From Justice to Law: Late Colonial and Early Republican Eras

Sarah C. Chambers

Jump to Content

Chapter 4 From Justice to Law: Late Colonial and Early Republican Eras

In: A Companion to Latin American Legal History

Author:

Sarah C. Chambers

Sarah C. Chambers
Search for other papers by Sarah C. Chambers in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 99–129

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004436091_006

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

Redeem Access Token

Abstract

Rather than seeing independence as instigating a rupture in legal practice, this chapter argues that a gradual standardization and ascendancy of state law over other jurisdictions, such as ecclesiastical courts, began under Iberian monarchs in the mid-eighteenth century and intensified under subsequent national governments. Although constitutions marked an important shift in public law, most Spanish and Portuguese civil and criminal compilations remained in effect; changes, therefore, were implemented through shifts in interpretation and practice. Despite increased policing, reformed judicial institutions, along with enlightenment and republican ideas, also created spaces and discourses for subalterns to participate in transforming the legal culture. Women and the enslaved appealed to natural law in seeking written rulings that they were entitled to financial support and protection from abuse, and male criminal defendants invoked their rights to due process, often successfully. By the middle of the nineteenth century, increasingly exclusive definitions of citizenship shaped legal personhood. Those considered dependent on others, such as women and servants, could still access courts but had lost many protections and were unlikely to be treated as equal before the law, foreshadowing their status under new civil codes. Thus, the relative shift from pluralistic justice to positive law had uneven effects.

Citation Info

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share link with colleague or librarian

You can email a link to this page to a colleague or librarian:
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004436091/BP000006.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

Collapse
Expand

A Companion to Latin American Legal History

Series: Legal History Library, Volume: 64

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004436091

Publisher:: Brill | Nijhoff

Print Publication Date:: 25 Nov 2023

Subjects
- American Studies
  - Latin America
- History
  - Legal History

Front Matter

Part 1 Chronology

Part 2 Historical Actors

Part 3 Selected Topics

Back Matter

Metrics

	All Time	Past 365 days	Past 30 Days
Abstract Views	449	205	18
Full Text Views	15	4	1
PDF Views & Downloads	32	5	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

Authors

Open Access

Product Information

Company

Contact

Chapter 4 From Justice to Law: Late Colonial and Early Republican Eras

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

A Companion to Latin American Legal History

Table of Contents

Metrics

Metrics