Professor Cutter challenges the traditional view that the legal system was inherently corrupt and irrelevant to the mass of society, and that local judicial officials were uninformed and inept. Instead he found that even in peripheral areas the lowest-level officials the alcalde or town magistrate had a greater impact on daily life and a keener understanding of the law than previously acknowledged by historians. These local officials exhibited flexibility and sensitivity to frontier conditions, and their rulings generally conformed to community expectations of justice. By examining colonial legal culture, Cutter reveals the attitudes of settlers, their notions of right and wrong, and how they fixed a boundary between proper and improper actions.
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Book Description
Spain's colonial rule rested on a judicial system that resolved conflicts and meted out justice. But just how was this legal order imposed throughout the New World? Re-created here from six hundred civil and criminal cases are the procedural and ethical workings of the law in two of Spain's remote colonies New Mexico and Texas in the eighteenth century.
Editorial Reviews
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"A superlative work." -- Marc Simmons, author of Spanish Government in New Mexico
From the Inside Flap
The first comprehensive overview of the workings of the Spanish legal system in colonial New Mexico and Texas.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb overview.,
This review is from: The Legal Culture of Northern New Spain, 1700-1810 (Hardcover)
Charles Cutter, professor at Purdue University and all-around nice guy, has written a superb overview of an often overlooked aspect of Spanish frontier history. Son of legendary Borderlands historian Donald Cutter, Charles proves himself a premier historian of the period in his own right.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb overview.,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Legal Culture of Northern New Spain, 1700-1810 (Hardcover)
Charles Cutter, professor at Purdue University and all-around nice guy, has written a superb overview of an often overlooked aspect of Spanish frontier history. Son of legendary Borderlands historian Donald Cutter, Charles proves himself a premier historian of the period in his own right.
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