Los
tratados de práctica notarial en las bibliotecas de escribanos neogranadinos
del siglo XVIII
Alfonso Rubio Hernández[1]
Universidad del Valle -
Colombia
Reception:
20/10/2015
Evaluation:
14/02/2016
Approval: 22/02/2016
Research and innovation article
Resumen: Entre las
bibliotecas particulares de escribanos numerarios y de cabildo que ejercieron durante
el siglo XVIII en el Nuevo Reino de Granda, constatamos la presencia de
formularios, tratados o manuales prácticos que se inscribieron en la tradición
europea de la literatura jurídica de los “ars notariae” y sirvieron para
ejercer un oficio fundamental para el desarrollo social y económico de las
ciudades americanas, un oficio escasamente estudiado por la historiografía
colombiana. Para ello analizamos los Inventarios Post Mortem de Jacobo Facio Lince, Mariano
Bueno, Juan Andrés Sandoval y Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor, escribanos
que ejercieron su oficio en las ciudades de Medellín, Cartago y Popayán. Los
registros de sus bibliotecas particulares nos permiten caracterizarlas para
centrarnos luego en la descripción individual de los tratados notariales
identificados y su circulación en Indias.
Palabras clave: bibliotecas particulares,
escribanos del número y de cabildo, Nuevo Reino de Granada, siglo XVIII, tratados
de práctica notarial
The Treatises on Notarial Practice in the Libraries of 18th
Century Scribes of New Granada
Abstract
Among the personal libraries of public and cabildo (council) scribes during the 18th
century in the New Kingdom of Granada, we find the presence of
formularies, treatises or practical manuals inscribed in the European tradition
of legal literature of “ars notariae”
which performed a fundamental function in the social and economic development
of American cities; a task that has been scarcely studied in Colombian
historiography. This study analyzes the Post Mortem Inventories of the scribes, Jacobo Facio Lince, Mariano Bueno, Juan Andrés Sandoval and Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor, who practiced their trade in
the cities of Medellín, Cartago and Popayán. After
characterizing
the personal library records of these scribes, this study
focuses on the individual description of the notarial treatises found, and
their circulation in the Indies.
Key Words: personal libraries, public and cabildo
scribes, New Kingdom of Granada, 18th century, treatises on notarial practices.
Les traités de pratique notariale dans les bibliothèques de notaires
néogrenadins au XVIIIe siècle
Résumé
Les bibliothèques des notaires ayant
exercé pendant le XVIIIe siècle en Nouvelle-Grenade, révèlent
l’existence des formulaires, des traités ou des manuels qui appartient à la
tradition européenne de la littérature juridique des « ars
notariae ». Ces textes leur ont permis d’exercer un office fondamental dans
les villes américaines, qui a été paradoxalement très peu étudié par
l’historiographie colombienne. Afin de combler ce vide, nous analysons les
inventaires post mortem de Jacobo Facio Lince, Bon Mariano, Juan Andrés
Sandoval et Joaquin Sánchez de la Flor, notaires dans les villes de Medellín,
Cartago et Popayán. D’abord nous nous occuperons de caractériser ces
bibliothèques privées et ensuite nous ferons une description individuelle des
traités notariaux identifiés et nous montrerons leur circulation dans les Indes.
Mots-clés: bibliothèques
privées, notaires, Nouveau Royaume de Grenade, XVIIIe siècle,
traités de pratique notariale.
Introduction
Through
writing, the cabildo scribes first
set and then preserved the decisions made by the council members and the administrative
acts that these gave rise to. Receivers of documents from different
institutions, producers of capitulary minutes and of a varied documentary
typology that the cabildo, in the
performance of its functions, was obliged to elaborate; and custodians of the
reports, which, with the passing of time, were accumulating in the city
archives. The scribes became mediators between the cabildo, as the city’s governing institution, and the inhabitants,
who, as governed subjects, engaged in a private and public life in their place
of residence.
The
figure of the cabildo scribe was
essential to the economic and social development of the cities founded in the
American territory. If we look at Villa de Medellín of the New Kingdom of
Granada, it being an important commercial mining center, until the end of the
18th century, the majority of its cabildo scribes were also scribes of mining and records, this title
also empowered them to carry out functions of an economic nature and of the
control of the exploitation and smelting of precious metals.
Villa
of Medellín did not have a public scribe (or notary public) until the year
1764. For 90 years after its foundation in 1675, the cabildo scribe also acted as the notary public of the city. During
this same period, the lack of officially appointed cabildo scribes meant that they were substituted by retiring or
graduating scribes, who acted as secretarial officials. As from the creation of
the post of public scribes, during periods of a lack of cabildo scribes, they were replaced by notaries public who acted as
stand-ins in the cabildo. These
circumstances, also common in other cities, meant that the powers of the
different scribes were often confused. During the colonial period that lasts
from 1675 until 1819, when in the month of August, the cabildo proclaimed its independence from the Spanish crown, out of
the 16 scribes that performed functions in the cabildo of the Villa, 11 were cabildo
scribes and 5 were public scribes.
Both
types of scribes had a decisive influence on the bureaucratization of the daily
life of American cities, and, from their privileged position, the scribes,
invested with “public trust”, which came from the king, were custodians of the
archives of the city as well as the notarial archives. The public scribe was
the royal scribe who alone could perform his functions in his assigned
jurisdiction. They were trained to bear public witness in two environments: the
judicial and the extrajudicial and in both spheres, their powers were very
broad. With the judicial public trust would be characterized the activity of
scribes related with the acts and determinations of judges. Given that their
activity was reduced to the local level, their function was centered on certain
activities of the town hall justice, substituting the cabildo because of their absence, and above all, when dealing with
legal matters in which chief magistrates and mayors intervened, where they
authenticated all the acts and documents of the processes that should pass
before them. Through the extrajudicial public trust, the public scribe could
authorize the deeds held by businesses and contracts concluded between private
persons.
The
scribes of the old regime were classified in two main professional groups. To
the first group belong the “notaries public” (with an assigned territory) and
the “royal scribes” (without an assigned territory), both considered to be the
forerunners of modern notaries. To the second group were assigned the scribes
of the “government and chamber”, “cabildo”,
“province”, and those of “visits and audiences”, which were seen of as a sort
of secretary who collaborated in judicial processes and supported the
government officials in their administrative tasks[2]. The cabildo scribe, by definition, would be the forerunner of the
present-day secretary in the municipalities[3].
Although this separation is referred to in
the legislation and in the legal system, it was common to find notaries public,
using current terminology, acting as secretaries of government bodies as well
as secretaries of judicial bodies and of notaries. This confusion, which was
not solely functional, was recognized and even fomented by institutions. The
theoretical division of functions was neither demanded by the authorities nor
respected by the scribes.
