Introduction

Abstract

This book is the result of a collective effort by a group of scholars from Latin America, Europe, and the USA, who together wished to write a legal history that would center on the common experiences of Latin American societies over a long time span, which began before Europeans invaded the continent and continues to date. The aim was to identify a narrative that would observe common trends, manifest the dramatic shifts that had occurred throughout this period, and insert these findings into a wider perspective. This would then reveal how various other regions of the globe were facing similar questions and that debates taking place in Latin America were often linked to discussions transpiring elsewhere, to which they both contributed and from which they received input and inspiration.We feel deeply indebted to the scholars who have preceded us, and we recognize that the study of Latin American law has a long and important tradition. Beginning in the colonial period and throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, detailed accounts described what constituted Latin American Law. Numerous scholars told us how, from the early 1500s onwards, European law was introduced and locally implemented by the various imperial powers. They surveyed the legal changes enacted by the new, independent Latin American states in the early nineteenth century and examined what had transpired since.Their importance notwithstanding, traditionally these narratives tended to focus on a single empire (during the colonial period) or on a particular locality or state (thereafter). Often, the underlying concept of law they employed was state-centered and legalistic. It presumed that royal enactments (during the colonial period) and legislation (thereafter) were either the only source of law or at least the principal one. Many studies adopted a Eurocentric vision that highlighted the importation of European law while often characterizing this importation as a failure, either because European law was unfit for Latin American conditions or because individuals, groups, and authorities refused Introduction