A procedural approach to the defense of indigenous land in the central Andes in the early viceroyalty of Peru (1550-1560)

Abstract

This article examines the most important procedural elements of indigenous litigation in the earliest stage of the Viceroyalty of Peru (1550-1560). Based on an important judicial process, in which two indigenous peoples disputed a parcel of land, the author analyses the legal arguments used by law professionals (lawyers and prosecutors) together with the indigenous representatives (caciques), as well as the differences between the property and possession trials for indigenous peoples in the middle of the XVIth century.