In
the same way that the public scribe could substitute for the cabildo scribe, it was common in the
Indies that the council scribe was also the public scribe of the city and in
general it was very difficult to separate the functions which the scribe of the
city (often only one, above all during the founding of the communities)
performed as cabildo scribe or as
public scribe.
The powers of one or the other type of
scribe, even with specifically outlined functions, were often confused, but
both depended on day-to-day writing. It is these two types of scribes,
represented by specific individuals that held the title of public or cabildo scribe, that we will use here so
as to verify a notarial practice that made use of an old European tradition, a
tradition which in Spain goes back to the 10th century, as from then
there are reports of the use of collections of formats called “forms” useful in
drafting documents, for educational purposes for those who were interested in
the notarial art, or for support purposes for those who already performed as
scribes[4].
General
studies in the Latin-American context are scarce and even more so those that
are specifically dedicated to notarial forms from the private libraries of
those most interested in making use of them: the scribes. In the panorama of
the New Kingdom of Granada, the studies on the different types of existing
scribes are still incipient[5]. In accordance with our purposes, the cases of the scribes that we
studied (Jacobo Facio Lince, in Medellín; Mariano Bueno, in Cartago; and in the
city of Popayán Juan Andrés
Sandoval
and Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor), all of whom were practicing during the 18th
century, offer proof of the presence of forms, treatises
or practical manuals for practicing scribe activities, creating legal
application documents, documents related to legal affairs, among which notarial
documents produced by public scribes and legal documents in which mayors
intervened with legal functions together with their necessary cabildo scribes occupied an important
place.
The
matter of understanding, classifying and defining the field of print,
specifically, in this case, that of the notarial literature is related to the
way of framing it according to the characteristics and theoretical nuances and
methodologies frequently exhibited by historical studies of written culture.
The post mortem inventories (IPM, by their acronym in Spanish) we deal with capture a chronological arc which goes from 1765 to 1808;
thus, we position ourselves in a notarial exercise in three relevant New
Grenadian cities, as were Medellín, Popayán and Cartago in the second half of
the 18th century.
The
classifications, the resulting quantities of the post mortem inventories,
matter so as to put into relation the numerical limits with the characteristics
that allow the adequate elaboration of an analysis, often because of a lack of
general sources. Of course, we do not forget about other methodological and conceptual
problems, which we have already expressed on other occasions, at the moment of
outlining the history of the book, of libraries or of reading through the post
mortem inventories. We cannot derive identical evaluations from the inventories
of books gathered together by different individuals who possess, depending on
their life or career paths, a social or cultural significance. Precisely for
this reason, it is not the objective here to linger over sociological variants
related to the possession of more or less of some or other books, nor to
interpret the variety of topics or titles. We focus, without excluding those
aspects and in a partial manner, in the treatises on notarial practices so as
to prove their presence and their functionality, which from an informative and
practical reading, were an assistance of the professional practice of the
scribes. The coincidences in the possession of those forms or manuals on the
part of the scribes, which generally form libraries of rare titles, are a
reference so as to grant them a practical-occupational character
and offer some general traits.
Forms
that appear in the libraries of the 18th century, in some cases
first editions, and their tradition of being sent through the so-called "Carrera de Indias”, dated from long
before, for this reason we will also look at some significant works, which
edited in the 16th and 17th centuries, were received in
the Indies. Beside the notarial literature, the legal literature could also
serve to support the notarial functions and from there we have exclusively
dedicated ourselves to finding the relation of both types of works, and not
others, based on the task they performed and not because of their likes or
personal interests for the acquisition of other themes.
Books and manuals
in the written practice of scribes
The
education of a scribe was attained through the practice of their trade. They
worked as scribes or as “minor or major officials” assisting with the work of
the head scribe and learning from the practice of the rules of the office, the
documental formulas and the legislation to which to turn. The “suitability” of
the aspiring scribe had to be demonstrated through an exam, which often used a
“question and answer” formula. On 30th July, 1800, the mayor of
Santiago de Cali, with the counsel of Joaquín Caicedo y Cuero, lawyer of the Real Audiencia (Royal Audience), made
the future notary public, Antonio de Velasco, appear in court. As regards the
practical manuals for scribes and later compilations of the same, Antonio de
Velasco[6]
[…] was asked and asked again by said lawyer about many and diverse
articles, wills, tutorials, agreements, and diverse instruments and public
deeds, and having answered competently and satisfied all the questions, I
agreed to give my approval as I do, with the verdict of said advisor[7].
The
“point of action” indicated shows the importance granted to “ability” based on
the practice of the elaboration of different types of documents that normally
acquired similar diplomatic structures to those employed by Spanish scribes.
The experience of those who aspired to the office, was a quality of much weight
before the cabildo members. The
experience demonstrated as an official for 3 years in Cali and the skills known
by the members of the cabildo in the
person of José Vernaza (intelligence, good reputation, obedience, and
discretion) made unnecessary, in August 1750, the sitting for an exam to become
a scribe of the cabildo[8].
More than the exam, which most of the time, when there
was one, was a mere formality without obstacles, apart from the fact that it
was carried out after already having the title and appearing before the cabildo, the experience and the
reliability of the candidate, who had generally performed as an auxiliary
official in the same notarial office or, as the documentation states referring
to
José Vernaza, as a “major official of this archive”, were two
qualities that weighed more when it came to the approval and appointment of the
new scribe[9].
Despite their responsibility and influence,
the trade was considered more a traditional technique than an elaborate science
of complex learning. For that reason, it was possible to learn the trade
without attending an institution which taught how to perform it. It was a
well-regarded practice. In the New Kingdom of Granada there was not a School of
Scribes either. However, there were associations of scribes in New Spain from
the 16th century. In 1792, similar to the one established in Madrid,
the Royal School of Public Scribes[10] was founded.
Notaries
had the task of giving answers to set cases through easily read and
comprehensible guides. In contrast to scholars (lawyers, narrators and
listeners), who did need to learn the theory of law in order to interpret and
value its precepts, notaries were treated as simple executors of functional
knowledge, though both required similar knowledge. In a highly divided society,
the former appreciation made some jobs more noble than others, though both
depended on what was learned and assimilated while working[11]. But the daily practice of the scribes was not the only way of
learning. It was recognized as a source of the creation of norms capable of
creating laws, either for the lack of legal precepts, or for going against them[12].
