Apr 07, 2022 - Sale 2600

Sale 2600 - Lot 320

Price Realized: $ 1,875
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(MEXICO--MANUSCRIPTS.) Volume of colonial manuscript and printed decrees assembled for legal reference. 45 items with plus supporting documents on approximately 135 leaves, including 22 printed decrees and the remainder in manuscript. Folio, 12 x 8 1/2 inches, lacking boards and backstrip but still sturdily bound, with some printed decrees folding out to a larger size; varied condition with wear to some folded items, but generally strong, a few documents apparently excised. Various places, 1701-1779

Additional Details

In colonial Mexico, the demand for printed royal and viceroyal decrees of local interest would often outstrip the supply, so lawyers, justices and other interested parties would often obtain copies. Not everything was included in the various editions of the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias. Thus lawyers would maintain their own cedularios for reference use. This one covers criminal cases, the army and navy, confiscation of property, the use of stamped paper, the royal treasury, dress codes, bigamy, and other social matters. Many bear the stamped or inked "Yo El Rey" signatures of Felipe V and Ferdinand VI.