Rhetoric and Strategy in Early Colonial Andean Litigation, 1552–74

This paper examines the legal arguments and procedural strategies developed by advocates and procurators (procuradores de causas) of Andean caciques in the Audiencia of Lima. Between 1552 and 1574, the defense and legal representation of these lords were in hands of private agents. In the decade of the 1560s, some Andean chieftains, the richest and most Hispanicized, hired prominent advocates of the Audiencia like Francisco Falcón (1521-1587). These legal facilitators recreated the legal institutions and doctrines (property, possession, restitutio in integrum) from European origin into a new colonial context. Likewise, they crafted new legal discourses that enriched the millenary civil law. Procurators, on the other hand, as experts in legal procedure, designed specific strategies to benefit their Andean clients. Litigation was a complex odyssey, in which technicalities on procedural stages, evidence (written and oral proofs), and legal formalities were central. Finally, caciques as litigants provided historical information and their own views on ‘justice’ and ‘law.’ All of these ingredients contributed to forge a ‘polyphonic law.’  This presentation discusses the roles of these three crucial actors (caciques, advocates, and procurators) and the polyphonic nature of the nascent colonial law.