Although the
term “scholar” was equally used for men with a university degree as well as for
other men of letters who could have attended university or not, such as
municipal scribes or other officials[13], the difference between scholar (with knowledge in
theory of law) and notaries was many times highlighted in the decisions of the
members of the cabildo when they did
not know how to solve legal matters it was agreed on consulting the “legal
counsel Lorenzo Benítez,” or “in order to obtain the best solution a scholar
was consulted.[14]” American scholars used to have a degree in both
civil and canon law, but unlettered magistrates, officials without a university
degree including correctors, mayors, mayors of the Santa Hermandad, and ordinary mayors, with their staff of scribes,
attorneys, and lawyers, also participated in the creation of a legal culture
and produced a large part of the regulations which constituted the legal
universe[15].
The scholar
Domingo Ortiz, Court Attorney of the Royal Audience, in 1777, proxy of the
scribe Juan José Lotero in the trial that confronted him with Ignacio Mejía,
Royal Officer of Medellín, used the work of the jurist from Lima, Gaspar de
Escalona y Agüero, Gazophilatium Regium Peruvicum[16], in order to present arguments in his favor.
The post mortem inventories, carried out in the city
of Popayán in 1782 on José Ignacio Paredo (War Auditor Lieutenant in the city
of Popayán) [17]; and in the city of Cartago in 1792, on
Miguel de Escobar Ospina (Lawyer of the Royal Audiences of Quito and Santa Fe) [18], show as a whole, as the lawyers and jurists that
they were, a high percentage of books on law, apart from the rest of the
subjects like religion, humanities, or the sciences. Both libraries are extensive and among the Paredo’s
books, as shown, apart from the Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias or Políticas
by Bobadilla and Solórzano, it is possible to find Alegaciones fiscales and
Decisiones de Granada, by Juan Bautista de Larrea; Opera jurídica,
sive Rerum Quatidianorum, by Juan Yáñez Parladorio, the legal work of Antonio
Fernández de Otero; De iustitia et iure by Luis de Molina; Colección
general de ordenanzas militares, sus innovaciones y aditamientos, by José
Antonio Portugués; Vacantes de Indias, by José Álvarez de Abreu; Commentarii
Juris Civilis in Hispaniae Regias Constitutiones, by Alphonso de Azevedo;
or the Siete Partidas edited and commented on by Gregorio López Tovar. All the above were technical books on law and theory
for specialist scholars, generally not found among scribes.
The training of the scribes, more than academic, was
mainly practical, and compensated those shortcomings with the reading of books
on law and other more functional ones on technical aspects of legal matters and
notarial practice: practical manuals which included forms with their respective
explanations, manuals of the use of Spanish generally written by scribes who in
the exercise of their profession, and through their experience tried to
facilitate the development of certain tasks. The art of the trade was acquired
with practical preparation, initially exerted by the scribes who moved to the
Indies, same as with the consultation of diverse manuals or forms. In this way,
Pedro Pérez Landero Otáñez (scribe in the city of Lima), who wrote Práctica
de visitas y residencias (Naples, 1696), narrates his experience in a
document:
[…]
although when I started to exercise this trade I believed that with the study
of theory and practice I was able to do any activity; (but), so many difficult,
and extraordinary things have happened to me (…) that only with indefatigable
study and determination, and consulting many skilled professionals, and using
their forms, could I make a reputation[19].
Through the post mortem inventories of the notaries we
have studied, two appreciations, in general, characterize their personal
libraries: the scarce presence of volumes and the high proportion of copies of
a practical nature, that is to say, the considerable number of notarial
literature and legislative compilations. It is about libraries of a more
practical than professional nature. In the Mortuoria of Jacobo Facio
Lince, a scribe from Medellín between 1772 and 1798, among the only five titles
which are mentioned, three are related to the exercise of the notary
profession: Gobierno Eclesiástico Pacífico, and Unión de los dos cuchillos, pontificio y regio, by
Gaspar de Villarroel; Política indiana by Solórzano and Recopilación
de las Leyes de Indias[20]. General law works among which, Recopilación,
widely cited by notaries in their works, was a fundamental text that had to be
present in their libraries where, at the same time, as is the case of the
scribe in the city of Cartago, Mariano Bueno, who would be a scribe at the end
of the 18th century, the manuals dedicated to the daily tasks of
scribes appeared[21].
In
the classification of libraries proposed by Víctor Infantes through the
discovery of inventories of books during the 16th and 17th
centuries (practical, professional, patrimonial, and museum library). In the
practical library, the book appears as a primary and fundamental good, related
with its practical use, basic and immediate, where books are supposed to be
conserved for basic use and for usefulness of knowledge. This library
establishes a sense of belonging and would not exceed 10/15 bibliographic
entries[22]. In Mariano Bueno’s library, same as in that of Facio Lince, the works
are also scarce. Out of a total of twelve titles, four refer to religious
works, one is Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias and, the rest, seven, are manuals for
scribes. His library was, therefore, an acquisition of a practical, useful, and
adjusted nature to the performance of a trade which those who had it used to
combine with other types
of remunerative activities.
In it, there
appear forms and texts of notarial literature such as those of Manuel Silvestre
Martínez (Librería de jueces, utilísima y universal),
Pedro Melgarejo Manrique de Lara (Compendio de contratos públicos),
Pedro de Sigüenza
(Tratado de cláusulas instrumentales),
José Juan y Colón (Instrucción de escribanos), José Febrero Bermúdez (Librería
de escribanos, o instrucción jurídica teórico-práctica de principiantes and
Los cinco juicios de inventario y partición de bienes, ordinario ejecutivo y
de concurso y prelación de acreedores) and Carlos Ros (Cartilla real
teórico-práctica, según leyes reales de Castilla, para escribanos)[23].
Works such as those of Melgarejo,
Sigüenza and Colón are also present in the shelves of Juan Andrés Sandoval y
Portocarrero, who was a public scribe of the city of Popayán in mid-18th
century[24]. In his personal library, a total of 23 titles are
found. There are no works of legal literature, the remaining 20 titles are
works of history and mainly religious literature.
