Lawyer and politician. He served in the Progressive Party. In 1840, he supported the military uprising of Espartero and in 1841 he was appointed second commander of the national militia in Malaga. 

Josep Cristòfol Sorní i Grau became a member of the Spanish constituent assembly for Valencia in 1854, and after the progressive biennium, he settled permanently in Madrid. He was imprisoned in the prison El Saladero for four months for having participated in Rivero’s insurrection in 1866.

In October 1868, Sorní was elected member of the Revolutionary Board of Madrid and deputy in the general elections of 1869. He was re-elected in Valencia in the elections of 1871, 1872 and 1873.

During the First Spanish Republic, he became director of the Patrimony of the Crown and Overseas Minister with Pi i Margall. During his tenure, Sorní abolished slavery in Puerto Rico and freed 10,000 slaves in Cuba.