was placed at the entrance to the university library main building;[231] in 2020 an interdisciplinary chair at the University of Navarra Institute of Culture and Society was named after d’Ors.[232] Apart from Roman law, he is generally noted as expert in linguistics, philology, philosophy, papyrology, epigraphy, ancient history, civil law, canon law, foral law,[233] legal theory, Catholic theology, social philosophy and theory of education.[234] Numerous present-day academics are listed as his disciples.[235]
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Attempts to classify d’Ors’ thought in terms of any specific school or current are fairly rare. Some consider him the member of an intellectual formation named “generation 48”;[236] others ponder upon the labels of “escolástico” or “realista”;[237] in the theory of law clearly supporter of natural law school, in the theory of politics he is also decisively categorized as a Traditionalist.[238] All scholars underline his intellectual kinship[239] to Carl Schmitt,[240] but some underline differences,[241] some relate him to the Schmittian decisionism,[242] some categorize d’Ors concepts as “extreme”[243] and discuss them against the background of pro-Nazi leaning of Schmitt.[244] Some present d’Ors as a Traditionalist contributor to the Francoist ideology.[245] In the Traditionalist ambience d’Ors is hailed as one of the all-time greats;[246] the progressist ones offer challenge, criticism[247] and highly ambiguous acknowledgement.[248] Some note that in the theory of law many scholars follow him up to the point when their own clichés prevent further alignment.[249] Among tens of scientific articles,[250] some written as far away as in the United States,[251] Chile,[252] Mexico,[253] Hungary[254] or Poland,[255] d’Ors earnt at least 3 doctoral dissertations, one written already during his lifetime.[256] Among 3 books published[257] one is an all-round biography, published by d’Ors’ son-in-law.[258]
Footnotes
- according to Álvaro d’Ors the surname comes from “bear”; earlierst notes bout the name are from Barcelona and Lerida, Gabriel Pérez Gómez, Álvaro d'Ors: Sinfonía de una vida, Madrid 2020, ISBN 9788432152771, see the chapter Barcelona, principios del siglo XX
- Joan Ors i Font married Concepción Rosal i Sanmartí, Pérez Gómez 2020
- Celia Rovira García, was born in Cuba; she was daughter to José Rovira Alcocer and Eloísa García Silveira, Pérez Gómez 2020
- Eugenio Ors changed the surname from Ors to d’Ors to get himself distinguished from numerous other Orses in Catalonia. The change led to some spelling confusion, as there were the name appeared in print as Ors, d’Ors or D’Ors, Pérez Gómez 2020
- ABC 29.09.54, available here
- Eugenio d’Ors y Rovira, [in:] Britannica online, available here
- the couple divorced in 1932, Rafael Domingo, Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Rafael Domingo, Javier Martínez-Torrón (eds.), Great Christian Jurists in Spanish History, Cambridge 2018, ISBN 9781108585231; based on version published at Academia service, available here, p. 3
- her father was Benigno Álvaro Pérez Gonzalez, with roots in Valladollid and Rioja. He settled in Catalonia and founded a textile business Pérez y Paradinas, with branches in Madrid, Salamanca, Valladolid and Cordoba. Described as “máquina de ganar dinero”, he made a fortune and gained solid position in the Barcelona business. Pérez Gonzalez married Teresa Peix Calleja, daughter to an entrepreneur from Manresa José Peix i Quer, who married a girl from Palencia, Eugenia Calleja. She was an educated and ambitious woman and brought up her daughter accordingly, Pérez Gómez 2020
- she was the disciple of Rodín; as a sculptor she adopted the nickname of “Telur”, Pérez Gómez 2020
- Pérez Gómez 2020
- e.g., in the late 1920s the family-owned an entire fleet of cars: it consisted of a Hispano-Suiza, two Lincolns, and a Willys, Pérez Gómez 2020
- Álvaro's father grew in a Castellano-speaking family, Álvaro's mother, influenced by Cuban culture, also spoke Spanish as her native tongue. As a result, though living in Catalonia and contributing to Catalan culture, the couple spoke Castellano at home. The second language spoken in the family was French, mostly because of long spells in France. The couple and their children spoke Catalan perfectly. However, in public rather than in private, Pérez Gómez 2020
- the family anecdote has it that once his parents were abroad, Álvaro's grandmother, perplexed by lack of systematic education, arranged for him to enter Colegio San Luiz Gonzaga. The first few days were a disaster, and the schooling project was temporarily abandoned, Pérez Gómez 2020
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter Instituto-Escuela
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1932. Universidad
- in July 1936 d’Ors at his grandmother's estate, en route to Heidelberg; he was supposed to commence an academic course in Germany to study, Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter Julio de 1936. Una Familia dispersa
- A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here
- he first burnt his ID papers to prevent identification and troubles to his family if he gets caught by the Republican border guards, Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter Planes de fuga
