Dear friends, it is a great honour to be invited to extol the memory of our dear friend and colleague Manolo, though an honour I would gladly forego.
In this time of crisis, it might be thought that we are becoming accustomed to loss and grief. But in my view, the opposite is true. At this time it seems even harder to lose those we love. The common peril makes the life of each individual even more precious, with the heightened awareness of our common fragility. And our memories are valued all the more, they will not fade.
Manolo was a true son of the Basque country, and was to make an outstanding contribution to the development of the Sociology of Law not only through his research and teaching as Professor in the Philosophy of Law in the University of Zaragoza, but also through his participation in the RCSL as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board, and his stewardship of the IISL during his period as joint Scientific Director in Onati in 2002-3. He gave us both scholarly exposition of the essential nature of Law and Society in “Derecho y Sociedad”, but also policy relevant empirical work through the Laboratorio de Sociologia Juridica in Zaragoza, making detailed study of gender based violence, the protection of children and young people, social law and human rights. Vincenzo Ferrari will tell us more about his research and his publications. He not only stimulated the appreciation and understanding of the Sociology of Law in the Basque Country, and throughout Spain, but also achieved a strong international reputation for his scholarship.
I would like, if I may, to pay a personal tribute to him, as colleague and dear friend over many years. We met first through Teresa Piconto Novales, his wife, who visited me in Oxford early in her career, where we became firm friends and colleagues. She has been a valued member in many of the workshops in Family Law in Onati, most recently on Digital Family Justice, and has published often with this group.
In the early days in Onati, when the political situation was complex, and when our aims and activities in IISL were not always easily understood by those in the Basque Government working with us, it was of great value to have Manolo’s steady, positive and sensitive presence . At a time when we needed someone who understood both our enterprise, and the town in which it was taking place, Manolo appeared as the answer to a prayer. His strength and integrity since the earliest days of the IISL were of immeasurable help to everyone concerned with Institute, from Board members and teachers like myself who visited, to students and to the staff and to the town. And when he took on the role of Academic Director jointly with Bill Felstiner at Johannes Feest’s suggestion he provided the local knowledge and sensitivity which complemented Bill’s international profile and energy. Manuel Calvo Garcia (right) and Bill Felstiner (left) at the IISL.
Teresa was accustomed to coming to Oxford each summer to use the libraries, and brought with her first Manolo, and then Ramiro and then Blanca. Our families became good friends, and my granddaughter and Blanca who study each other’s languages still write to each other in what they call “Spanglish”. As the children got older, we began to enjoy punting expeditions on the river in Oxford, close to Wolfson College. There was a limit to the number of people who can fit into one punt, and for two families this could be a problem. But Manolo was always happy to volunteer to give up his seat , and instead of propelling the boat would run along the bank of the river through the park, hiding in the bushes, and jumping out with his camera like a real paparazzo, taking many pictures of many happy times over many years. We shared trips to London Zoo, marvelling at the meerkats, and enjoyed a proper summer holiday in Donostia.
But there were serious times too. At the Lisbon Conference of the RCSL in 2018 I remember being persuaded by Manolo to take a long gentle walk around the town, in which we talked of access to justice in times of austerity, of the ways of combating gender based violence, and the future of the EU, ….and of course our wonderful children.
He was a clever, kind, good man of integrity and sensitivity, patient and strong, calm and effective. We value his contribution beyond measure, wishing that there were more men with his qualities this troubled world: we will treasure his memory always. Those he taught and worked with will do well to continue on his path.
We thank Teresa for sharing him with us, and wish her and Ramiro and Blanca courage and strength and good memories in the years to come.
Mavis Maclean
(First published in RCSL Newsletter 2020(2), p. 2-3)
Manuel Calvo García passed away on 21 June 2020. His untimely death was a great loss for both his family and academia, in Spain and elsewhere.
Manolo, as we were accustomed to call him, was a great scholar and a great man. A brilliant law student and later young researcher at the University of Zaragoza Law School, he became a tenured professor in 2007 and served as the director of the Department of Penal Law, Legal Philosophy and Legal History in the last years of his life.
His early studies in methodology and theory (such as Los fundamentos del método jurídico: Una revisión crítica (Madrid, Tecnos, 1994) and Teoría del derecho (2nd ed., Madrid, Tecnos, 2000), soon led him to turn his attention to sociology of law, which he saw as a sound, innovative vantage point for observing law scientifically. This culturally challenging choice enabled him to open and lead successfully a Laboratorio de Sociología Jurídica in his university, something still quite rare in Spain and not at all easy in the rest of Europe either. To this disciplinary field, he contributed with a highly remarkable set of studies, both theoretical and empirical, some of these as sole author, others written together with Teresa Picontó Novales, his beloved wife, the mother of their children, Ramiro and Blanca, and his closest collaborator.
A selection of his books as author or joint author would include El tratamiento de violencia doméstica en la Administración de Justicia (Madrid, CGPJ, 2003), Transformaciones del Estado y del Derecho (Bogotá, Univ. Externado de Colombia, 2005) and Transformações do Estado e do Direito. Do Direito Regulativo à luta contra a Violência de Gênero (Porto Alegre: Dom Quixote, 2007), as well as, with Teresa Picontó Novales, Sociología jurídica (Barcelona, UOC, 2012) and Introducción y Perspectivas Actuales de la Sociología Jurídica (Barcelona, UOC., 2017). Such collective books as Identidades colectivas y Derechos humanos (Madrid, Dykinson, 2002), La respuesta desde las instituciones y el derecho frente al problema de la violencia doméstica en Aragón (Madrid, Dykinson, 2005), Derecho y sociedad (Valencia, Tirant, 1998), Federalism-Federalismo (Madrid, Dykinson, 2004) and Globalización y Derechos de la Infancia (Madrid, Save the Children, 2007) belong to his rich production as editor or joint editor. A number of articles under his name appeared in first class journals in his own and other countries.
A glance at Manolo’s works reveals especially his capacity to look at specific legal institutions, often involving social problems of paramount importance (gender violence, minors’ rights, security and public order policies, human rights, the rule of law) through the lenses of socio-legal theory, which he knew extensively and in real depth. In this sense, he can be said to belong to the ranks of those scholars who are able to channel a vision of human well-being and social reform into the track of science, capturing the spirit that gave life to sociology itself.
Manolo’s figure as a legal sociologist has been widely recognized. If sociology of law has somehow developed in Spain over the last few decades, the merit belongs to him to a great extent. As scientific director of the Oñati Institute (2002-2003) he left important cultural traces in his endeavours to establish cultural links between different cultures, fulfilling the Institute’s original principal mission. He served as a member of the RCSL Board, most recently as vice -president, an office he had difficulty holding in practice because of his declining health in the last year. He would have been a perfect ambassador of the Research Committee on the border between the English-speaking and the Romance-speaking countries – two socio-legal milieus that risk growing increasingly apart.
Those who had the privilege to be in close touch with Manolo had a high appreciation of his rare human qualities. A man with a rigorous, discreet and even severe trait, with a marked but subtle sense of humour, he was sweet and caring in his private attitude, not only within his family, but also with his students, colleagues and friends. His heritage is rich and will survive.
Vincenzo Ferrari
(First published in RCSL Newsletter 2020(2), p. 3-4)
See also the tribute to Manuel Calvo García published on the website of the IISL
This page last updated 9 February 2025