Mariano Bueno’s manuals were the usual works in the
Indies. Those of Melgarejo (Granada, 1652) and that of Sigüenza (Madrid, 1646)
are among the works classified in the group of the notarial art by Javier
Malagón-Barceló. This author,
in La literatura jurídica española del siglo de oro en la Nueva España[25], presents a series of notarial arts which appear in
the lists presented in the Inquisition of New Spain by bookstore owners and
individuals between 1585 and 1694. All of them were sent through the Carrera de Indias, except for Política
de las escrituras by Yrolo, edited in Mexico:
Specialized works of
notarial practice in the lists presented to the Inquisition of New Spain Table 1 |
||
Author and
title (in their
original language) |
Trade |
No. of lists and years |
Argüello, Antonio de. Tratado de escrituras y contratos públicos
con anotaciones. Madrid, 1630 |
Scribe in the
city of Toro |
2: 1655 2: 1660 |
Arias, Juan. Práctica eclesiástica para el uso y ejercicio de notarios públicos y
apostólicos y secretarios prelados. Madrid, 1603 |
Born in Plasencia, apostolic notary |
1: 1655 2: 1660 |
Díaz de Valdepeñas, Fernando. Suma de notas copiosas según el estilo y
uso destos reinos. Toledo, 1546 |
Scribe of
criminal cases for the Royal Audience and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of
Granada |
1: 1585 |
Frías Albornoz, Bartolomé. Arte de los contratos. Valencia, 1573 |
Born in Talavera (Toledo). Doctor and
professor from the Universidad de Sevilla. Lawyer in México, doctor and professor
in the Universidad de México |
1: 1659 |
Gali, Jerónimo. Opera artis Notariae theoricam simul et practicam eruditionem
complectentia. Barcelona, 1684 |
Born un Gerona, consultant
of the Milan Battalion |
1: 1690 |
García, Francisco. Tratado utilísimo de
todos los contratos cuantos en los negocios humanos pueden ofrecer. Valencia,
1583 |
Valencian. He was
a member of the Santo Domingo Order, Theology professor in Tarragona |
1: 1655 |
González Torneo, Francisco. Práctica de escribanos. Alcalá, 1640 |
Notary |
1: 1660 1: 1690 |
González de Villarroel, Diego. Examen de escribanos. Madrid, 1641 |
Royal scribe |
1: 1655 2: 1660 |
Melgarejo y Manrique de Lara, Pedro. Compendio de contratos públicos, autos de
particiones y ejecutivos; con el papel sellado que a cada cosa pertenece.
Granada, 1652 |
From Sevilla.
Major scribe from the cabildo of
Villa de Olvera |
1: 1655 3: 1660 |
Molino, Micier Miguel del. Formularios de actos extrajudiciales de la
sublime arte de la Notaría. Zaragoza, 1516 |
From Aragon. Lawyer and Capitular Judge in Zaragoza and Lugarteniente from the Court
of Justice of Aragón. |
1: 1659 |
Monterroso y Alvarado, Gabriel de. Práctica civil y criminal e institución de
escribanos. Alcalá, 1571 |
Born in the city
of Toro, educated in Valladolid |
1: 1614 1: 1655 3: 1660 |
Moreno, Miguel. Avisos para los oficios de provincias y consecuencias generales para
otros. Madrid, 1631 |
Segovian. Scribe
of the curia regis, secretary of Felipe
IV |
1: 1660 |
Ortiz, Salcedo, Francisco. Curia eclesiástica para secretarios de
prelados, notarios apostólicos y ordinarios. Madrid, 1615 |
From Madrid. Public,
apostolic and royal notary; narrator of the Council of don Fernando de
Asturias; Archbishop of Toledo |
3: 1660 1: 1683 |
Palomares, Tomás de. Estilo nuevo de escrituras públicas. Sevilla, 1645 |
From Sevilla.
Public Scribe from Sevilla |
1: 1655 |
Ribera, Diego de. Primera, segunda y tercera parte de escrituras y orden de partición y
cuenta, y de residencia judicial, civil y criminal…Madrid, 1617 |
Born in Ronda
(Málaga). Notary |
1: 1604 2: 1614 1: 1655 1: 1660 |
Sigüenza, Pedro de. Tratado de cláusulas instrumentales, útil y necesario para jueces y
escribanos. Madrid, 1646 |
Born in Ajofrin
(Toledo). Lawyer in Yébenes |
2: 1660 1: 1683 |
Yrolo Calar, Nicolás de. Primera parte de la política de las
escrituras. México, 1605 |
From Cádiz.
Scribe from the cities of Cádiz and Mexico |
2: 1655 1: 1660 |
Table
1. Based on Javier Malagón-Barceló, La
literatura jurídica española del siglo de oro en la Nueva España (México: UNAM,
1959), p. 65, 73-74 and 78.
For our New Granada framework, scarcely studied
regarding the circulation and possession of notarial arts among scribes of very
diverse notary offices, it is convenient to focus on, at least, the works which
have been proved to be in existence[26]. The Compendio de contratos públicos, by Pedro
Melgarejo, appeared in Granada, in 1652; followed by editions in Madrid,
1689; Valencia, 1707; Zaragoza, 1708; Madrid, 1724, 1728; Barcelona, 1757;
Madrid, 1764 and 1791. It is the first work that adds to merely notarial
issues, the regulation about stamped paper implanted by the pragmatic in 1636.
The compendium is divided into an introduction and four books. In the introduction,
there is a summary of the main notarial norms in the style of the old
“Introducciones de escrivanos” (Introduction for scribes). The first book is
about contracts and public deeds, even with models of wills and some universal
clauses of resignation, submission, oath, etc. The second book is about
formulas of tutelage and divisions. The third one is about executive trials,
with forms of executive type, and of legal resolutions and documents. Book
number four is about residence trials, with questionnaires and formulas. The
legal quotes and some explanatory annotations are distributed in the margins of
the text and most of the formulas are preceded by a theoretical explanation.
Tratado de cláusulas instrumentales, útil
y necesario para jueces y escribano (Treatise of instrumental clauses for judges and
scribes) by Pedro de Sigüenza appeared in Madrid in 1627; and there were later editions in the same city in 1646, 1663,
and 1673; Barcelona, 1705; and Madrid again in 1720, 1754 and 1767. Divided
into two volumes, the first one contains instrumental clauses for inter vivos legal business documents,
and the second one, contains wills. Without discarding the expert quotes of
authors, there is direct contact with Spanish legal sources. The work was
essential for the notarial practice with a wide range of original samples,
which did not copy the classical clause treaties. Due to their specialization
based on Spanish law and to not being written in Latin, it could not be part of
European literature, in contrast to Prácticas
Quaestiones, by Diego de Covarrubias and Tractatus de iuramento confirmatorio, by Juan Gutiérrez[27].