- his academic mentor José Castillego suggested that from France d’Ors goes to London to complete his education; he declined the offer and headed for the border crossing in Irun, A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here
- drafted to the army in June, he was directed to Batallón de Zapadores Minadores no. 6 in Pamplona. Already in the barracks he was seeking re-assignment to some other unit. He was greatly disappointed with the drill, cynicism, and barracks culture
- Domingo 2018, p. 4. The exception was few months in mid-1938 when d’Ors attended the course of alférez provisional in Ceuta, Domingo 2018, p. 2
- d’Ors did not graduate in philosophy and letters, Domingo 2018, p. 2
- María Alejandra Vanney, Potestas, Auctoritas y Estado moderno, [in:] Cuadernos de Empresa y Humanismo 109 (2009), p. 24
- Margarita Figueiras Nodar, La enseñanza media en A Estrada (1933-1938) a partir de una fuente inédita, [in:] A Estrada: Miscelánea histórica e cultural 12 (2009), p. 126
- she was native of Ponte Caldelas (Pontevedra province), and daughter to a Manuel Lois Vidal (he was “secretario de la administración de justicia”and retired in 1962, Boletín Oficial de Estado 11313 (1962), available here. Her mother was and Elisa Estévez Fernández. For a poem dedicated to the couple see Miguel d’Ors, El mistero de la felicidad, Sevilla 2012, ISBN 9788484727477, p. 61
- Pérez Gómez 2020
- see e.g. en interview with him in Poesía digital 5,available here
- Domingo 2018, p. 6
- Juan Arana, Recuerdos de juventud. Recuerdo de una gran amistad. Angel d’Ors Lois (1951-2012), [in:] Naturaleza y libertad: revista de estudios interdisciplinares 2 (2013), pp. 269-285. See also his works at Dialnet.Unirioja service, available also here
- for Inés (historian of literature and editor) see e.g. her professional profile at LinkedIn service, available here. For Blanca (who tried her hand in letters) see e.g. her volume La Araucana, Madrid 2001, ISBN 9788477111030. For Pía (historian, editor) see e.g. her Facebook profile, available here. For Elisa (lawyer, art critic and historian) see e.g. brief info at Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica service, available here
- Isabel, known also as Beliñha(1958-2005), Miguel d’Ors, Mi padre (2004), pp. 36-37
- see Laura d’Ors entry, [in:] RKD service, available here, also her personal web page, available here
- see e.g. Daniel d’Ors Vilardebó entry, [in: Discogs service, available here
- according to a personal family account the brothers were entirely different personalities; Victor was a cheerful, somewhat comical type, Juan Pablo, a physician, was serious and possibly tragic figure, while Álvaro approached a heroic dimension, Andreu Navarra, El día que d’Ors se hizo falangista, [in:] La Razón 11.11.18, available here
- Xosé M. Núñez Seixas, De gaitas y liras.Sobre discursos y prácticas de la pluralidad territorial en el fascismo español (1930-1950), [in:] Miguel Angel Ruiz Carnicer (ed.), Falange, las culturas políticas del fascismo en la España de Franco (1936-1975), vol. 1, Madrid 2013, ISBN 9788499112169, p, 306
- according to some sources already before 1936 d’Ors held a minor job in Centro de Estudios Históricos Bartłomiej Różycki, Wprowadzenie do lektury Alvara d’Orsa, [w:] Dialogi Polityczne 13 (2010), p. 106
- at the time it was headed by Ursicino Alvarez Vanney 2009, p. 24
- Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Curriculum vitae
- when applying d’Ors claimed 27 publications. Most were short (10 to 40 lines) necrological notes. None of the contenders published abroad, Manuel J. Pelaez, Las oposiciones a cátedras de Derecho Romano de 1943 (Álvaro D' ors Pérez-Peix, Faustino Gutiérrez Alviz y Francisco Hernández Tejero (1ª parte), [in:] Revista de estudios histórico-jurídicos XXX (2008), p. 514
- it later turned out that the scientific output of d’Ors was larger (at least in numerical terms) than combined output of all 5 judges and his 2 counter-candidates, Pelaez 2008, p. 520
- he swooped with Faustino Gutiérrez Alviz, Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Otoño de 1944. Santiago
- Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Curriculum vitae
- d’Ors intended to work in Santiago already in the early 1940s; he visited the university on research and made some preliminary agreement to head the library, Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter Dicembre de 1943. Cetedrático en Granada
- Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Curriculum vitae
- for details see Rafael Gibert Sánchez de la Vega, Don Álvaro en Coimbra, [in:] Annals of the Archive of “Ferran Valls i Taberner's Library”: Studies in the History of Political Thought, Political and Moral Philosophy, Business & Medical Ethics, Public Health and Juridical Literature 3-4 (1989), pp. 73-77
- Vanney 2009, p. 27
- Domingo 2018, p. 5
- he would later refer to the years spent in Galicia as central to his life and academic path, Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Otoño de 1944. Santiago
- in 1949 d’Ors joined Opus Dei. Still, he probably knew Escriva already in the early 1940s, Domingo 2018, p. 5
