Legal practices on the borders of Hispanic America. The dynamics of local powers in the construction of a model of encomienda in Paraguay in the mid-seventeenth century

We intend to discuss the process of creating an idea of encomienda in Paraguay during the second half of the seventeenth century. The institution, with Castilian legal bases found, in America, a distinct development. Faced with new social, political, economic and ethnic demands, the encomienda was being developed by local agents and separated from the Iberian model. Based on a new approach to the history of law, grounded on the dynamics of creation of legal practices by local agents, we sought to analyze the “cartas de confirmación” of the Paraguayan encomiendas in order to point out their characteristics and, therefore, elements that demonstrate the process of creation of legal practices in America.

Keywords:
Legal practices; Local authorities; Encomienda