Universidad Panamericana , in its entirety—and by that I mean its entire academic community—has an irreplaceable mission at the dawn of the 21st century: to serve as a transmitter of a philosophical tradition that, with unwavering commitment, tirelessly seeks the truth and strives to extend that commitment to all scientific knowledge. That tradition or paradigm (Khun, 2006) is often referred to as “classical philosophical realism.”
In the words of our institution’s founder, “…the University,” he told you on another solemn occasion like the one we are celebrating today, “does not turn its back on any uncertainty, any concern, or any human need. And its heart beats passionately when research—whether theological, legal, biological, or medical—touches upon the sacred reality of life.”
The University recognizes that the necessary scientific objectivity rightly rejects all ideological neutrality, all ambiguity, all conformism, and all cowardice: love of the truth shapes the scientist’s entire life and work, and sustains his integrity in the face of potentially uncomfortable situations, because such committed integrity does not always result in a favorable image in the eyes of the public.” ( St. Josemaría, 1966)
The Jurist's Challenge: Justice and Ethical Commitment
It is no wonder that Aristotle would assert without reservation—paraphrasing Theognis of Megara—that justice embodies all virtue, since it is well known that the primary challenge for any jurist is to find just answers and solutions to the specific cases brought before them for consideration. In fact, at one of the crucial moments of his career—upon receiving his professional degree—the new lawyer from our School promises “to bear in mind, above all, to use their knowledge only in the service of just causes, fulfilling the important social role of advisor and guide to those who lack legal knowledge.”
However, beginning in the Modern Era , a new and distinctive way of understanding and applying the law spread throughout Europe, constituting a true “paradigm” (Kuhn) that we might call “dogmatic, exegetical, legalistic, or strictly or comprehensively legal positivist”; and, as might be expected, it spread and came to dominate the Americas (Vigo, 2003).
Thus, the premodern legal practice—which consisted primarily of scrutinizing the facts of a specific case to identify the existence of one or more debts, and then recognizing the ius ( right) at stake and protecting the person to whom something was owed—is lost. With that sapiential dimension of law lost—as Paolo Grossi asserts —“simplism and optimism seem to be the most striking characteristics of the modern jurist, reinforced by Enlightenment certainties.” ( Grossi, 2003)
This dilemma in the conception of the legal system was crucial to the founding of our School, on the understanding that we would have to take on the challenge of training jurists committed to the premises upon which the law was reflected upon in the premodern world —premises that can be summarized in the famous phrases of Thomas Aquinas and Gustav Radbruch, who, upon identifying unjust laws, dared to say—the former that a law that is not just does not seem to be a law at all, and the latter, more clearly, that extreme injustice, even if it were a law, was not law. This conception of the legal is called “classical legal realism” ( Vázquez Gómez, 2018).
It was, in light of the context described above, that Dr. Jacinto Valdés Martínez (†)—who was one of the most important advocates for our Faculty’s graduate program—under the pretext of an academic ceremony at the Universidad Panamericana , held on September 23, 2010, referring to Alfonso X the Wise, stated that this “famous early medieval monarch, whose well-known merits and historical significance unmistakably reflect the legal tradition to which we belong as an institution of higher education—and, without the slightest intention of exhausting his characteristics or traits, these could be summarized in the following list…”
The Founding Principles of the School of Law
In this way, he left us a list of ten principles that, whether consciously or unconsciously, allow us to understand the founding principles of our School—to the point that all legal professionals (faculty, students, and alumni) at the Law School of the Universidad Panamericana carry these principles in our veins, and they set us apart from others, not only in the academic sphere but, more importantly, in the practice of our profession:
First.— Embrace the diversity of sources with unwavering commitment. By drawing on this diversity, you will find reasonable answers to the legally relevant problems you encounter.
Second. It recognizes legal principles as a primary, rather than secondary, source of law.
Third.— Intelligently accept the indisputable relationship between law and ethics, without creating connections that cause confusion or distinctions that drive them apart.
Fourth.— He conceives of and practices law as a matter of legal prudence, rather than as an expression of science understood in the nineteenth-century positivist sense.
Fifth.— It regards legal argumentation as a real and indispensable aspect of the legal profession, as has been recognized by all realist schools of thought and even by some that are not.
Sixth.— Do not limit your work to mere legality—in the Kelsenian sense—but seek justice in the specific case.
Seventh.— He defends the cognitivist position, according to which goods or values belong to the realm of reason rather than emotion, and can therefore be the subject of argumentation in their own right.
Eighth.— It affirms the existence of pre-positive rights which, by that very fact, demand their fullest recognition by the legislature.
Ninth.— He conceives of and reflects on humanity from the perspective of classical principles, which are always optimistic: “Humanity is capable of and called to unrestricted growth toward perfection.”
Tenth.— Never forget that there is only one law, but it is partly natural and partly positive.
A legacy that inspires new generations
These principles allow us—the legal scholars of the Pan-American School—to connect with the classical legal scholars and to recognize—in the words of Bernard of Chartres—that “…we are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants. Our gaze can encompass more and see farther than theirs. Not because our vision is keener or our stature greater, but because their gigantic height has lifted us up.”
Thus, we jurists at the Law School of the Universidad Panamericana, 55 years after its founding, are called upon to ensure that our perspective—to paraphraseChartres— can encompass more and see farther than that of those classical jurists; not because our vision is more penetrating or our stature greater, but because their gigantic stature has lifted us up.
To paraphrase the poet Antonio Machado, the point is for us to take on the challenge of growing new [ legal] flowers from old [ legal] roots .
Author details:
Dr. Francisco Vázquez Gómez Bisogno
Academic Secretary of the School of Law, Mexico City campus.
Professor of Constitutional Law, SNII Level I.