- already before 1960 d’Ors considered leaving Santiago. However, earlier he thought about Madrid, where he could combine his academic duties with legal practice. Among the motives of his move to Pamplona, apart from the Opus Dei link, there was also a better financial outlook. He felt very well in Santiago and was sorry to leave it; he declared having been as adopted Galego himself, Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Verano de 1961. Traslado a Pamplona
- Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Curriculum vitae
- during the academic year of 1981/82 d’Ors considered leaving Pamplona and returning to Santiago. No-one really understood his motives. Some suspect that he was getting somewhat alienated by the new era's economic requirements and its impact on the teaching model at the private university. Another motive might have been that he did not want to be a burden for the private enterprise once he retires and that he feared feeling awkward as a pensioner in the city where he had taught for so long. Eventually, he abandoned the idea, principally in order not to obstruct the academic career of his son Javier, who was at the time teaching in Santiago, Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Ultima lección
- in 1983 d’Ors suffered a stroke, the first mark of declining health, Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Un infarto por la calle
- Domingo 2018, p. 5
- Domingo 2018, p. 5
- Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Curriculum vitae
- his Nebrija assignment was important as due to financial reasons
- d’Ors was in editorial board of AHDE until 1984, Manuel J. Peláez, Álvaro d’Ors Pérez-Peix, [in:] Revista de Dret Historíc Catalá 4 (2004), p. 205
- Różycki 2010, p. 107
- Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Curriculum vitae
- d’Ors was member – among other bodies - of Deutsche Anthropologische Gesellschaft, Sociedad de Estudios Romanos, Real Academia Gallega, Académie de Législacion de Toulouse, Academia Portuguesa da Historia, Instituto Lombardo, Societé d’Histoire du Droit de París and Sociedad Argentina de Derecho Romano, Vanney 2009, p. 29
- Domingo 2018, p. 6
- reportedly d’Ors was missing on duty only once, on the day when his mother passed away, Emilio Valiño, La práctica docente de don Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Persona y derecho 75 (2016), p. 333
- exam was only one of many means d’Ors applied to assess students, whom he measured against 21 qualities, Valiño 2016, p. 332
- reportedly known for benevolence, he nevertheless recognized some limits, e.g. he agreed that an excellent student who made orthographic mistakes did not merit a prize, Valiño 2016, p. 334
- Valiño 2016, p. 337
- Peláez 2004, p. 196
- as an example of d’Ors alleged fanaticism is his position versus Spanish scholars working on exile, and especially Luis Jiménez de Asua, Peláez 2004, p. 203. Other scholars claim that quite to the opposite, other scholars blinded by their own fanaticism refused to recognize the merits of d’Ors, see the opinion of Frederic Wilhelmsen (“nor is it possible for these liberal rationalist authors to reject the cliché that seeing a divine origin in a legal norm is something ajuridic and dangerously close to fanaticism”) quoted in Juan Ramón Medina Cepero, La trinomia anti-revolucionaria de Álvaro d’Ors [PhD thesis Universitat Ramón Lull], Barcelona 2013, pp. 114-115
- Pérez Gómez 2020, chapter Curriculum vitae
- Rafael Domingo, Álvaro d’Ors, in memoriam, [in:] Persona y derecho 50 (2004), p. 20
- Domingo 2018, pp. 7-8
- “after graduation in 1939, d’Ors spent a year in Rome working on his doctoral thesis under the guidance of Emilio Albertario. Albertario was a defender of radical interpolation research in Roman law, which was based on the false premise that the compilers of Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civilis (530 CE) had modified, revised, and dramatically changed the earlier works of the classical Roman jurists. Therefore, defenders of radical interpolationism established sophisticated criteria to detect the alterations. The turn away from this false premise, came in the mid-twentieth century, led by Franz Wieacker and Max Kaser. D’Ors accommodated to and even advocated for this new scientific methodology”, Domingo 2018, p. 4
- Domingo 2018, pp. 10-11
- Domingo 2018, p. 9
- Domingo 2018, p. 10. Detailed list of d’Ors’ articles on pretorian edicts in Rafael Domingo, Sobre las supuestas rúbricas del Edicto pretor, [in:] Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte (Romanistische Abteilung) 108 (1991), p. 290
- Domingo 2018, p. 11. D’Ors focused on so-called Code of Euric, a Visigothic document from the 5gh century; he prepared an edition of the manuscript and provided an erudite commentary. His point was that the document was a vulgarized version of Roman law influenced by Gallic jurists rather than a piece with origins in Germanic law, Manuel Jesús García Garrido, Álvaro d’Ors y el Derecho de los visigodos, [in:] Persona y Derecho 74 (2016), p. 339
- see Álvaro d’Ors (ed.), El Digesto de Justiniano, 3 vols, Pamplona 1968–1975, and Álvaro d’Ors, Las Quaestiones de Africano, Roma 1997
- Domingo 2018, p. 9
- Rafael Domingo, Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Nueva Revista 29.09.04, available here
- Domingo 2018, p. 8
- Domingo 2018, p. 9