The works of Diego de Ribera, Gabriel de
Monterroso, Antonio de Argüello, Tomás de Palomares, Pedro Melgarejo, Pedro
Sigüenza, Diego González de Villarroel and Política de escrituras by Nicolás de Yrolo, the first edition of the first
part of which appeared in Mexico, 1603, were used frequently in Indies[28]. The period
of work of our scribes is centered in the 18th century and, in general, the
edition of the manuals used are from that century. The first two-thirds were
characterized by a lack of productivity in the field of notarial literature due
to the fact that in Castilla, as well as in Aragón, Cataluña and Valencia, a
slow transformation in the writing of public documents was taking place,
tending towards precise and concise writing, which made old forms even more
unnecessary, given that their doctrinal side and old-fashioned models were
deficient. On the other hand, it was not easy to renew old works and some of
them were still used. Thus, in Castilla, the old treatises of such as those of
Ribera, Monterroso, or those of Bartolomé Carvajal (Instrucción y memorial
para escrivanos y jueces executores, Granada, 1580) and Tomás de Palomares
(Estilo nuevo de escrituras publicas, Sevilla, 1645) had been forgotten.
Diego González de Villarroel (Examen de escrivanos), sponsored by the
Royal Council, introduced a new edition in 1728. In contrast, some practical
manuals prevailed, such as Compendio
by Melgarejo, which continued to be edited until 1791; the works of Salcedo and
Sigüenza, which were edited until long after the mid-18th century.
In Cataluña, the work of Jerónimo Galí, and that of
José Comes, written in 1694 (Viridarium artis notariatus, reedited in
two volumes in Gerona, 1704 and 1706), were valid during the whole 18th
century, as they were modern and quality works. Only some works, such as Cartilla
real by Carlos Ros, Instrucción de escrivanos (1736; 2nd ed.,
Madrid, 1761) by José Juan y Colon; or Manual de testar, dividir y partir (1739;
2nd ed. Madrid, 1768), by José Barní, appeared then in Castilla.
The Cartilla real
teórico-práctica written by the Valencian, apostolic and royal public
notary Carlos Ros (1703-1773)
incorporated the new modality of a “handbook.” Ros wrote several works and the
first one of them was written in Pamplona in 1738, originally denominated Norte
y examen de escrivanos públicos, the
original of which was sold to a clergyman, who edited it with the title
Cartilla real teórico-práctica, según leyes reales de Castilla, para escribanos,
under the ficticious name of Diego Bustos y Lisares. It was reprinted in
Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid; in 1816, it was printed in this last city. Due
to the great diffusion obtained by Cartilla real in 1762, he published “Cartilla
real enmendada y adicionada” under his name in Valencia. He adjusted it to
Castilian law and its theoretical part was made based on answers with
interlayered models as regards contracts and wills, with certain references to
legal proceedings.
Librería
de escribanos and
Los cinco juicio de inventario by
the Madrid notary José Febrero, appeared in Madrid in 1769 (3 volumes) and 1772
(4 volumes) respectively. Librería de escribanos was edited many times which thickened the
volumes with successive reforms, expansions, and renewals which overrun the
first half of 19th century and it remained valid, thanks to its last
editions, until the issuance of the Spanish Notarial Law of 1862. It had great
diffusion in the Indies, even after Independence. At the beginning of 19th
century, it became the classic Castilian treaty, used in the notarial and legal
fields. It represents an encyclopedia of private Castilian Law and a complete
form of deeds and legal acts.
Compendio by Melgarejo and Cartilla real de escribanos by
Carlos Ros are books that the “public, cabildo,
and government scribe” from Popayán, Joaquín Sáncez de la Flor, owned. He held
the position for 30 years, from 1746 to 1776; he was the son of the peninsular
Lucas Sánchez de la Flor, merchant of Popayán, and of Jacinta de Huegonaga
Salazar. He was related to the social elites, given that he married three
times: his first wife was Nicolasa Benítez de Astaíza, the second one Paula de
Lucena y Velasco, and the third one was Juana de Ayerbe y Lemos[29]. He had a daughter with his second wife, among other
children, Juana Francisca Sánchez, who would also marry a “public, cabildo, and government scribe,” Antonio
de Zervera, from Pamplona (Navarra, Spain) and whose father-in-law had left the
position to him.
The social status of Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor made
it possible for his library to have a total of 95 titles; a heritage library
which gave him social prestige and was a symbol of wealth, decency and honor
with which, in the society of the time, given his status and condition, he
should sustain, incurring ostentatious expenses. He had the possibility to
establish a vast network of clients by exercising different types of notarial
work. He was also dedicated to buying and selling lots, his goods were
significant and he owned a ranch with a chapel in Chiribío where, apart from
slaves, he had a considerable amount of horses, sheep and cattle[30].
In the library of Sánchez de la Flor, humanistic
topics are abundant (literature and history above all) and also religious
topics. In contrast to other libraries of notaries, where legal literature is
scarce, in this one, among the titles which appear, some are closely related to
this topic: Ordenanzas Reales de Castilla (el Ordenamiento de
Montalvo), two volumes of “Castilian Laws,” the additions of José Manuel
Domínguez to Curia Filípica by Bolaños, “Pandectas” by Justiniano, De ratiociniis administratorum by
Francisco Muñoz de Escobar, De
jure ecclesiastico universo by Agustin Barbosa, “Comunes contra comunes” by Jerónimo Cevallos, and Suma de leyes
penales by Francisco de la Pradilla. Along with those, there are works of
practical usefulness, such as Curia eclesiástica para secretarios de
prelados, jueces eclesiásticos, notarios apostólico by Francisco Ortiz de
Salcedo; and “Curia Filípica” by Juan
Hevia Bolaños, a text that was a must in the Indies. José Torre Revello registers it in several lists of
the Carrera de Indias31
along with manuals dedicated to the style of letters, or notary treaties such
as those of Palomares, Melgarejo and Argüellos.
In addition to these works on legal theory and
practice, and the well-known manuals of Melgarejo and Carlos Ros, Joaquín
Sánchez de la Flor had “Ripia de testamentos” and the “Martínez or Librería de jueces.” “Ripia de testamentos” was known as Práctica
de testamentos y modos de suceder (1718) by the royal accountant Juan de la
Ripia. Manuel
Silvestre Martínez, who was a lawyer of royal councils, attorney in the Royal
Audience of Santa Fe del Peru and sub-delegate judge in Guadalaxara of New
Spain, was the author of Librería de jueces, utilísima y universal; a work that was first published in 1763, was
reprinted numerous times and included forms of practical trials valid for
ministers of justice and public notaries.
Conclusions
Those who aspired to be appointed in the position
acquired their knowledge through work practice under the direction of someone
more experienced. The lack of academic and legal training, and empirical
learning, Were the cause of the use of legal forms and works for the writing of
instruments, the formulas of which could be copied from the deeds written by
other scribes.
