Between Law and Justice: An Approximation to Castilian Jurisdictional Culture During the Sixteenth Century through the Experience of the House of Trade (Casa de la Contratación) in Seville and the Council of the Indies (Consejo de Indias)

Abstract

espanol?Que motivo a la sociedad castellana a pleitear en los tribunales reales a pesar de los defectos que agobiaban al sistema judicial hispanico? Se respondera a esta cuestion a traves del metodo jurisdiccional utilizado por los oidores de la Casa de la Contratacion de Sevilla y del Consejo de Indias como su tribunal de apelacion para resolver los pleitos que surgian en el contexto de la Carrera de Indias. El estudio se concentra en los pleitos sobre comiso de mercancias, pues ofrecen el laboratorio adecuado para valorar la posicion de los magistrados en los litigios en los cuales intervenia, de una parte, el fiscal, representante de los intereses del soberano y, de la otra, los litigantes comunes. Tal coyuntura permitira determinar como los jueces entendian en la practica su papel de ministros de equidad, una condicion que los obligaba a administrar justicia incluso mas alla de los intereses del rey. EnglishWhat encouraged Castilian society to bring lawsuits before the royal courts of justice, when they were known to be highly inefficient? The answer is be found in the methods used by the judges of the House of Trade (Casa de la Contratacion) in Seville and the Council of the Indies (Consejo de Indias) as its court of appeal to settle disputes arising from the trade routes to the Indies (Carrera de Indias). The study focuses on lawsuits relating to the confiscation of supposedly illegal merchandise coming from the Indies. These lawsuits offer an adequate laboratory to test the attitude of judges in the disputes which involved, on the one hand, the royal prosecutor, who represented and defended the economic interests of the king and, on the other, the common litigants, making it possible to determine how the judges understood their role as ministers of equity, a condition that obliged them to administer justice, sometimes even in detriment to the interests of the king.