A history of institutional function: Mexican notaries and wealth distribution – Yucatan, 1850–1900

Abstract

This paper uses probate records and records from notaries in the southeastern State of Yucatan in Mexico to explore wealth inequality in an ethnically heterogeneous economy. This paper will explore the elements that constituted Yucatan’s institutional context, and how the inequality between its constituents contributed to it. Following the contribution of Monkkonen, who conducted an ‘institutional archaeology’ of the role of Mexican notaries in space, this paper will dissect their institutional function in time.