Luis Paz

Luis Paz Arce (19 August 1854 – 6 October 1928) was a Bolivian historian, journalist, jurist, lawyer, and politician who served on the Supreme Court of Justice of Bolivia for twenty-three years, an associate justice from 1905 to 1919 and as the president from 1919 until his death in 1928. A conservative, Paz held a lengthy political and academic background, serving in various legislative and ministerial positions from the early 1880s to the mid-1890s, including as minister of war from 1895 to 1896, minister of government from 1892 to 1895, and senator for Tarija from 1892 to 1898. In 1921, the National Convention selected him to be vice president under Bautista Saavedra, but he rejected the position, preferring to remain on the High Court.

Early life Luis Paz was born on 19 August 1854 in Tarija to Paulino Paz, an Argentine, and Genoveva Arce. On his father's side, he was a descendant of the Argentine general José María Paz. Paz attended the University of Saint Francis Xavier, where he studied law, graduating with the title of advocate on 22 October 1874. He married Mercedes Vásquez, with whom he had seven children. Paz began his career at the National School of Tarija, where he worked as a professor in the Faculty of Law and served as the chair of History and Literature. In 1881, he became the first chancellor of the institution.

Around this time, influenced by the oratory personality of Mariano Baptista, Paz joined the ranks of the Red Party, the basis of what later became the Constitutional Party, founding the weekly El Pueblo in support of it. In one article, he heavily denounced the general Hilarión Daza, an action that, when Daza came to power in 1876, resulted in his arrest and the closure of his publication. During his confinement, he was tortured for sixty days, only being released at the request of Amalia Arce de Argandoña, whom Daza held in high regard. After his release, at the behest of his father, Paz fled to the port of Antofagasta, where he stayed for some months. In 1881, he was elected to represent Tarija in the Chamber of Deputies, and in 1892 he was elected to serve in the Senate. On 27 August 1892, he was appointed minister of government by President Mariano Baptista, later reassigned as minister of war on 22 May 1895. From 1897 to 1899, Paz was called to various diplomatic posts, serving as the Bolivian minister plenipotentiary to the United States and France as well as the Holy See. From 1905, he served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Bolivia, later rising to the presidency of the High Court in 1919. However, preferring to remain on the court and alleging that he had not been consulted to run, Paz resigned on 29 March, having never been sworn in to office. He remained president of the Supreme Court until his death on 6 October 1928.

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