Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield

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Monumental statue of Vélez Sársfield in Córdoba City.

Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield (February 18, 1801 – June 30, 1875) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who wrote the Argentine Civil Code of 1869, the vast majority of which remains in use to this day.

Vélez Sarsfield was born in Amboy, a small town in the Calamuchita Valley, province of Córdoba. He studied at the Jesuit college in the provincial capital Córdoba, where he later continued his study of law. He graduated when he was 22; and was particularly adept at mathematics and languages, fluently speaking English, French, Italian and Latin.

Upon finishing his studies he became very active in politics and was elected to the young Chamber of Deputies. He was nominated as the Speaker of the House in 1825, a position that he took up the following year, becoming the position's youngest holder. He was Minister of Justice on several occasions.

In 1826 Vélez Sarsfield was awarded a professorship of Economics at the Law Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires. He died in Buenos Aires in 1875, at the age of 74.

The barrio of Velez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires is named after him. The Vélez Sársfield sports club, best known for its top-level football team, is indirectly named after him, having taken its name from a railway station bearing his name.