Immemorial (and native) customs in early modernity: Europe and the Americas

What Is Legal History of Latin American Law in a Global Perspective?

“…They knew that it was a powerful tool even if they did not know why. 93 In this quest to refashion legal history, these Latin American, Spanish, and Portuguese scholars refuted the claim that the history of ideas was a legal history or that legal historians can stop at describing how norms evolved. They lamented the propensity by which actors invoke history to make claims in the present, and they expressed a desire for a legal history that would transcend national boundaries and be guided by the entities that were relevant in the past, not the present.…”

Os Engenhos de Açúcar como Territórios de Autonomia Jurídica (1889-1930):

“…7 Estudos de Romira Zamora (2024, p. 245) e Víctor Tau Anzoátegui (2015, p. 245) notaram que, na América Espanhola, a situação era similar: o Estado, habitualmente, chegava apenas à porteira da casa-grande. Uma longa tradição de estudos em "derecho indiano", encorajada por Ricardo Levene (1924) e perpetuada atualmente por muitos historiadores do direito, como Carlos Garriga (2004), Carlos Petit (2014, p. 31), Manuel Batias Saavera (2020), Matthew Mirow (2018), Tamar Herzog, (2013, 2021a, 2021b -É mentira daquela bicha severgonha. Ela botou pra cima de mim os estragos que os outros fez.…”

How to Approach Colonial Law?

“…270 The most complex issues probably emerged in situations involving indigenous institutions or normative principles which progressively evolved, but some were accepted as compromises required during this early colonial period. 271 These were likely the "least Catholic" times of colonization: a period where many indigenous religious traditions (along with their worldviews) persisted and often conflicted with Christian morals and rituals. The Spaniards had to negotiate with existing indigenous structures to establish institutions that were acceptable to everyone.…”