Within the libraries of the notaries researched it is
possible to verify the presence of eight different treatises or forms of
practical use. Seven of them were in the possession of the same notary, Mariano
Bueno; Melgarejo, Sigüenza and Colón were also in Juan Andrés Sandoval
Portocarrero’s library; and Carlos Ros’ handbook is in Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor’s
library, which also has two different handbooks Ripia de testamentos and the Martinez or Librería de jueces. The
lack of proportion seems to indicate that it was not frequent to have such a
number of treaties or compendiums, as Mariano Bueno had.
Legal literature and treatises of scribes New Kingdom of Granada, 18th century Table 2 |
|||
Name and period of exercise |
Type of Scribe and city |
Work (in their original language) |
Treatises (in their original language) |
Jacobo Facio
Lince, 1772-1798 |
Public scribe,
Medelllín |
1. Gaspar
Villarroel, Gobierno Eclesiástico
Pacífico… 2. Solórzano, Política indiana. 3.Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias. |
|
Marian Bueno,
fines del siglo XVIII |
Public scribe,
Cartago |
1. Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias |
1. Manuel Silvestre
Martínez, Librería de jueces. 2.Melgarejo
Manrique de Lara, Compendio de
contratos. 3. Pedro de
Sigüenza, Tratado de cláusulas. 4. José Juan y
Colón, Instrucción de escribanos. 5. José Febrero, Librería de escribanos. 6. José Febrero, Los cinco juicios de inventario. 7. Carlos Ros, Cartilla real teórico-práctica . |
Juan Andrés Sandoval y Portocarrero,
mitad del siglo XVIII |
Public scribe,
Popayán |
|
1. Melgarejo, Compendio de contratos. 2. Sigüenza, Tratado de cláusulas. 3. Colón, Instrucción de escribanos. |
Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor, 1746-1776 |
Public, cabildo,
and government scribe, Popayán |
1.Ordenamiento
de Montalvo 2. Repertorio
de Leyes de Castilla 3. Adiciones
de José Manuel Domínguez a la Curia
Filípica 4.
Pandectas, Justiniano 5. De
ratiociniis administratorum, Escobar 6. De
jure ecclesiastico, Agustin Barbosa 7. Comunes
contra comunes, Cevallos 8. Suma
de leyes penales, Francisco de la Pradilla 9. Curia
eclesiástica, Francisco Ortiz de Salcedo 10. Curia
Filípica, Juan Hevia Bolaños |
1. Melgarejo, Compendio de contratos 2. Carlos Ros, Cartilla real 3. Juan de la
Ripia, Práctica de
testamentos y modos de suceder 4. Manuel Silvestre Martínez, Librería de jueces, utilísima y universal |
Table 2: Elaborated by the author
The absence of legal works among Juan Andrés
Sandoval’s belongings and the titles on the topic found in Jacobo Facio Lince
and Mariano Bueno’s libraries, indicate that it was normal that scribes used
works of a general nature to consult on normative or legal aspects, works such
as Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias, in the possession of the last
two notaries mentioned. Works such as those of Solórzano and Gaspar Villarroel,
in the possession of Facio Lince, or works like the repertoirs of Castilian
laws or Curia eclesiástica by Ortiz de Salcedo and Curia Filípica by
Hevia Bolaños, which belonged to Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor.
In the city of Popayán, the
appointment of a scribe, giving him the possibility to work in different
notarial fields at the same time, could be the cause for which notaries like
Joaquín Sánchez de la Flor were in possession of a larger number of legal
works, although the case of this notary is an exception. In addition, Popayán,
as opposed to Villa de Medellín, was a colonial center of great geopolitical
and administrative relevance for the Crown and, for this reason, trade and the
circulation of books there was greater, as the possibilities of purchase were
higher.
The archive of the cabildos
of the cities of Medellín, Popayán and Cartago show that in their bureaucratic
exercise, the same way of proceeding was repeated, the same established
formulas in the different types of documents (acts, letters, deeds, wills,
etc.) that were found in the document registry books or in the protocols of
their predecessors. Thus, the archive became an example of varied and multiple
acts that could be imitated or changed, according to convenience. The
continuity in the writing practices following, in general, the teachings of the
outgoing notary, and the dependence on models accumulated in the cabildo archive caused that the formulas
and classic structures of the documents remained the same during all the
colonial period.
But compared to an activity that
in most scriptural cases could be reduced to a formulistic and routine task,
considering the coincidences in the discoveries of legal literature and
notarial treaties within the belongings of the scribes, these works would have
an auxiliary function, the formulas of which could be consulted as a novelty to
be put into practice, or as a reinforcement to those already formalized in
documental registries.
Documental sources
Archivo Central del Cauca (Popayán)
Archivo Histórico de Cali
Archivo Histórico de Cartago
Archivo Histórico de Medellín
Archivo Histórico Judicial de Medellín
Bibliography
Arboleda Restrepo,
Gustavo. Diccionario biográfico y
genealógico del antiguo Departamento del Cauca. Cali: Centro de Estudios
Históricos y Sociales “Santiago de Cali” /
Gerencia
Cultural de la Gobernación del Valle, 1996.
Bono y Huerta, José.
“Los formularios notariales españoles de los siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII”. En Anales de la Academia Matritense del
Notariado [Tomo XXII, Vol. I]. Madrid: Editoriales de Derecho
Reunidas, 1978.
Burns,
Kathryn. Into the Archive: Writing and
Power in Colonial Peru. Durham:
Dake University Press, 2010.
Calvo,
Julián. “El primer formulario jurídico publicado en la Nueva España: La política
de
Escrituras de Nicolás de Irolo (1605)”. Revista
de la Facultad de Derecho de México, núm. I, 3-4 (1951): 41-102.
Colón, José Juan. Instrucción de escribanos en orden a lo
judicial [Edición facsímil de la
sexta edición impresa por Gabriel Ramírez en Madrid, 1769. Introducción de Antonio Agúndez Fernández]. Valladolid:
Editorial Lex Nova, 1993.
Extremera Extremera,
Miguel Ángel. El notariado de la España
Moderna. Los escribanos públicos de Córdoba (siglos XVI-XIX). Madrid:
Calambur, 2009.
Guajardo-Fajardo
Carmona, María de los Ángeles. Escribanos
en Indias durante la primera mitad del siglo XVI. [Tomos I]. Madrid: Colegios
Notariales de España, 1995.
Herzog, Tamar. “Sobre la
cultura jurídica en la América colonial (siglos XVI- XVIII)”. Anuario de
Historia del Derecho español, núm. 65 (1995): 903-911.
Herzog, Tamar. Mediación,
archivos y ejercicio. Los escribanos de Quito (siglo XVII). Frankfurt: Vittorio Klostermann, 1996.
Icaza Dufour, Francisco.
