Law in Spanish and Portuguese America: The Early Colonial Period

Heikki Pihlajamäki

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Chapter 3 Law in Spanish and Portuguese America: The Early Colonial Period

In: A Companion to Latin American Legal History

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Heikki Pihlajamäki

Heikki Pihlajamäki
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 73–98

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004436091_005

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Abstract

European colonialism drastically changed the legal course of the Americas, although the speed and depth of change varied immensely from region to region. In general, Spain managed to create in and transfer to its American colonies legal institutions, which enabled it to oversee, control and steer the legal course of the oversees lands relatively efficiently. Portugal never got that far in the early colonial period. Portugal’s starting points were different: its population was too small to yield any large contingents of settlers and, geographically, Brazil was extremely demanding. Portugal’s main interests were, therefore, economic: they lay in securing commercial routes and trade posts; Portuguese legal infrastructure remained thin. In addition to discussing the legal changes themselves, the article attempts to explain why colonial legal historiography has developed so differently in Spain and Portugal.

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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

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Chapter 3 Law in Spanish and Portuguese America: The Early Colonial Period

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A Companion to Latin American Legal History

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