The New Laws of the Indies
The ordinances that Charles V issued in 1542 and 1543 for the government of Spain’s American lands. They forbid the enslaving of Indians for any cause and order that grants of Indian labour revert to the Crown when their holders die.
The laws were drawn up after the debates at court that Bartolomé de Las Casas describes at the end of his A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Much of the text concerns the Council of the Indies and the royal courts. Among the clauses on the Indians are these: no Indian may be made a slave by war, rebellion, ransom or any other means; Indians held as slaves without proof of title are to be freed; officials and religious houses lose the Indians allotted to them; and no new allotment (encomienda) may be granted, the existing ones passing to the Crown on the holder’s death.
It is the law as issued. It shows what the Crown commanded, and by forbidding certain things it shows that they were being done. It does not show how far the commands were obeyed.
Cited in
- 2 June 1537, firm date