- Domingo 2018, p. 9
- recently re-published as Álvaro d’Ors, El Código de Eurico, Madrid 2014, ISBN 9788434021334
- the last one identified is Álvaro d’Ors, Elementos de Derecho Privado Romano, Pamplona 2017, ISBN 9788431331627
- the textbook was most popular of d’Ors’ works; in Spain it shaped scholarly thinking on Roman law and often constitutes the starting point of contemporary Roman law research, Domingo 2018, p. 11
- Álvaro d’Ors, La ley flavia municipal, Roma 1986, ISBN 9788846501943
- Álvaro d’Ors, Javier d’Ors, Lex Irnitana, Santiago de Compostela 1988, ISBN 9788471915085
- Álvaro d’Ors, Las “Quaestiones” de Africano, Roma 1997, ISBN 9788846500144
- Álvaro d’Ors, Crítica romanística, Santiago de Compostela 1999, ISBN 8481217638
- María Alejandra Vanney, Álvaro d’Ors y la filosofía política, [in:] Persona y derecho 75 (2016), p. 377
- Frederick D. Wilhelmsen, La filosofía política de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Glossae: European Journal of Legal History 4 (1992), pp. 186-187
- the Orsian call for autoridad being separate from poder should not be confused with the Montesqieu's proposal. D’Ors deplored it and spoke against division into legislative, executive, and juridical powers, Antonio Carlos Pereira Menaut, Un concepto orsiano de constitución, [in:] Revista de Derecho de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso XXVI (2005), p. 324. See also Antonio-Carlos Pereira Menaut, El Pensamiento Constitucional de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Persona y derecho 74/2 (2016), pp. 169-216
- Wilhemsen 1992, p. 169; according to other scholars, the change also occurred when praetors started to also assumed the role of judges, Vanney 2009, p. 52
- according to d’Ors over centuries there were attempts on the part of both authority and power to blur the difference; the case of autoridad tempted by potestad was the one of Plato, whole the case of potestad tempted by autoridad was the one of Hobbes, Wilhemsen 1992, p. 173
- Antonio Segura Ferns, La teoría del poder de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Revista de formación cívica y de acción cultural, según el derecho natural y cristiano 421-422 (2004), p. 36
- Vanney 2009, p. 44
- Medina Cepero 2013, p. 32
- Medina Cepero 2013, p. 28
- Vanney 2009, pp. 19-20
- according to d’Ors the basic building block was not society, but community; organized, interactive, with common rules and aims. For d’Ors, society was merely a sum of individuals, with no common will and millions of individual preferences, Segura Ferns 2004, p. 43
- in the Orsian vision instead of “will of the people” there was only several individuals sharing common will, who prevailed over other individuals, Vanney 2016, p. 380
- Medina Cepero 2013, pp. 147-149
- Wilhemsen 1992, pp. 149-151
- in the Orsian vision natural disorder is rooted in primary sin, Álvaro Rodríguez Nuñez, Franquismo y tradicionalismo. La legitimación teórica del franquismo en la teoría política tradicionalista [Ph.D. thesis Universidad Santiago de Compostela], Santiago de Compostela 2014, pp. 443-444
- in his essay “Silent leges inter arma” d’Ors gives an example of a man assaulted at night on an empty street; though potestad did not authorize him to use violence, he was authorized by autoridad to fight his assailants, Wilhemsen 1992, p. 175-176
- Juan Segovia, Schmitt y Álvaro d’Ors: una inspiración ad modum recipientis, [in:] ResearchGate service 2018, p. 104
- Vanney 2016, p. 359
- Domingo 2018, p. 12
- Vanney 2016, p. 359
- Álvaro d’Ors, Escritos varios sobre el Derecho en crisis, Madrid-Roma 1973, ISBN 9788400039042
- Álvaro d’Ors, Derecho y Sentido Común, Pamplona 1995, ISBN 8447017079
- Álvaro d’Ors, Nuevos Papeles del Oficio Universitario, Madrid 1980, ISBN 9788432120145
- Álvaro d’Ors, Cartas a un joven estudiante, Pamplona 1991, ISBN 9788431311209
- Álvaro d’Ors, Parerga histórica, Pamplona 1997, ISBN 9788431315023
- Rafael Domingo, The New Global Law, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 9781139485944, p. 44
- according to d’Ors until 19th century Spain was not organized as “state,” Miguel Saralegu, Herrero, Montserrat (ed.), Carl Schmitt und Álvaro d’Ors Briefwechsel [review], [in:] Revista Empresa y Humanismo IX (2005), p. 165
- “modernity rejected relevant Christian ideas and Roman categories. The idea of sovereignty, put forward by Bodin, excluded the dogma of the kingship of Christ. The idea of separation of powers rejected the (natural) Roman distinction between authority (auctoritas) and power (potestas). The idea of secular democracy exalted legality (lex) and obliterated legitimacy (ius). Finally, d’Ors believed that modern legal and political thinkers erroneously applied the idea of ownership instead of the idea of possession to the distribution of the territory of the earth, developing thus an artificial international community of fabricated nation-states”, Domingo 2018, p. 13
- Domingo 2018, p. 13
- originally “grandes espacios.” It is widely acknowledged that d’Ors owed his concept to Schmitt and his Großraum and Großräume, though he formatted them differently, Segovia 2018, p. 124
- Wilhemsen 1992, pp. 180-186
- Vanney 2009, p. 76
- Rafael Domingo, The New Global Law, Cambridge 2010, ISBN 9781139485944, p. 44
- Wilhemsen 1992, p. 186