“Nicolás de Yrolo Calar y su obra”. Cuadernos
del Instituto de Investigaciones
Jurídicas. Literatura histórico-jurídica mexicana, núm. 4 (1987):19-30.
Infantes, Víctor. “Las
ausencias en los inventarios de libros y de biblioteca”. Bulletin
Hispanique, núm. 1, t. 99 (1997): 282-285.
Luján Muñoz, Jorge.
“La literatura notarial en España e Hispanoamérica, 1500-1820”. Anuario de Estudios Americanos, núm. 38,
(1981): 115-116.
Luján Muñoz, Jorge. Los escribanos en las
Indias occidentales.
México DF: UNAM/Instituto de Estudios y Documentos Históricos, A.C., [1964]
1982.
Luján Muñoz, Jorge. “La
literatura jurídica notarial en Hispanoamérica durante la colonia”. En Anales de la Academia Matritense del
Notariado [Tomo XXVIII]. Madrid: Editoriales de Derecho Reunidas, 1987.
Luque Talaván, Miguel. Un universo de opiniones. La literatura
jurídica indiana. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
Instituto de Historia, 2003.
Malagón-Barceló,
Javier. La literatura jurídica española
del siglo de oro en la Nueva España. México: UNAM, 1959.
Merchán Fernández, A.
Carlos. Gobierno municipal y
administración local en la España del Antiguo Régimen. Madrid: Tecnos,
1988.
Rey Fajardo, José del. La biblioteca colonial de la Universidad
Javeriana de Bogotá. Caracas:
Miguel Ángel García e hijo, 2001.
Rojas, Reyes. “La
literatura notarial de ida y vuelta. Los primeros formularios notariales en
América”(capítulo 3).
En El nervio de la República. El oficio
de escribano en el Siglo de Oro. Madrid: Calambur, 2010.
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1675-1819. La representación de un oficio en la escritura de su archivo.
Medellín: Universidad de Antioquia, 2015.
Rueda, Pedro.
“Escrituras de navegación a las Indias: El Estilo Nuevo (1645) de Tomás de
Palomares” (capítulo 3).
En El nervio de la República. El oficio
de escribano en el Siglo de Oro. Madrid: Calambur, 2010.
Torre Revello, José. El libro, la imprenta y el periodismo en
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española. México DF: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1991.
To cite this article:
Rubio
Hernández, Alfonso. «The Treatises on Notarial Practice in the Libraries of
18th Century Scribes of New Granada». Historia Y
MEMORIA, n° 13 (2016): 19-46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.19053/20275137.5198
[1] Professor
of the History Department of the Humanities Faculty of the Universidad del Valle (Santiago de Cali. Colombia).
Bachelor’s degree holder in Hispanic Philology from the Universidad de Zaragoza
(Spain) and Doctor of the same university in the Information and Documentation
Systems Program from the Department of Documentation Science and the History of
Science. Member of the research group Nation, Culture and Memory. Areas of
expertise> Written Culture, Archival Science, Palaeography,
and Diplomacy. Recent publications: La escritura del archivo. Recurso simbólico
y poder práctico en el Nuevo Reino de Granada. Santiago de Cali: Universidad del Valle/Faculty of
Humanities, Department of History, 2014. ISBN:
978-958-765-096-9. Los escribanos de la
Villa de Medellín, 1675-1819. La
representación de un oficio en la escritura de su archivo. Medellín:
Editorial Universidad de Antioquia, 2015. ISBN: 978-958-714-624-0. Email address: alfonso.rubio@correounivalle.edu.co
[2] Tamar
Herzog, Mediación, archivos y ejercicio.
Los escribanos de Quito (siglo XVII). (Frankfurt: Vittorio Klostermann, 1996), 9.
[3] María de los Ángeles Guajardo-Fajardo Carmona, Escribanos
en Indias durante la primera mitad del siglo XVI. [Tomos I] (Madrid:
Colegios Notariales de España, 1995), 148 and 158. A detailed relation of specific and differentiated
functions between council scribe and public scribe, in pages 137-221.
[4]
Francisco Icaza Dufour, “Nicolás de Yrolo Calar y su obra”. Cuadernos del Instituto de Investigaciones
Jurídicas. Literatura histórico-jurídica mexicana, No. 4 (1987): 23.
[5] A general historiographic panorama can bee seen in Alfonso Rubio, Los escribanos de la Villa de
Medellín, 1675-1819. La representación de un oficio en la escritura de su
archivo (Medellín: Universidad de Antioquia, 2015), xxii-xxv.
See also, Kathryn Burns, Into the Archive: Writing and
Power in Colonial Peru (Durham: Dake University Press, 2010).
[6] Notarial manuals edited in the period,
such as the Examen y práctica de escribanos (Exam and Practice of Scribes) (First
edition, Madrid, 1641), by Diego González de Villarroel, were aimed at aspiring
scribes who intended to take the exams. El Compendio de contratos públicos (The
Compendium of Public Contracts) (First edition, Granada, 1652), the well-known
work by Pedro Melgarejo Manrique de Lara, with which counted, as we will see,
the public scribes of the cities of Cartago and Popayán, Juan Andrés Sandoval
and Mariano Bueno, respectively. It also dedicated a section to the development
of the exam. Miguel Ángel Extremera Extremera, El notariado de la España Moderna. Los
escribanos públicos de Córdoba (siglos XVI-XIX) (Madrid: Calambur, 2009),
71.
[7] Historical Archive from Cali (AHC, from
now on, by its acronym in Spanish), T. 31, fol. 232r.
[8] A.H.C.,
T. 18, fol. 239 v.
[9] Rubio, Los
escribanos de la Villa, 113-114. On
this topic, see all of Chapter 4. «Habilidad
y examen», pages 96-114.
[10] Jorge Luján Muñoz, «La literatura notarial en España e
Hispanoamérica, 1500-1820», Anuario de Estudios Americanos, no. 38
(1981): 115-116. In addition to the
School, an academy opened which, for a 6-month period, the future notary had to
attend. Notwithstanding, this did not imply the elimination of professional
practices with scribes.
[11] Once the Crown verified the need to have
councilors for advice as regards American law suits, the number of councilors
increased and royal bureaucracy
required officials, experts in the Law. They were highly regarded socially
speaking and the profession of the scholar offered possibilities for promotion
in the administrative scale. Miguel Luque
Talaván, Un universo de opiniones. La literatura jurídica indiana (Madrid:
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Historia, 2003),
153-154.
[12] Tamar
Herzog, Op. cit., 33-37.
[13] A.
