Professor of a long list of Rioja lawyers and jurists, Pedro de Pablo Contreras – professor of Civil Law at the University of La Rioja and honorary doctorate from the University of La Laguna –, gave this Friday his last master class in the Classroom … Magna of the Quintiliano building. Colleagues and disciples wrapped him up in a dissertation with the exciting aroma of farewells. He confesses that it has been health problems that have advised his retirement at 66 years old, but he is prepared to continue working, now without the daily burden of classes, in a field that he has been passionate about since he was a student.
– Why did you choose Civil Law?
– It was a very easy decision. I loved it in college and then I continued to love it. I have always liked Civil Law: it is the right of normal people, the most beautiful of all.
– Many students also hold that opinion.
– Yes, of course.
–And why did you lean towards academics and not professional practice?
– Well; I started combining them. I took the exams for the Parliament of Navarra and then for legal advisor. I dedicated myself to defending the Government of Navarra in lawsuits and won them all, but then I got a professorship at the University of La Laguna (Canary Islands) and I had to focus entirely on the University.
– A university professor must make teaching compatible with research. What work are you most inclined towards?
– I liked them both. It is true that I have done a lot of research and I have had a great time, but teaching has also been exciting to me. I wouldn’t know which one to decide on.
– How has the Spanish University changed in these thirty years?
– I almost preferred not to comment on this… I think it’s getting worse. It would be necessary to recover the academic, the serious, the properly university, above the causes and the concrete and conjunctural interests of each moment.
– And the students?
– There are differences between them, of course; But I am concerned that many of them read so little and are content with what they receive through their cell phone, iPad…
– You study the laws and politicians make them. How many times have you put your hands on your head for what they have approved?
– Well… There are things that attract attention, of course. Sometimes public power has gone against the law, as has happened in some countries with homosexual marriage, and sometimes it happens the other way around and politicians follow us, as in the issue of child neglect.
– With everything that has been legislated, are we still so indebted to Roman law?
– Completely. There are many things in the Civil Code that refer directly to Justinian.
– What has been the most difficult part of your work?
– Teaching demands a lot. And sometimes the changes that exist annoy you. But research also requires effort.
– The question that many retirees fear is ‘what now’. In your case?
– I will continue writing, I will go to the mountains… When you feel passionate about what you do, you have to keep working. I am very interested in the issue of mortgages, where there have been several legislative errors, and I will continue researching the matter.
#Argentina
