Legal form book : containing forms and procedures for legal and judicial transactions in New Spain, [ca. 1550].

ArchivalResource

Paso, Joan Lorenc̜o. Legal form book : containing forms and procedures for legal and judicial transactions in New Spain, [ca. 1550].

Legal form book : containing forms and procedures for legal and judicial transactions in New Spain, [ca. 1550].

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33891268

Form book, probably compiled around 1550 for use by early jurists, court clerks, and notaries in Mexico, which outlines the correct procedures to be followed in certain judicial proceedings, and includes the proper forms to be used in standard legal documents. The book is divided into five sections: the first two deal with the theory and practice of conducting a "residencia," a judicial inquiry in which a public official is called upon to account for his conduct while holding office, while a third describes the proper procedure for examining a witness during a trial. There is a section containing the correct legal form for executing various transactions such as registering a mine; granting mercedes or land grants; filing a lawsuit; writing a will; and selling goods and property. The last chapter, "Menudencias y avisos a todo género de escribanos," advises notaries and court clerks how to keep registers of public documents, how to properly make copies of official papers, and how to write documents such as promissory notes, lawsuits, certifications of identity, and sentences of torture and capital punishment handed down in criminal cases.

[1], 3-233, [2] leaves, bound ; 31 cm.

Newberry Library