History
The Ministry of Justice has been known by four different names.
- Ministerio de Justicia, Culto e Instrucción Pública (1837–1887)
- Ministerio de Justicia e Instrucción Pública (1887–1927)
- Ministerio de Justicia (1927–2016)
- Ministerio de Justicia y Derechos Humanos (2016–present)
This ministry was created on February 1, 1837, under the name Ministry of Justice, Worship, and Public Instruction (Ministerio de Justicia, Culto e Instrucción Pública), during the government of José Joaquín Prieto Vial. Its first minister was Diego Portales Palazuelos, who, having served only on an interim basis, handed over the office on June 26 of that same year to Mariano Egaña. At that time, the ministry’s role was to oversee everything related to legislation and the organization of the Judicial Branch.
On November 25, 1870, an ordinance issued by President José Joaquín Pérez established the creation of a Special Guard for the Urban Prison of Santiago, (Guardia Especial para el Presidio Urbano de Santiago) which became the foundation of the Chilean Gendarmerie Corps. [6]
The creation of the Civil Registry during the administration of President Domingo Santa María in 1884 responded to cultural changes in Chilean society at the time, marked by greater diversity, different religious beliefs, and new values. [6]
Accordingly, a Civil Marriage Law was promulgated on January 16, 1884, authorizing a judge of first instance to perform a civil marriage ceremony in cases where ecclesiastical authorities refused to do so. [6]
In 1887, the Department of Worship was separated from the ministry and placed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the institution was renamed the Ministry of Justice and Public Instruction. The dedication of physicians who applied their discipline in the service of justice was reflected in 1915 with the creation of the Legal Medical Service ( Servicio Médico Legal, SML), a public body that provides legal and forensic advice to the country’s courts of justice. [6]
Meanwhile, the name “Prison Gendarmerie Corps” was definitively established on November 30, 1921. [6]
In 1927, the Organic Law of Ministries was enacted, which included the Ministry of Justice and, at the same time, created the Ministry of Public Education. [6]
In 1943, the Civil Registry was merged with the Identification Service and came to be called the Civil Registry and Identification Service (Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación, SRCI), a name it retains to this day. [6]
Three decades later, in 1973, a computerized system was established to systematize the issuance of the National Unique Number (Rol Único Nacional, R.U.N.) to every person born in national territory. [6]
In January 1979, the National Service for Minors (Servicio Nacional de Menores, Sename) was created. According to the legal statutes of its establishment, this body represents the means by which the State assumes an active role in the protection of vulnerable children and adolescents and provides support to juvenile courts as an “auxiliary body of the administration of justice” (órgano auxiliar de la administración de justicia). [6]
Law No. 17,995, of May 8, 1981, granted legal personality to the current Judicial Assistance Corporations (Corporación de Asistencia Judicial, CAJ) of the Metropolitan, Biobío, and Valparaíso regions. These bodies replaced the former legal aid offices that had depended on the Chilean Bar Association in matters related to judicial assistance services. [6]
In 1999, the Organic Constitutional Law of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Ley Orgánica Constitucional del Ministerio Público) was published, which was key to the successful implementation of the Criminal Procedure Reform (Reforma Procesa Penal, RPP). This institution is responsible for representing the community in criminal prosecution, directing criminal investigations, and providing assistance to victims and witnesses. [6]
Starting on December 16, 2000, and continuing until June 2005, the country underwent a gradual process of implementing the RPP. The new criminal justice system incorporated “new standards of transparency, publicity, immediacy, speed, and orality,” (nuevos estándares de transparencia, publicidad, inmediación, celeridad y oralidad) while separating the functions of investigation and adjudication, thus leaving behind “an inquisitorial and outdated system” (un sistema inquisitivo y vetusto). [6]
In 2016, the ministry changed its name to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights with the creation of the Undersecretariat of Human Rights, through Law No. 20,885, promulgated on December 16, 2015, and published in the Official Gazette on January 5, 2016. [7]