- Domingo 2018, pp. 17-18
- and not as institutional “functional reductionism,” Miguel Ayuso, Carlismo y tradición política hispánica, [in:] Verbo 467-468 (2008), p. 609, also Vanney 2016, p. 375; see also comments about “building an international community of peoples based on individual and social preferences instead of territorial sovereign states,” Domingo 2018, p. 18
- Medina Cepero 2013, pp. 16-104
- Medina Cepero 2013, pp. 105-175
- Medina Cepero 2013, pp. 176-207
- d’Ors was skeptical of democracy due to its voluntaristic character. It makes democracy similar to tyranny, with the key difference that the former was based on the will of millions, while the latter on the will of one. In both cases, voluntaristic principle ignored rationality, Segura Ferns 2004, p. 40. For other comments on democracy as based on a false myth of “common will” or “will of the people” see Vanney 2016, p. 380
- d’Ors was a sworn enemy of nationalism, which he considered defunct and inoperational as a political theory. He preferred the “familia-región-Reino” trinomy to the “pueblo-nación-Estado” concept, Alejandro Valiño, D. Álvaro d’Ors, foralista, y el derecho foral valenciano, [in:] Persona y derecho 75 (2016), pp. 297-298. He was even prepared to accept the concept of “plurinacionalidad” of Spain, Joan Lluís Pérez Francesch, La violencie I l’ordre. La meva correspondencia epistolar amb Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ars Brevis 2011, p. 143
- Medina Cepero 2013, pp. 210-348
- Rodríguez Nuñez 2014, p. 440-442
- “Álvaro d’Ors i Francisco Javier Conde han estat els dos maxims exponents de la teoria del cabdillatge”, Pérez Francesch 2011, p. 144
- “no hi ha divisió de poders, perque la potestat és única, i és de l’executiu”, Pérez Francesch 2011, p. 145, Vanney 2016, p. 375
- Segura Ferns 2004, p. 45
- d’Ors met Franco few times only during general meetings though never during a one-to-one meeting; his initial moderately positive opinion about the dictator later gave way to more esteem, as with passing of time d’Ors reportedly started to appreciate Franco's role in repelling the revolution, Różycki 2010, p. 110
- Rodríguez Nuñez 2014, p. 454
- Rodríguez Nuñez 2014, p. 135. On the same basis one scholar claims that out of 5 great Traditionalist intellectuals of the Francoist era, Elías de Tejada and d’Ors initially supported the regime to distance themselves later, Gambra and Vallet y Goytiusolo were consistently anti-Francoist, Canals moved from skepticism to more conciliatory positions, Jacek Bartyzel, Nada sin Dios. Społeczne królestwo Chrystusa jako sens i cel kontrrewolucji, [in:] Legitymizm service, available here
- Rodríguez Nuñez 2014, p. 108
- one scholar claims that inside Francoism there was a debate between those focused on state (Javier Conde, López Rodó, Fueyo) and those de-emphasizing it (Gambra, d’Ors), Rodríguez Nuñez 2014, pp. 85-86, 247; on d’Ors skepticism about exaltation of state see also Saralegu 2005, p. 164
- Pérez Francesch 2011, p. 142
- Domingo 2004, p. 21
- Rodríguez Nuñez 2014, p. 456
- Vanney 2009, p. 24; d’Ors insisted that his works on theory of politics be categotized as “teología política”, Wilhemsen 1992, p. 189
- Álvaro d’Ors, Ensayos de Teoría Política, Pamplona 1979, ISBN 9788431306045
- Álvaro d’Ors, La violencia y el orden, Madrid 1987, ISBN 9788492383856
- Álvaro d’Ors, Parerga histórica, Pamplona 1997, ISBN 9788431315023
- Álvaro d’Ors, La posesión del espacio, Madrid 1998, ISBN 9788447010387
- Álvaro d’Ors, Bien común y Enemigo Público, Madrid 2002, ISBN 9788472489455
- Valiño 2016, pp. 299-300
- see, e.g. De la prudentia iuris a la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Supremo y al Derecho Foral, [in:] Información Jurídica 55 (1947), pp. 63-82
- Juan Berchmans Vallet de Goytisolo, El profesor Álvaro d’Or, romanista y foralista, [in:] Verbo 421-422 (2004), p. 50
- Eduardo Cebreiros Alvarez, Ors Pérez, Álvaro d’ (1915-2004), [in:] Universidad Carlos III website, available here
- Valiño 2016, p. 301
- Valiño 2016, p. 295
- Valiño 2016, p. 301
- Domingo 2018, p. 5
- Domingo 2018, p. 5
- Różycki 2010, p. 108
- Renato Rabbi-Baldi Cabanillas, Derecho y ley (relecturas desde el pensamiento de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Persona y derecho 75 (2016), p. 386
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1965: el cénit del carlismo
- according to one source the mother of Álvaro d’Ors was a friend to the wife of Juan Negrín, Paloma de Albert, “Álvaro D'Ors no contaba las cosas en las que él quedara bien”, [in:] Diario de Navarra 14.11.20, available here. Negrin and his wife parted in the mid-1920s; it is not clear whether the woman referred to is Maria Fidelman-Brodska or later Negrín's companion, Feliciana López de Dom Pablo
- La Libertad 07.04.28, available here
- when in June 1937 conscripted in Pamplona, he was disillusioned by barbarity and cynicism of the barracks culture and deserted, Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter Soldado a los 22 años
- when in Pamplona in 1937, d’Ors was not a Carlist. However, “Pamplona vino a ser el centro de atracción de los carlistas de toda España. Muchos no-carlistas sentimos esa ponderosa atracción y nos incorporamos sin reservas al Requeté”, Domingo 2018, p.
