Local Law and Localization of Law. Hispanic legal tradition and colonial culture (16th - 18th centuries)

Abstract

Focusing our analysis on the Hispanic legal tradition, particularly, on the colonial experience, we seek in this paper a dual purpose: first, to outline a concept of "local law" according to the theoretical framework of temporal context, and, second, to point out the cultural factors that converged to bring on a general effect of localization of the law over whatever kind of normative standard. We will try to figure out the relationship between those two different but complementary aspects: on the one hand, the concept of "local law", addressed to define, from a synchronic point of view, a certain type of norms that can be qualified prima facie as "local"; on the other, the notion of ?localization?, useful to describe the dynamic process of interpretation of the general order performed by local authorities in their daily work. After outlining the conceptual framework, we will analyze some examples taken from the colonial experience of a frontier jurisdiction such as Córdoba del Tucumán located in the hinterland of the current Argentinean territory.