| Leyes De Burgos |
Website Links For Leyes |
Information AboutLeyes De Burgos |
|
The scope of the laws were originally restricted to the island of Hispaniola , but were later extended to Puerto Rico and Jamaica . They authorized and legalized the colonial practice of creating Encomienda s, where Indians were grouped together to work under colonial masters, limiting the size of these establishments to a minimum of 40 and a maximum of 150 people. However, they also established a minutely regulated regimen of work, pay, provisioning, living quarters, hygene, and care for the Indians in a highy protective and humanitarian spirit. Women more than four months pregnant, for example, were exempted from work. The document finally prohibited the use of any form of punishment by the ''encomenderos'', reserving it for officials established in each town for the implementation of the laws. It also ordered that the Indians be Catechesized , outlawed Bigamy , and required that the huts and cabins of the Indians be built together with those of the Spanish. It respected, in some ways, the traditional authorities, granting chiefs exemptions from ordinary jobs and granting them various Indians as servants. To poor fullfillment of the laws in many cases lead to inummerable protests and claims. In fact, the laws were so often poorly applied that they were seen as simply a legalization of the previous poor situation. This would create momentum for reform, carried out through the '' Leyes Nuevas '' in 1542 . |