Change over Time in the Iberian World: Stabilization and Transformation of Law (16th–19th Centuries)

This book examines legal change in the Iberian empires by analyzing colonial experiences through the dynamic relationship between global and local processes. Drawing on case studies from Portuguese and Spanish imperial contexts, it challenges views of colonial law as a rigid system imposed from metropolitan centers. Instead, this volume shows how law was continuously reshaped through negotiation, adaptation, and contestation in colonial settings. Norms were transformed through everyday practices, jurisdictional conflicts, and interactions among diverse actors. By examining normative regulation, religious jurisdiction, legal practice, and criminal justice, this book highlights the local production of legal knowledge within imperial structures and reconsiders the relationship between law, power, and social practice in early modern colonial societies. Contributors are: Luisa Stella de Oliveira Coutinho Silva, Mariana Meneses Muñoz, Rômulo Ehalt, Ana Mafalda Pereira Lopes, Arthur Curvelo, Gustavo César Machado Cabral, Vanessa Massuchetto, Felipe Garcia de Oliveira, and Nathaly Mancilla Órdenes.