Justice by Paperwork
A Day in the Life of a Court Scribe in Bourbon Mexico City
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9075979 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael C Scardaville (University of South Carolina, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 979-1007 |
| Publication date | 2003-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Social History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4529 • E-ISSN: 1527-1897 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1353/jsh.2003.0114 |
| OpenAlex | W2028242082 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 17 |
This essay describes a typical day for a court scribe in Bourbon Mexico City in order to evaluate the prevailing scholarly view of criminal Judicial administration in the viceregal capital and the nature of the late colonial state. Historians and nineteenth century critics have asserted that the Bourbon state embraced oppressive criminal legal practices in Mexico City as a means of controlling popular groups and upholding public order. Based on an analysis of over 7,000 criminal cases, this study demonstrates that in spite of expanding poverty, a burgeoning caseload, and growing fear crime in the rapidly-growing city, the colonial legal system routinely adhered to standards of due process, and the courts systematically extended procedural safeguards to all of the accused, regardless of their social position. The daily operation of the criminal justice system, as demonstrated in the procedural work of the scribe and in the flexibility and moderation of the relatively autonomous magistrates, shaped popular notions of the state and thereby became one of the means through which public authority was sustained in late colonial Mexico City. Ultimately, this study questions the claim that the so-called absolutist Bourbon colonial state exercised judicial power in an arbitrary or capricious manner
Criminology · Economic Justice · Ethnology · Mexico city · Political science · Social justice · Sociology · History · Law · Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America · Political theory and Gramsci · Politics and Society in Latin America
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A 'Morisco Assassin' in the Cathedral of Mexico City
Manumission on the Land
Notaries of Color in Colonial Panama
Corruption and Justice in Colonial Mexico, 1650–1755
Razón y secreto en los registros notariales virreinales. Madrid, Lima y Santiago de Chile (1670-1720)
Proteger y protestar. Exclamaciones y declaraciones ante escribano (Perú y Chile, siglos XVII y XVIII)
The (un)lettered frontier
Reforming Women, Protecting Men
"An "Imponderable Servitude
Fractional Freedoms
Before the Law
Complaining Like a Liberal
Getting justice and getting even
The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice
Justice by Insurance
Discipline and Punish
The State in Early Modern France
Power Elites and State Building
Lawsuits and Litigants in Castile, 1500-1700
Alguna luz sobre el autor de las Enfermedades políticas
No Deceit Safe in Its Hiding Place”
Antecedentes Medievales De Los Derechos Humanos
The Other Rebellion
Criminal Justice in Eighteenth Century Mexico
The Prince and the Law, 1200-1600
La criminalidad en la Ciudad de México, 1800-1821
Alcohol Abuse and Tavern Reform in Late Colonial Mexico City
Los escribanos en las Indias occidentales, y en particular en el reino de Guatemala
Whigs and Hunters
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,72 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2024 (17) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 9 |