We are all unique, but there are people who leave a deep and singular mark. People who are so great that, in their humility, they do not want to be recognized for their merits or to be highlighted above anyone else, especially because they see themselves as instruments to try to improve the lives of others.

It is a privilege to meet such great people. One of them has been Ismael Sánchez Bella, Don Ismael for those of us who have had the privilege of being his disciples or his students. First President of the University of Navarra, Full Professor of History of Law, president of the association of Friends of the University of Navarra, an academic and a person of overflowing humanity, important for the lives of many, both for those of us who had the privilege of knowing him and sharing many moments with him, and for others who did not know him and who, even without knowing it, owe him in some way for having made a degree program, receiving a magnificent academic and human training , having found the vocation of his life, and even the divine Love of his life, and even the divine Love of his life.
of his life, and even divine love or human love.

Navarra, home of the University and homeland of many of us who were his disciples, owes him an unquestionable debt of gratitude.

Don Ismael moved to Pamplona in June 1952 from the Argentine city of Rosario to take on the exciting task of starting the University of Navarra, at the express wish of its founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer.

Ismael Sánchez Bella was then Full Professor of History of Law. He had doctorate in 1947 under the direction of Professor García-Gallo. His doctoral thesis , related to the hacienda indiana, was awarded three prizes: he obtained the award Fundación Viuda de Riaza of the School de Derecho of the University of Madrid, the award Menéndez Pelayo of the CSIC, and the award International Levene. He obtained the Chair, through civil service examination, in 1949. In 1950 he moved temporarily to Argentina, where he became position of the Chair of History of Spain at the National University of Litoral, and joined the high school of History of Law.

From 1952 until the end of his life, his career, both academic and staff, has been especially linked to Navarra. He materially started the University of Navarra, was its first President (1954-1960) and, for twenty-six years Vice President (1960-1986). From 1985 to 1998 he presided over the association of Friends of the University of Navarra. In these government positions, he was always concerned about high quality academic and human training . Demanding, because he was so with himself, he always kept alive the desire to offer the best to society, sparing no effort and fighting, during his period of service in the association of Friends, to obtain the necessary funds for the research and the teaching, trying to avoid that any student who wished to do so should be denied access to the University of Navarra for lack of economic resources.

Magnificent professor, of whom all his students, without exception, remember his profound and entertaining classes, always illustrated with quotations and readings that increased the interest in each topic. Many of us treasure the text of his Lessons from History of Law.

researcher of Navarrese law

researcher tireless, he was a pioneer in the field of Indian law. He studied the Indian treasury, the laws of the Indies, the institutions of government, the visits, and Church-State relations. Some of these works are collected in the three volumes of his Derecho Indiano: programs of study. One of his main contributions was the finding of the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias de Antonio de León Pinelo, which he announced in a German journal in 1987. In 1992 he published this work in Mexico, preceded by a preliminary study, a publication that was widely echoed internationally.

His fundamental contribution to Indian law earned him numerous awards (Corresponding Academician of 12 American Academies or National Institutes). He was a founding member of high school International of History of Law Indiano (1966), institution of which he has been Honorary President until today.

He also dedicated his research activity to the study of the genesis of the Modern State and, while living in Navarra, he was concerned with the study of the History of Law of Navarra. He directed the critical edition and programs of study on the regional law Reduced of Navarre, of which he investigated its historical trajectory, and promoted the knowledge of the historical institutions of Navarre.

He directed 40 doctoral thesis and was a true teacher of legal historians and researchers, and his disciples included numerous professors of History of Law from different Spanish and foreign universities.

Generous in the transmission of his knowledge, in his dedication to others, and, above all, in the submission of his life to a great dream and to doing good, one can only understand his energy, optimism and effort, knowing the driving force of his life: his submission to God, in his case through Opus Dei.

Let these few words serve as a tribute to a great and generous man, a great university student, a magnificent researcher and professor, and, above all, a beloved teacher for those of us who have had the great fortune of being his disciples.