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1965: el cénit del carlismo. D’Ors volunteering to the Carlist militia spared him court marshall. He was incorporated into the battalion named Tercio de Requetés Burgos-Sangüesa, where his brother Juan Pablo already served as a doctor (and later served as such in Division Azul). D’Ors later noted that “muchos no carlistas sentimos esa poderosa atracción y nos incorporamos, sin reservas al Requeté. El ideal de Requeté llegó a constituir, si se puede decir así, un mito de la Cruzada, que correspondía a la realidad de un valor sin odio, de un sacrificio y alegría incomparable…”, A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here
- in mid-1938 d’Ors was seconded to the alferez provisional training in Ceuta, which he completed in November 1938; in December 1938 he was seconded to a Batallón de Ametralladoras Sicilia 8; following few weeks he managed to secure transfer to Tercio de Navarra, Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter Otoño-invierno de 1938. Oficial provisional
- embracing Carlist in the trenches of the war, “has never abandoned the standard of his youth”, Miguel Ayuso, Álvaro d’Ors y el pensamiento tradicional, [in:] Verbo 421-422 (2004), p. 31. D’Ors later admitted that “el estímulo primero de toda mi teoría política es aquel grito Viva Cristo Rey!” should be viewed as the founding principle of all Christian politics, Ayuso 2008, p. 185
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1965: el cénit del carlismo
- one anecdote noted is that immediately after the war at a university (Madrid?) Manuel Fraga, the FET local academic leader, demanded that all lectures start with Cara al sol and the Roman salute. One Traditionalist student (Gabriel Zubiaga) refused to do so and was about to be expulsed. D’Ors stood in his defense and prevented the expulsion, Manuel Martorell Pérez, La continuidad ideológica del carlismo tras la Guerra Civil [Ph.D. thesis UNED], Valencia 2009, p. 206
- see e.g. Martorell Pérez 2009, Francisco Javier Caspistegui Gorasurreta, El naufragio de las ortodoxias. El carlismo, 1962–1977, Pamplona 1997; ISBN 9788431315641, Ramón María Rodón Guinjoan, Invierno, primavera y otoño del carlismo (1939-1976) [Ph.D. thesis Universitat Abat Oliba CEU], Barcelona 2015, Daniel Jesús García Riol, La resistencia tradicionalista a la renovación ideológica del carlismo (1965-1973) [Ph.D. thesis UNED], Madrid 2015
- d'Ors was present during the gathering and mentioned in Zamanillo's address s as one of "hermanos en la lucha." However, he did not speak himself, Javier Lavardín [José Antonio Parilla], Historia del ultimo pretendiente a la corona de España, Paris 1976, p. 74
- Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 150
- Mercedes Vázquez de Prada, El final de una ilusión. Auge y declive del tradicionalismo carlista (1957-1967), Madrid 2016, ISBN 9788416558407, p. 115. Some authors claim that d'Ors was present during the 1962 council in Valle de los Caídos, Lavardín 1976, pp. 145-146
- Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 465
- Lavardín 1976, p. 84
- in early 1960, Don Juan proposed to Franco the names of 9 scholars to form a board which would supervise further education of Don Juan Carlos. The names were probably suggested by Pedro Sainz Rodíguez, who in turn was advised by Florentino Pérez Embid. When the list was processed in the Franco office, the names of d’Ors and Antonio Fontan were dropped. Don Juan investigated with Franco why this had happened; the dictator dismissed the issue as a minor detail. Eventually, he agreed to put d’Ors and Fontan back on the list
- Emilio Valiño del Río, Don Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Anuario Mexicano de Historia del Derecho XVII (2005), pp. 425-428, Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 189
- A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here/
- note that the photograph is wrongly reproduced, as the image has been reversed
- d'Ors engagement in Carlist political efforts was closely related to his transfer from Santiago to Pamplona. Shortly after having settled in the Navarrese capital, in the fall of 1961, d'Ors worked to accommodate Carlos Hugo and to introduce to his academic colleagues, Lavardín 1976, p. 114
- Vázquez de Prada Madrid 2016, p. 153
- Lavardín 1976, p. 130
- originally the intellectual supposed to accompany Don Carlos Hugo was Francisco Elías de Tejada y Spínola, who was replaced in the last minute by d'Ors. Reportedly, the incident enhanced de Tejada's hostility towards Opus Dei, supposed to be responsible for the change, Jordi Canal, El carlismo, Madrid 2000, ISBN 8420639478, p. 364
- Vázquez de Prada 2016, pp. 168-169
- e.g., in 1963 d'Ors helped to organize an academic course in Pamplona for Maria Teresa Borbon-Parma, Lavardín 1976, p. 161
- Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 259
- in 1962, d’Ors was somewhat perplexed by the rising of new currents within the movement, though he did not think them subversive at the time; he warned against all-encompassing Carlism. He stuck to loyalty to the legitimate dynasty as his key principle, García Riol 2015, p. 47
- Vázquez de Prada 2016, pp. 240-241
- García Riol 2015, pp. 50-51, Vázquez de Prada 2016, pp. 245
- having served in the French army, Don Sixto was technically ineligible for the Spanish citizenship, Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 311
- Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 88. However, some authors claim that d'Ors did not speak as he missed the rally for personal reasons and that his address was read during the rally by Jesus Zalba, Lavardín 1976, p. 255
- Martorell Pérez 2009, p. 478
- on top of the Montejurra d’Ors declared that “la rama de Borbón-Parma es la unica rama viva del trono de la Familia Real Española”; the statement was then widely repeated in the carlo-huguista press, which used loyalty to the Borbón-Parmas as a lever in their pursuit of domination in the movement, Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 308
- Vázquez de Prada 2016, pp. 250
- Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, pp. 99-100
- Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 285
- in the voting d’Ors came fourth after José Angel Zubiaur, Juan Saenz-Diez and Domingo Fal Macias, Rodón Guinjoan 2015, p. 394, Caspistegui Gorasurreta 1997, p. 132
- Vázquez de Prada 2016, p. 97
- the last piece he published was Álvaro d’Ors, Ruedas de molino, [in:] Montejurra 38 (1968), p. 5
- altogether in Montejurra d’Ors published 9 signed pieces: in 1962 (1), 1963 (1), 1964 (2), 1965 (2), 1966 (1), 1967 (1), and 1968 (1). In the 1960s, he also contributed to other Carlist periodicals, like Azada y asta, Lavardín 1976, p. 101
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1965: el cénit del carlismo
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1965: el cénit del carlismo and onwards
- Pérez Francesch 2011, p. 148
- was “always loyal to the legitimate monarchy of Don Javier de Borbon-Parma” Ayuso 2004, p. 34
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter Mayo de 1976. Montejurra
- A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here
- see comments at A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here
- according to one scholar d’Ors has never aspired or held political jobs; apparently he thought of himself as forming part of autoridad, which role was to counsel and respond, but not to govern, Wilhemsen 1992, p. 168
- it is not clear when d’Ors ceased as member of the advisory council to Don Javier; one scholar claims that the claimant has eventually greatly disappointed d’Ors, Pérez Francesch 2011, p. 148
- Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1965: el cénit del carlismo
- in 2000 d’Ors wrote to María Cuervo Arango, at the time president of Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista, “… me parece que, en tanto no se ofrezca una coyuntura histórica que permita a la Comunión tener una intervención política activa en España, lo que justifica nuestra Comunión es el salvar unos principios amplios de la Tradición, frente a la corrección política democrática que hoy impera. Por eso mismo, me parece que conviene evitar, en lo posible, una terminología que es la propia de nuestros enemigos…”, quoted after A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here
- d'Ors did not recognize Don Sixto as the Carlist heir; one scholars counts him among representatives of "dynastic agnosticism", Jacek Bartyzel, Nic bez boga, nic wbrew tradycji, Radzymin 2015, ISBN 9788360748732, p. 319
- A.U., Sinfonía de una vida. Reseña de la biografía de Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Ahora Información service 02.11.20, available here
- Ayuso 2008, p. 581
- detailed discussion of d'Ors article, the following polemics by Gambra and Santa Cruz, and the final attempt by Ayuso to reconcile all positions, in Bartyzel 2015, pp. 313-320
- Domingo 2018, p. 5
- Cruz de Plata de la Universidad de Navarra (1987) and Medalla de Oro de la Universidad de Navarra (1990)
- Premio de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales de la SEV (1996)
- Premio Principe de Viana de Cultura (1999), ABC 02.02.04, available here
- d’Ors claimed that after 1986 the management of Anuario de Historia del Derecho Español was largely controlled by Antonio Manual Hespanha; d’Ors considered him a communist and held responsible for ostracizing political enemies, including d’Ors, Peláez 2004, p. 205
- Różycki 2010, p. 111
- Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Universidad de Navarra service, available here
- among Eduardo García de Enterría, Juan Vallet de Goytisolo, José Castán Tobeñas, Luis Jiménez de Asúa and Federico de Castro y Bravo, Peláez 2004, pp. 217-219
- Peláez 2004, pp. 217-219
- Wilhemsen 1992, p. 148
- among Rafael Gambra, Francisco Canals, and Francisco Elías de Tejada, Ayuso 2008, p. 589. In a recent monograph on Traditionalist thought d’Ors featerus as one of the most mentioned individuals, listed some 40 times, see Jacek Bartyzel, Nic bez boga, nic wbrew tradycji, Radzymin 2015, ISBN 9788360748732
- Domingo 2018, p. 18
- Domingo 2018, pp. 1-2
- Domingo 2018, p. 18
- Inaugurado un busto en la UN en recuerdo de Álvaro d'Ors, "una gran persona crucial" para el centro universitario, [in:] EuropaPress service 25.04.13, available here
- Universidad de Navarra and Fundación Ciudadania y Valores created Cátedra Álvaro d’Ors, interdisciplinary section of Instituto Cultura y Sociedad, itself part of Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales de la Universidad de Navarra, see La Universidad de Navarra y la Fundación Ciudadanía y Valores crean la Cátedra Álvaro d'Ors en el ICS, [in:] Europa Press service 24.02.20, available here
- d’Ors’ works are quoted today in legal debates on local establishments and controversies with Tribunal Constitucional, for the case of Valencia see Valiño 2016, pp. 316-328
- Vallet de Goytisolo 2004, p. 49, Domingo 2018, p. 7, Vanney 2016, p. 360
