made important contributions not only to my professional formation but also to the intellectual endeavors behind this dissertation. Doctors Micah Oelze and Judith Mansilla adopted me as a younger sibling almost since the beginning of my doctoral experience, when they were just two graduate students in the final phases of their dissertations. I learned a great deal from them, and the memories of our many trips within the United States and abroad will remain in my memory forever. I also want to thank Luis del Pino for his time, patience, and good humor.Outside Florida International University, professors James Sanders and Joshua Rosenthal gave me valuable feedback on more than one occasion. I will treasure the conversations we had during the few academic congresses we attended together. Thanks, too, to all the people from the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History, in vi Frankfurt, Germany. Doctors Stephanie Ruther and Karl Harter made my two weeks at the Institute a wonderful and unforgettable academic experience. Doctor Harter also played an important role as an external advisor for this dissertation, and provided me with useful literature and vital suggestions concerning my theoretical framework. An additional thank you to the people that gave me a hand in the recollection of primary sources and archival documents in Colombia, especially to Juán Sebastián García in Bogotá and Katherine Bolívar in Medellín.Finally, I want to thank those that kept me afloat during five years of academic, professional, and emotional challenges. My parents, Gabriel and María Eugenia, were the most important support I had. Week after week they did all they could for making me feel that home was not as far as it actually was. Carlos, Ángela, Daniel, and Camila were always there for reminding me what family love was and how powerful it could be. Megan, with her patient love, her sweet devotion, and her many lessons, was my light in the darkness, the pillar of my sanity, the force behind all my endeavors, and the responsible for most of my accomplishments in the last few years. I do not have words for expressing how much I owe Andrés and his unconditional friendship and loyalty. Thank you all for helping me being the person I am now and achieving all that I have achieved thus far. This accomplishment is as yours as it is mine. vii