New Laws — Las Casas and Abolition of the Encomienda
The New Laws of 1542, promulgated by Charles I at Barcelona after years of lobbying by Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas, represented the most serious attempt by the Spanish Crown to reform the colonial system in the sixteenth century. The laws prohibited the enslavement of indigenous people, forbade granting new encomiendas, and provided that existing ones would revert to the Crown upon the death of their holders. Fierce resistance from colonial settlers—the encomienderos of Peru rebelled and killed the viceroy—forced a partial rollback, but the laws established the principle that indigenous people were free subjects of the Crown rather than property of colonists.
- Year: 1542 CE
- Category: Political
