Its lack of preface or any explicit declaration of aims notwithstanding, this book has certainly failed in its presumed intention of offering a new and refreshing overview of the Derecho lndiano, the legal system that prevailed in Spanish America throughout the colonial period. By drawing major attention to well-known aspects like bureaucracy, legislative codification, and the relations between church and state, this volume represents little progress indeed compared to the publications of Rafael Altamira, José María Ots Capdequí, Antonio Muro Orejón, Alfonso García Gallo, or Juan Manzano Manzano, Spanish scholars who have previously interpreted the colonial jurisprudential establishment. Only about a fourth of the volume is devoted to factual questions in the areas of landholding, mining, trade, navigation, and day-to-day litigation. The authors’ principal achievement therefore consists in their bibliographical annotations, which include many useful references to recent works.
A rather neat thematic distinction should be made among the chapters presented by the contributors, three Spanish university instructors who specialize in the Derecho lndiano. Sánchez Bella, of Pamplona, delivers a brief historiographical survey and two complementary essays dealing with primary legislative sources and the governmental structure of the Indies. De la Hera, of Madrid, by contrast, focuses on the background and character of the Spanish overseas dominion and on the monarchy’s policy toward ecclesiastical affairs.
The longest and most suggestive contribution comes from Díaz Rementería, of Seville, who is responsible for seven chapters. He deals with the constitution of both sociopolitical “republics” of Spaniards and Indians in America, and inquires into the formation (and conceptualization) of a proper colonial legal system. In the latter regard he points out a royal decree of 1614 that enabled the Council of the Indies to determine which Castilian ordinances should be valid overseas and which not—thereby setting off a relative emancipation by the Derecho Indiano (p. 40). Furthermore, Díaz Rementería analyzes, though unfortunately in a very summary manner, such crucial topics as censos, mayorazgos, successions, contracts, insurance, and trading corporations. It is evident that only by insisting on the study of these social and economic institutions and their effective repercussions in the New World will juridical historiography go beyond the merely theoretical sphere of legislation and contribute to a more realistic image of colonial Spanish America.
