New Laws

The New Laws (Spanish: Leyes Nuevas), also known as the New Laws of the Indies for the Good Treatment and Preservation of the Indians, were issued on November 20, 1542, by King Charles V of Spain and regard the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Following complaints and calls for reform from individuals such as the Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, these laws were created to prevent the exploitation of the indigenous peoples of the Americas by the encomenderos, grants of labor of a particular group of Indians, by strictly limiting their power and dominion. The text of the New Laws has been translated to English.

Blasco Núñez Vela, the first Viceroy of Peru, enforced the New Laws, resulting in a revolt of some encomenderos in which he was killed in 1546 by the landowning faction led by Gonzalo Pizarro who wanted to maintain a political structure based on the pre existing Incan model. Although the New Laws were only partly successful due to the opposition of some colonists, they did result in the liberation of thousands of indigenous workers which had remained in a state of semi-slavery.

The New Laws were the results of a reform movement spurred by what was seen as the less effective, decades-old Leyes de Burgos (Laws of Burgos), issued by King Ferdinand II of Aragon on December 27, 1512. These laws were the first set of rules created to regulate relations between the Spaniards and the recently conquered indigenous people, regarded as the first example of humanitarian laws in the New World. These had been effective to a limited extent due to the opposition of some colonists. Some regarded the laws as legalizing the system of forced Indian labor. During the reign of King Charles I, the reformers gained strength, with a number of Spanish missionaries making the case for stricter rules, including the controversial Bartolomé de las Casas. His alleged goal was the abolition of the encomienda system, which forced the Indians to abandon their previous lifestyle and homelands. His role in the reform movement earned him the nickname "Defender of the Indians". However, his motivations were sometimes also political. Eventually, the reformists were able to influence the King to pass a new set of reforms that came to be known as the New Laws.

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