Many nineteenth-century Spanish toxicologists and forensic doctors strongly criticised the lack of a clearly defined group of experts, which could be addressed by judges during a criminal case, more specifically in those involving poisoning. Critics primarily pointed out two issues: the variety of professionals who acted as experts, and the lack of resources available to prepare expert reports. The Catalan toxicologist Pere Mata i Fontanet (1811-1877) was one of the authors who advocated for the creation of a special body of medical examiners that could participate as experts during poisoning trials. Mata stated that many poisonings went unnoticed in Spain due to the lack of knowledge of the persons initially in charge of examining these cases. This explained, as Mata pointed out, why these crimes didn’t reach as high of a number of cases as those produced in other countries. That was one of the reasons he used in order to claim the need for the creation of a body of medical examiners who would deal with the problem. The Spanish case constitutes a different situation than that produced in other contexts, Britain or France for instance, as no other organization such as the one being analysed in this paper had yet been established.

I will analyse the different factors that favoured the making of a Spanish community of experts from the 1840s. In order to do so, I will focus on three particular issues: the university reform that led to the establishment of a specific chair on legal medicine and toxicology; the growth of specialized publications in those areas and finally, the process that culminated in the 1862 creation of the Cuerpo de médicos forenses [Body of forensic doctors]. Probably, more important than its own creation it was the process that led to its establishment. Its analysis will allow me to introduce several factors that shaped the way in which it evolved, such as the tensions between different professions and within the same community of toxicologists. Also, it points out that cooperation among experts was a common practice rather than an occasional one.