- his students were Carlos Fernández-Novoa Rodríguez, Luis Suárez-Llanos Gómez, José Angel, Fernández Arruty, Efrén Borrajo, Gonzalo Rodríguez Mourullo, Romay Becaría, José Luis Meilán Gil, Victorio Magariños Blanco, J.B. Jordano Barea. Puceiro Llovo, Luis Ignacio Arrechederra Aranzadi, Miguel Olábarri Gortázar, Enrique Rubio Torrano, Miguel García-Granero, Carlos Larrainzar, González Emilio Valiño, La práctica docente de don Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Persona y derecho 75 (2016), p. 334-335. The best known scholar who admits heritage if not direct continuation of d’Ors thought is Rafael Domingo Osle, compare „the astute reader recognizes that many ideas proposed here … are stepped in the thought of d’Ors”, Domingo 2010, p. 44
- with Florentino Pérez Embid, Víctor García Hoz, Vicente Marrero, Raimundo Paniker, Hans Juretschke, Ismael Sánchez Bella, Olivar Bertrand, and Vicente Palacio Atar, Paul Aubert, Teoría y práctica de la Transición: el papel de los intelectuales, [in:] Bulletin d’Histoire Contemporaine d’Espagne 50 (2016), available here
- Vanney 2016, p. 364
- Ayuso 2008, p. 589. However, some scholars are cautious to note that d'Ors did not count among "pure Carlists," Bartyzel 2015, p. 320
- d’Ors first met Carl Schmitt in 1944 when the latter visited Granada; the meeting commenced a long friendship, Domingo 2018, p. 5
- other thinkers which reportedly highly influenced d’Ors were Max Weber and Michel Villey, Domingo 2018, p. 8
- d’Ors differed from Schmitt especially when it comes to the role of the state; he called the German scholar to abandon his Bodinian and Hobbesian heritage, Saralegu 2005, p. 164. Others speak broadly of “una perspectiva muy distinta, mi anti-liberalismo tradicionalista-carlista, Pérez Gómez 2020, see esp. the chapter 1944. Carl Schmitt; the same thread in Pérez Francesch 2011, p. 149. Some claim that according to d’Ors, Schmittian theory of law was not sufficiently anchored in human nature and that he overfocused on autoridad; this, in turn, led to wrongly conceived theories of Großraum and Großräume, Segovia 2018, p. 124
- and against normativism of Hans Kelsen, Segovia 2018, p. 123
- Peláez 2004, pp. 217-219
- Michael Toch, The Economic History of European Jews, Leiden 2012, ISBN 9789004235342, p. 121
- in Ph.D. dissertation on Traditionalism and Francoist ideology d’Ors is listed 112 times, see Rodríguez Nuñez 2014
- compare Bartyzel 2015
- Medina Cepero 2013, pp. 346-358
- “un maestro de los que no quedan y de los que, por otro lado, es mejor que no haya demasiados” (“a master that are not anymore, but on the other hand, of those it is good not to have too many”), Peláez 2004, p. 219
- many scholars of law followed d’Ors only up to a point, namely until he associated natural law with divine order; “nor is it possible for these liberal rationalist authors to reject the cliché that seeing a divine origin in a legal norm is something ajuridic and dangerously close to fanaticism”, the opinion of Wilhemsen, quoted in Medina Cepero 2013, p. 114-115
- see the DialnetUnirioja service, available here
- see Wilhemsen 1992
- Alejandro Guzman, Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Revista de estudios histórico-jurídicos 26 (2004), pp. 727-737
- Emilio Valiño del Río, Don Álvaro d’Ors, [in:] Anuario Mexicano de Historia del Derecho XVII (2005), pp. 425-428
- Nadja El Beheri, Benedicto XVI y Álvaro d’Ors sobre el Derecho natural, [in:] Persona y derecho 74 (2016), pp. 253-272
- see Bartyzel 2015
- Agustín Gándara Moure, El Concepto de derecho en Álvaro d'Ors, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (1993), Alejandra Vanney, Libertad y Estado. El pensamiento filosófico-político de Álvaro d’Ors, Universidad de Navarra (2009), Juan Ramón Medina Cepero, La trinomía anti-revolucionaria de Álvaro d'Ors, Universitat Ramon Llull (2013). Another Ph.D. thesis notes d'Ors some 115 times and contains a dedicated chapter on him, Álvaro Rodríguez Nuñez, Franquismo y traditionalism. La legitimación teórica del franquismo en la teoría política tradicionalista, Universidad Santiago de Compostela (2014)
- Rafael Domingo, Álvaro d’Ors. Una aproximación a su obra, Pamplona 2005, ISBN 9788497679732; Alejandra Vanney, Libertad y Estado. El pensamiento filosófico-político de Álvaro d’Ors, Pamplona 2009, ISBN 9788483559086; Gabriel Pérez Gómez, Álvaro d'Ors: Sinfonía de una vida, Madrid 2020, ISBN 9788432152771. Another highly related book is Montserrat Herrero (ed.), Carl Schmitt und Álvaro d’Ors Briefwechsel, Berlin 2004, ISBN 9783428112791
- Gabriel Pérez Gómez is husband to Paz d’Ors Lois
![](../I/Alvaro_d'Ors_as_a_kid.jpg.webp)
Further reading
- Rafael Domingo Osle, Álvaro d’Ors. Una aproximación a su obra, Cizur Menor 2005, ISBN 9788497679732
- Agustín Gándara Moure, El Concepto de derecho en Álvaro d'Ors [PhD thesis Universidade de Santiago de Compostela], Santiago 1993
- Montserrat Herrero (ed.), Carl Schmitt und Álvaro d’Ors Briefwechsel, Berlin 2004, ISBN 9783428112791
- Juan Ramón Medina Cepero, La trinomía anti-revolucionaria de Álvaro d'Ors [PhD thesis Universitat Ramon Llull], Barcelona 2013
- Manuel J. Peláez, Álvaro d'Ors Pérez-Peix, [in:] Revista de Dret Històric Català 4 (2005), pp. 195–219
- Gabriel Pérez Gómez, Álvaro d'Ors: Sinfonía de una vida, Madrid 2020, ISBN 9788432152771
- Alejandra Vanney, Libertad y Estado. El pensamiento filosófico-político de Álvaro d’Ors, Pamplona 2009, ISBN 9788483559086
- Rafael Domingo Osle, Javier Martínez-Torrón (eds), Great Christian Jurists in Spanish History, Cambridge, 2017, ISBN 9781108624732