Carlos Merchán Fernández, Gobierno
municipal y administración local en la España del Antiguo Régimen (Madrid:
Tecnos, 1988), 170.
[14] Historic
Archive of Medellín (AHM, from now on, by its acronym in Spanish), T. 38, f.
18v. and T. 84, f. 141v. After the conquering process was established, the
scholars acted as the consultants of the governors and the cabildos to solve the most complicated governmental issues. These
consultancies became even more important in the 18th century when a
compulsory scholarly verdict was established in civil and criminal cases,
resolved by mayors (Víctor Tau Anzoátegui, and Eduardo Martiré, Manual de Historia de
las instituciones argentinas (Buenos Aires: Macchi, [1975]), 109; cited in
Luque Talaván, Un universo de opiniones, 154.
[15] Tamar
Herzog, “Sobre la cultura jurídica en la América colonial (siglos XVI-XVIII)”, Anuario de Historia del Derecho español,
No. 65 (1995): 903-911.
[16] A.H.M.,
T. 24, fol. 184r.-228v.
[17] Central Archive of Cauca (ACC, by
its acronym in Spanish), Popayán - Colombia, Colonia, JIII-20 su., 10581.
[18] Historical
Archive of Cartago (AHCar, by its acronym in Spanish), J/M/24-2.
[19] Jorge
Luján Muñoz, “La literatura jurídica notarial en Hispanoamérica durante la
colonia”, in Anales de la Academia
Matritense del Notariado [Tomo XXVIII] (Madrid: Editoriales de Derecho
Reunidas, 1987), 14.
[20] Historical Archive of Medellín (AHJM, by its acronym
in Spanish), Mortuoria of Jacobo Facio Lince, 1799, Doc. 3703. The two
remaining titles are related to his religious devotion («obras del Padre
Señeri») and botanics («Dioscorides»). With Dioscórides they are referring to the work of the Greek
Pedacio Dioscórides Anazarbeo (c. 40 – c. 90) named De materia médica,
a treatise of pharmacopeia
which collects the therapeutic virtues of different plants. The Segovian
humanist Andrés Laguna (1511-1559) was the author of the translation into
Spanish of the most important work of Dioscórides named
Acerca de la
materia medicinal y de los venenos mortíferos; published
in Amberes in 1555, it was edited ten times from that date until the 18th
century.
[21]
A.H.Car, J/M/251, Mortuoria de Mariano Bueno, 1808.
[22] Víctor
Infantes, “Las ausencias en los inventarios de libros y de biblioteca”, Bulletin Hispanique, No.
1, t. 99 (1997): 282-285.
[23] The use of the term «instruction» in
titles was a custom of the time to «reflect the content
of practical matters and annotations of doctrinal
criteria, as it was done in the Tribunals, as regards style »
(Introduction by Antonio Agúndez Fernández to the work
of Juan José Colón, Instrucción de escribanos en orden a lo judicial [Facsimile
edition of the sixth print edition by Gabriel Ramírez in Madrid, 1769]
(Valladolid:
Editorial Lex Nova, 1993), 8.
[24] A.C.C.,
Colonia JI-22 su. 8809. Inventory of
goods, 1766.
[25] Javier Malagón-Barceló, La
literatura jurídica española del siglo de oro en la
Nueva España
(México: UNAM, 1959), 65, 73-74 and 78. These 17 works are also mentioned by
Jorge Luján Muñoz, Los escribanos en las Indias occidentales (México:
UNAM/Instituto de Estudios y Documentos Históricos, A.C., 1982), 75-92. Later, with
slight changes, the same author repeats them in «La literatura notarial», pages
101-116; and «La literatura jurídica notarial», pages 7-26. Pedro Rueda also
reproduces the scheme with only 14 works, which appear in the Appendix «XII. De arte notaria Specialitater»
from the text by Malagón-Barceló, pages 73-74 (Pedro Rueda, «Escrituras de
navegación a las Indias: El Estilo Nuevo (1645) by Tomás de Palomares», in El
nervio de la República. El oficio de escribano en el Siglo de Oro, edited by
Enrique Villalba and Emilio Torné (Madrid: Calambur, 2010), 421-444.
[26]
José Bono y
Huerta, «Los formularios notariales españoles de los siglos XVI,
XVII y
XVIII», Anales de la Academia Matritense del Notariado I, Volume XXII,
(1978): 287-317. Here it is possible to see the structure of the works
mentioned in Table 1 in more detail, the year of their edition and reedition,
as well as the nationality of their authors, all of them lawyers or notaries).
Bono divides the works of Spanish notarial literature, which in the Middle Ages
assimilates the doctrine of the Ars notariae, in three phases: continuity of the medieval tradition,
first half of the 16th century; integration of the national Law of each
kingdom, from the second half of the 16th century to the end of the
17th century; and the simplification and rationalization of the
discipline during the 18th century. Regarding some of the manuals
that appear in the same table, see also Reyes Rojas, «La literatura notarial de
ida y vuelta. Los primeros formularios notariales en América», in El nervio de la
República. el oficio de escribano en el siglo de Oro, edited by Enrique
Villalba and Emilio Torné (Madrid: Calambur, 2010), 401-420.
[27] The works of Melgarejo and Sigüenza can
also be found in Jesuit libraries. José
del Rey Fajardo, La biblioteca colonial de la Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá
(Caracas: Miguel Ángel García e hijo, 2001), 705 and 731.
[28] There were
two editions of Yrolo’s work in Mexico City, that of 1603 and 1605, but there
was not a second part. It presented outlines on how to formulate deeds, trying
to reform the archaic expressions with diverse additions for « extraordinary
cases and issues » (Luján Muñoz, La literatura jurídica, 18). On Yrolo see Julián Calvo, «El primer formulario
jurídico publicado en la Nueva España: La política de Escrituras de Nicolás de
Irolo (1605)», Revista de la Facultad de Derecho de México, nº I, 3-4
(1951): 41-102.
[29]
ACC, 10636, Colonia, J II-22 su,
Causa mortuoria, 1787-1790. On the social origins of his wives, see Gustavo
Arboleda Restrepo, Diccionario biográfico y genealógico del antiguo
Departamento del Cauca. (Cali: Centro de Estudios Históricos y Sociales
«Santiago de Cali» /Gerencia Cultural de la Gobernación del Valle, 1996).
[30] ACC, 10636, Colonia, J II-22 su,
Causa mortuoria, 1787-1790, ff. 42r.-45r. (1788); and ACC, Notaría 1, T. 1, ff. 3r.-5v. (1749). About the
notaries who were introduced into the environment of customs and conventions in
the aristocracy through wealth, see Rubio, Los escribanos de la Villa,
128-131.