“Abuse of Authority” and “Disobedience”: Local Ideologies of Justice in Petitions from 18th Century Oaxaca

• In Event: Petitions, Collective Claims, and Ideologies of Justice in the Spanish Empire

Abstract

This paper addresses local ideologies of justice expressed in native petitions from eighteenth century Oaxaca. The fifty petitions that I sample appear at the opening of criminal cases concerning conflict over local governance, and can be categorized under the broad rubrics of “abuse of authority” and “disobedience.” Depending on their authorship, the petitions either paint a picture of injustice on the part of native officials, including physical abuse, insults, harassment, and extortion; or disorder on the part of native villagers, including sedition, disobedience, and rioting. They conclude with a request for intervention on the part of the Spanish magistrate (alcalde mayor) of Teposcolula, Oaxaca.

Preparing a legal case was a collective affair, in which native litigants and their legal agents served as co-authors. A petition outlining the details of the complaint marked the first step in the legal process. Like all legal documents, petitions adhere to a certain formula, which lend them a “boiler plate” quality. But they also evince local particularities, depending on the cultural knowledge of the legal agent, who molded the local story into legal formula. In this regard, the petitions are multi-vocal; they translate notions of local justice into terms intelligible to the Spanish magistrate. My analysis of the petitions focuses on this process of translation, including the use of Christian language, references to Spanish law, and appeals to local forms of authority. What can the petitions’ rhetorical strategies tell us about the relationship between local and royal justice during the final century of the colony?

Author

• Yanna P Yannakakis, Emory University