Luis A. Eguiguren was born in the historical San Francisco Street (now Lima Street), in the city of Piura. He was the son of Francisco Jose Eguiguren Escudero,[2] honest judge, congressman, Secretary of Justice and President of the Supreme Court in 1913 and 1914, and the distinguished lady Josefina Escudero Menacho. Between 1893 and 1902, he studied at Colegio San Miguel de Piura School and then at Colegio La Inmaculada(The Jesuit Fathers School) in Lima (1902–1904). He got into the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, where he chose the academic degrees of Doctor of Letters (1913), in Jurisprudence with the thesis "The Peruvian ayllu legal status" (1914), and Political and Administrative Science (1914). His thesis of Bachelor of Political and Administrative Sciences was titled: "The Role of students in Political life”, and his doctoral thesis: "The need for a diplomatic tradition in Peru".
His remains were transferred to his native Piura in December 2005, in order to rest in the tomb that he ordered to be built in San Teodoro Cemetery.[3]
Law No. 24899,[4] promulgated on October 19, 1988, establishes that each July 21 is the Peruvian Humanist Day. It was established in honor of the magistrate, historian, journalist and Peruvian politician, Don Luis Antonio Eguiguren, on the centenary of his birth.
He was appointed Director of the National Archive, but he resigned because he did not receive enough support to carry out the institution that was under his charge.[5]
In the field of politics, he deployed an intense task. He was the Mayor of Lima in a short period of time, during the years of 1930 and 1931. He was elected deputy and later he presided over the Constituent Assembly. He was also president of the Supreme Court of the Republic.[5]
In 1936 he ran for president in the Peruvian General Election as leader of the Social Democrat Party, after being convinced by the APRA to form his own party, to the detriment of Jorge Prado's Conservative Coalition. As the votes were being counted, Eguiguren appeared to be leading with a majority; the vote being finally suspended on October 21 (on the basis that members of the previously banned APRA party had voted for him) which left Eguiguren with 37.13% of the votes in comparison to Prado's 25.00%. However, due to the environment of political intolerance in Perú, the elections were nullified on the same arguments that the count was suspended: according to the government, American Popular Revolutionary Alliance support of his candidacy rendered his victory null (as he was supported by a party considered illegal for being an "international party").[6]
After his frustrated presidency, he further developed a liking for historical research with dynamism and conviction, which perhaps explains the abundant and interesting bibliographical production of his authorship.[5]
Besides, we must highlight their work and research for the construction of the history of his alma mater, San Marcos. Orígenes de la Universidad de San Marcos is the title of a valuable text that all "sanmarquinos" should read in order to learn more about the oldest American college.[5]
He is the most prolific San Marcos historian, because he has written six thousand pages of documents and texts about his university. He chaired the Committee appointed to draft the official history of San Marcos, on the occasion of its four hundred year anniversary in 1951.[5]
Luis A. Eguiguren was interested also on events and characters of Peru's Independence. Therefore, he published studies about La rebelión de León de Huánuco, Lima y Huamanga −1812, La revolución de 1814, El mártir pescador José Silverio Olaya, La sublevación de Túpac Amaru, among others.
He made an important contribution to the text Apuntes sobre la cuestión internacional entre Perú y Ecuador, in which he demonstrated that some Peru's northern territories, like Jaen and Maynas, undoubtedly belong to his country.
Luis A. Eguiguren is the only Peruvian to lead the three branches of government, the Constituent Congress (1930–1932), the Supreme Court (1953–1954) and the failed Presidency (1936).
Bethell, L. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America Volume 6: 1930 to the Present, Part 2: Politics and Society (Cambridge University Press, 1995), 418–419.
Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio En la selva Política (1933), the back cover of this work shows: OBRAS DEL MISMO AUTOR, this work is mentioned after de Guerra Separatista. Huamanga Huánuco y Lima (1812–1813) and Guerra Separatista. Huánuco (1812). Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, p.LXXXIV-LXXXV
EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio El Pensamiento de San Martín, Imprenta el Bien Social, Lima 1909. (Conference given at the University Center. Lima. Peru)
EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, LUIS ANTONIO (1910). "El fundador de la Universidad de San Marcos fray Tomás de San Martín". Revista Universitaria. II. Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos: 263–303.
EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, LUIS ANTONIO (1911). Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) (ed.). "Origen de la Universidad de San Marcos". REVISTA UNIVERSITARIA AÑO VI – Vol. II, 1911. LIMA.
Thesis of Bachelor in Jurisprudence sustained on May 15, 1913. Cf. RAMOS NÚÑEZ, Carlos Augusto Historia del Derecho Civil peruano: siglos XIX y XX, PUCP, Lima 2006, p. 218. Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, pp. LXXXVIII
EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio Historia del Batallón Numancia en Revista de Derecho, Historia y Letras, Año XV, Tomo XLIV, Buenos Aires. Argentina Marzo 1913, p. 315-322.
Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, pp.LXXXII-LXXXIII. This is how the author referred to this work: "The austere religious Rev. José Cano SJ, led with unparalleled zeal the Apostolate of the Press, and as part of the directory, I was entrusted with a conference on the" Edict of Constantine "to celebrate one of its centenarians".
Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, pp. LXXXVIII-LXXXIX. The thesis was published: Luis Antonio Eguiguren, El ayllu peruano y su condición
legal, Lima, Librería, Imprenta y Encuadernación de la calle del Correo Orellana y Cª., 1914. A este fin destina más de 100 páginas de su trabajo (p.145 y ss.). Las proyecciones del indigenismo jurídico sobre la propiedad andina.
The chief works on modern Peruvian sociology, in addition to those already cited, and certain works to be cited later, are the following: Víctor Andrés Belaunde, El Perú antiguo y los modernos Sociólogos, Lima, 1908; Félix Cosío, La Propiedad colectiva del Ayllu, Cuzco, 1916; Luis A. Eguiguren, Ayllu Peruano y su Condición legal, Lima, 1914; José Manuel Osores, El Medio y la Legislación, Lima, 1918; Manuel A. Quiroga, La Evolución Jurídica de la Propiedad Rural en Puno, Arequipa, 1915; Cesar Antonio Ugarte, Los Antecedentes históricos del Régimen agrario Peruano, Lima, 1918; Luis E. Valcárcel, La Cuestión agraria en el Cuzco, Cuzco, 1914; Manuel V. Villarán, Condición legal de las Comunidades de Indígenas, Lima, 1907.Means, Philip Ainsworth (1920). "Indian Legislation in Peru". The Hispanic American Historical Review. 3 (4): 509–534. doi:10.2307/2505777. JSTOR2505777.
Eguiguren, Luis Antonio (January 1, 1914). "La revolución de 1814". Oficina Tipográfica de "La Opinión Nacional". Retrieved March 26, 2016.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
EGUIGUREN, Luis Antonio (1921). Historia de la Universidad de San Marcos hasta el 15 de julio de 1647 por el Padre Maestro Fray Antonio de la Calancha Publicada por L.A. Eguiguren. Lima: Imprenta de La tradición.
During his term as Mayor of Lima, Luis A. Eguiguren sought to contribute to the problem of unemployment in Lima. Due in part to the global economic crisis started around 1929. The summary of this 29-page work is: Informative note. Municipal labor exchange in favor of the unemployed. Protection of the workers who work. Decrees for houses for workers. Editorials and informative notes of "El Comercio" newspaper of Lima.
Presents here his testimony on the Constituent Assembly of 1931. He was the President of the Assembly and opposed the approval of the Emergency Law requested by the Executive Power. Once this law was passed, in the absence of Eguiguren, this was the justification for apprehending a group of democratically elected representatives. Parliamentary immunity was violated. Eguiguren never consented to this abuse.
Eguiguren, Luis Antonio (1 de enero de 1935). La sedición de Huamanga en 1812: Ayacucho y la independencia (Nueva edición dedicada a Ayacucho). Librería e imprenta Gil, s. a.The first edition was published in Revista Universitaria VII/II, UNMSM, Lima
It is about Amadeo de Piérola, son of Nicolás de Piérola. Amadeo he was President of the Democratic Party founded by his father in 1884. Cf. BALDEÓN, Edson (2005) en Aljovín de Losada Cristóbal y López, Sinesio (editores) Historia de las elecciones en el Perú: estudios sobre el gobierno representativo Lima:IEP p. 464.
He presents here his testimony about the 1936 elections that were canceled when the scrutiny carried out gave Luis Antonio Eguiguren Escudero the victory as President of the Republic.
"Alma Mater es un ensayo acerca de los primeros años de San Marcos, hasta la reforma dispuesta por el virrey Toledo. La atención del autor se centra en conflicto entre los catedráticos laicos y los de la orden de Santo Domingo por el control de la Universidad".MONSALVE, Martín (Julio de 1998). "Del Estudio del Rosario a la Real y Pontificia Universidad Mayor de San Marcos en HISTORICA. Vol. XXII N2 1 Julio de 1998, p. 54". PUCP
Luis Antonio Eguiguren had proposed to publish a fourth volume of this Dictionary. He would have advanced in this work that did not reach its end. Cf. EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio "El Derecho del Perú Virreynal. Crisis del Derecho y Justicia", Lima 1964, p. 455.
EGUIGUREN ESCUDERO, Luis Antonio (1944–1945). "La creación de la democracia de post-guerra". Publication in 15 successive notebooks with 148 pages in total.
Summary of the work: Introduction by Dr. Luis Antonio Eguiguren. The UNRRA, an international service agency. Base and organization. Main fields of operations of the UNRRA. How will the needs be met? Progress of the UNRRA.