Chilean Civil Code

The Civil Code of the Republic of Chile (Código Civil de la República de Chile, also referred to as the Code of Bello) is the work of jurist and legislator Andrés Bello.

After several years of individual work (though officially presented as the work of multiple Congress commissions), Bello delivered a complete project of the Code on November 22, 1855, which was sent to Congress by President Manuel Montt, preceded by a foreword by Bello himself.

This is true notwithstanding the important modernisations made by the Code, such as eliminating the preference for the males in the adjudication of the estate, the end of mayorazgos (the adjudication of the whole estate to the elder male son) and the adoption of a rule against successive usufructs.

Regarding the real estate, the Code was inspired by the old German registry system, adapting it to the necessities of the post-colonial economy.

According to other Latin American experts of its time, like Augusto Teixeira de Freitas (author of the Esboço de un Código Civil para Brasil) or Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield (main author of the Argentine Civil Code), it is the most important legal accomplishment of Latin America.